Prepared by Tom Prince for York History Group.            

February 2024

Introduction

This story has some indirect associations to the Town of York as several contributions to this narrative were notes of my great grandfather, Clarence M. Prince.  Clarence was known to the residents of York and Kittery.  He married Elizabeth (Lizzie) McIntire from York in 1884.  She was a direct descendent of Micum McIntire of York. Clarence Prince was one of the original incorporators and an important financial backer of the Portsmouth Kittery and York Street Railway, the electric streetcar trolley network which commenced operations in York and Kittery in 1897.  He was town clerk of Kittery for 27 years from the late 1800’s into the early 1900’s.  He owned and operated a prominent retail grocery and provision market in Kittery for 36 years from 1885-1921 which served Kittery and portions of Eliot and York.  Additionally, he had a contract for many years supplying wholesale meat and poultry to the Navy Yard.

Recently, I was rummaging through some of Clarence Prince’s personal papers and town records which were tucked away in my family “archives” which were handed down to me over the years.  This collection contains rich source material to support my continued interest in local history.

When I was digging through the records Clarence had saved, I came across 14 original death certificates which Clarence compiled in 1902 as part of his duties as Kittery’s town clerk.  All were signed by Kittery’s coroner Dr. Shapleigh.   To my surprise, all of the death certificates showed the same date of death as July 17, 1902 with the cause of death attributed to accidental drowning.   I subsequently learned all deaths were the result of a tragic boating accident near Appledore Island at the Isles of Shoals. 

Today’s narrative is the expanded story of this accident with material taken from my great grandfather’s notes, information on the death certificates, and local newspaper accounts published at the time of the incident. I hope you find this story interesting and informative.

Isles of Shoals

Here is some information about the Isles of Shoals which will give the reader a backdrop for this story.

This collection of small islands located seven miles off the coast of Kittery ME and Rye NH is split  geographically between the states of Maine and New Hampshire.  The largest island is Appledore Island which is located in Kittery, Maine.  Appledore is clearly visible from York as seen out upon the ocean approximately 10 miles south of Sohier Park located at the end of Nubble Peninsula.  The second largest island making up the Isles of Shoals is Star Island which is located in New Hampshire.  These islands were originally settled as part of a rich fishing territory frequented in the 17th century by European fishermen.  The fish market of these islands was unrivaled for 150 years until the fishing industry slowed down.  Then in the mid 19th century the Isles of Shoals became a fashionable destination for tourism in New England with large hotels built on the two major islands: the Oceanic Hotel on Star Island and the Appledore House on Appledore Island.

One additional note of interest for readers of the York History Group, there are a handful of York homes which were dismantled and floated to York on barges from the Isles of Shoals in the late 1700’s.  Apparently around the time of the American Revolution, the province of NH ordered the Shoalers to the mainland as they could not be protected from British naval forces.  Some of the homeowners then moved their homes by barge to York and reconstructed them.  These homes still exist in York to the present day.  On a similar note, it was also at that time the present-day York Harbor Inn’s post and beam fireplaced “Cabin Room” (Circa 1637) was carefully dismantled and transported by barge to York Harbor from the Isles of Shoals where it was set up as a sail loft for refitting of ship sails.  Today the Cabin Room is the centerpiece of the York Harbor Inn.

This photo shows the Oceanic Hotel as it appeared in 1902.  This structure was built around 1876.  Of note, this hotel survives to the present day, looking much the same as this early photo.

Back at the turn of the twentieth century this hotel was a popular, offshore retreat for tourists during the summer months.  It could sleep 200 guests and boasted a fine dining room.  Hotel entertainment included a dance hall with orchestra, sailboats and rowboats.

To service the guests, hotel management would hire many young men and women, typically in their late teens and early twenties, to be a part of its waitstaff.  These individuals were many times schoolteachers or students who would live and work on Star Island during the summer months when schools and colleges were not in session. 

Boating Accident

At mid-day on July 17, 1902, Oceanic head waiter Winfred Alward suggested the idea to others of the waitstaff to take a boat ride that afternoon for a time of recreation and relaxation. With many in favor of this adventure, Alward hired the services of Fred Miles, a well known and experienced boatman who was employed by the Oceanic Hotel for such maritime excursions.  Miles had availability of a 19’ whaleboat that could accommodate a large party of guests.

 At mid afternoon several members of the Oceanic Hotel waitstaff met Miles at the Oceanic wharf. The group was comprised of two waiters and fourteen waitresses.  They asked Skipper Miles for a pleasure trip to Appledore Island, a circuit around the island, then return to Star Island – perhaps about 2 miles.

While it was a large group, Miles assured them his whaleboat could accommodate up to 40 passengers and not be overloaded as it was well built and proven to be seaworthy.  The weather was overcast and somewhat threatening with a brisk breeze and Miles told his passengers while they may have some slight rain, there would be no heavy wind for several hours.  He assured them he did not think there would be any danger.  Just before 4pm they set off in the direction of Appledore Island. The mood was festive and happy.

