Captain Fessenden Chase PapersCaptain Fessenden Chase Papers, 1864-1902
| Maine Maritime Museum Manuscript Collection Online Catalog
Arrangement
<h2 align="left"> Series I. Vessel Papers</h2><h2 align="left"> Series 1a Success (Ship)</h2><h2 align="left"> Series 1b General Butler (Ship)</h2><h2 align="left"> Series 1c Pleiades (Ship)</h2> Series 1d Other vessel papers
Edwin Reed (Bark)
Normandy (Three-mast schooner)
S. P. Hitchcock (Three-mast schooner)
Series II. Personal Papers
Series IIa. Correspondence
<h2 align="left"> <span style="font-size: 12px;"> Series IIb. Ephemera</span></h2><h2 align="left"> <span style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></h2>
Abstract
Chase, Fessenden, Captain, 1829-1914
Papers, 1864-1902 (Bulk dates: 1864-1872)
1 Manuscript size box, (1 shelf foot)
Ship captain from Edgecomb, Maine
Vessel papers of Capt. Fessenden Chase includes correspondence, invoices, account summaries, bills of sales, insurance papers, portage account, an articles of agreement and account of crewmen wages of ships General Butler, Pleiades and Success which he commanded. Other vessel papers in the collection are Edwin Reed (Bark), S. P. Hitchcock (Three-mast schooner) and Normandy (Three-mast schooner) in which Capt. Fessenden Chase had a vested interest. Personal papers consist of two letters and a few envelopes without contents.
Donated by Mrs. Albert S. [Katherine Lee Chase] Owen
MS-79, Accession # 80.82
Finding aid available in repository; folder level control
Subjects (links to similar collections)Adams & Hitchcock
Baring Bros. & Co.
Bills of sale
Callao (PER)
Chase, Edwin Weston, Captain
Chase, Fessenden, Captain
Chincha Islands (PER)
Cotton trade
Edgecomb (ME)
Edwin Reed (Bark)
General Butler (Ship)
Guanape (PER)
Guano industry
J. P. Morse & Co.
Liverpool (ENG)
Log-books
Morse, J. Parker
Normandy (Three-mast schooner)
Pleiades (Ship)
Rotterdam (NET)
S. P. Hitchcock (Three-mast schooner)
Seamanship
Shipbuilders
Ship captains
Success (Ship)
Wages
Administrative InformationCopyright Restrictions
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Copyright © 2012 by the Maine Maritime Museum</h1>
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The donor, Katherine Lee [Chase] Owen, the granddaughter of Captain Fessenden, was a local historian and author who has written books on early Edgecomb history. It is likely she inherited these papers from her father.
Book, Dear Capt. Fess, Katherine Chase Owen, c. 1977
Book, Dear Sue, Katherine Chase Owen, c. 1976
The Captain Fessenden Chase papers consist of assorted correspondence and account papers ranging between the dates 1864 and 1902. Correspondence is primarily about the ships Success, Pleiades and General Butler and date between 1864 and 1881 which spans Captain Fessenden’s career on these three vessels as shipmaster. Collection contents include bills of sale, power of attorney document, insurance papers, incoming and outgoing correspondence (some outgoing are handwritten copies on very thin moisture-sensitive tissue paper), small account book, bills, receipts, invoices and account summaries, an article of agreement, a portage bill, account of wages and a ship captain’s abstract log from Liverpool to Philadelphia.
Personal papers include two letters and a receipt of payment. The personal letters are: 1) regarding a sister (not identified) who is ill (letter not dated); and 2) from a friend and/or seaman who is writing “a few lines in a hurry by Capt. Irvine’s ship “Prince Charlie,”—name of sender is difficult to read (Sept. 3, 1866). The receipt is payment for 30 days labor to Osborne H. Trask dated Dec. 9, 1899, long after Capt. Fessenden retired. Miscellaneous ephemeral items are envelopes addressed to Capt. Fessenden Chase that I was unable to match with letters.
Other vessel papers include a dividend receipt dated July 1, 1876 in account with the bark Edwin Reed, an account summary for the three-mast schooner Normandy in account with Samuel R. Percy dated January 14, 1902 and a bill of sale to Fessenden Chase from his sister, Mary Ryan, for 2/64 interest of the three-mast schooner S. P. Hitchcock dated December 6,1868.
Bills of sale and power of attorney documents indicate ownership or joint ownership of vessels and amounts paid for them. Correspondence is between Captain Chase and J. P. Morse, shipbuilder and owner of the ship General Butler and [George] Adams & [James] Hitchcock, part owners ship Pleiades. The other correspondences are from brokers and shipping firms giving us a picture of the shipping business during the last half of the nineteenth century.
The manifests, memorandum of cargo, account summaries, charter party, small account book and a ship’s abstract logbook show the vessels traveled into Atlantic and Pacific ports. Arrivals and destinations include Philadelphia, Savannah, New Orleans, Australia, London, Liverpool, Callao, Guanape, Cardiff, Chincha Islands, Rotterdam, Rio de Janeiro and New York. In particular, Capt. Fessenden Chase’s abstract log notes his voyage on the ship Pleiades from Liverpool to Philadelphia between June and August 1879. There is also a small memorandum booklet for the ship Pleiades but there are only a few notations in the back page and back cover of the booklet (transcription below):
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width:319px;height:26px;"> <p align="center" style="margin-left:.5in;"> Reverse side of last page
</td> <td style="width:319px;height:26px;"> <p align="center"> Inside back cover
</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width:319px;height:83px;"> Spanker
aft Leach 35 feet
foot 28 “
Head 25 “
<p style="margin-left:.5in;"> Hoist 20 “
</td> <td style="width:319px;height:83px;"> Main Top M Staysail
<p style="margin-left:.5in;"> foot —31 feet
<p style="margin-left:.5in;"> aft Leach—45 “
Hoist ———58
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
Overall, the papers record domestic and foreign trade, sea routes, nineteenth century ports, shipping