As they were approaching Appledore Island Skipper Miles stayed fairly close at about 200′ offshore from the island as the seas had become a bit choppy and the wind was picking up.  Miles headed toward the northwesterly side of the island in the area of Appledore Harbor. Most passengers in the whaleboat were sitting on the starboard side of the boat.  At the same time a sudden, unexpected strong squall of rain and strong wind occurred.  With no time for Miles to change the position of the boat’s sails and with the boat’s passengers concentrated on the starboard side, water immediately started pouring over the gunwales quickly filling the boat. The boat immediately capsized.  As the whaleboat was fitted with rocks and iron ballast for stability, it quickly sank, stern first.  The suction of the boat sinking pulled many of the passengers under the water with little chance to swim or otherwise stay afloat.

Rescue and Aftermath

The whaleboat accident was clearly visible to about 100 guests on the verandas of the Appledore House.  Many ran to dories docked in Appledore Harbor and quickly rowed to the scene in an attempt to save and assist any passengers.  The accident was also viewed from Star Island where additional boats set off to assist in the rescue efforts. 

There were three survivors who were rescued – Skipper Fred Miles,48, of Portsmouth, NH; Lillian Bresnahan and Alice Haggerty.  In all cases they were able to remain afloat until they were pulled aboard one of the many rescue dories.  In the case of Fred Miles, while he was unable to swim, he, nevertheless, was able to grab onto a wooden box which was in the whaleboat and had floated to the surface.  If not for the floating box, Miles would have also been a causality. 

Many rescue parties in the dories started the task of retrieving bodies which were seen in the area of the accident.  Oliver Adams a fisherman from Portsmouth who was employed by the Leighton Brothers at the Appledore House was able to pick up three bodies and take them to the shore where he and others attempted to restore life.  Tragically he discovered one of the deceased was his sister Ena Adams.  Apparently after a brief period of shock, he then went right back to work with the rescue mission. 

As the evening drew to a close, nine bodies had been recovered.  They were taken ashore, and resuscitation attempted.  With no success, the bodies were moved to cots in the music room of the Appledore House.

That evening the rescue parties were unable to locate the remaining five members of the boating party.  All were assumed to have drowned.

Kittery’s medical examiner and coroner, Dr. Edward Shapleigh, left Portsmouth by boat around 9:15 that evening to begin the grim chore of identifying and documenting the dead.  Accompanying Shapleigh was Undertaker H W Nickerson of Portsmouth.  To assist Dr. Shapleigh with identification, waitress Nellie Collins traveled from the Oceanic Hotel to the Appledore House to view, one by one, the faces of the deceased for positive identification.  Nellie was a friend and coworker with all the deceased. 

She had nearly joined the ill-fated ride earlier that day but did not arrive at the wharf on time before the departure of the boat.  By all reports she completed the ordeal of identification that evening before losing her composure on the return trip to the Oceanic. Shapleigh determined the deaths were all due to accidental drowning and no further investigation was required.

Soon after midnight the nine bodies were loaded on the steamer Merryconeag for a trip to the Shoals dock on Ceres Street on the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth, then made the trip to Nickerson’s business and morgue on Daniel Street.  On Friday morning Kittery Town Clerk Prince met with Shapleigh and Nickerson to complete the death certificates.  At that point the bodies could then be claimed by family and eventually moved to hometowns for funerals and burials.

On Friday morning back at Appledore Island, the search team resumed their task of viewing the shoreline around Appledore and the open ocean for any signs of the remaining five bodies.  While this was underway an attempt was made the locate the sunken whaleboat.  There was strong suspicion the bodies would be in or close by the whaleboat.  However, the water in this area was 60’ deep which made searching for the boat difficult.  A request was sent to the mainland to bring Portsmouth police officer and diver Michael Hurley to the site of the accident to do an underwater search for the missing bodies.  That search started Friday afternoon and by early evening there was no success.

On Saturday Hurley resumed his diving activities.  While the water was deep and ocean currents were strong, Hurley was successful in locating the sunken boat and close by he located the body of one of the waitresses.  The body of Eva Marshall was brought to the surface at 12:30pm.  At 3:15pm the body of Winfred Alward, the head waiter who set up the pleasure cruise, was brought to the surface.  Hurley continued his diving search for the addition three bodies.  After a needed overnight sleep, Hurley had success in locating the deceased near the sunken whaleboat in mid- afternoon Sunday – Bessie Chase at 3:10pm; Henry Farrington at 3:30pm; and the final body of Isabelle Ziolkowska at 4:30pm.  The search was now complete.  All bodies were transported to Undertaker Nickerson’s funeral home and morgue in Portsmouth.  Dr. Shapleigh also went to Nickerson’s business to complete identification, determine cause of death, and complete and sign the death certificates.

On Friday morning, the day after the accident, the steamer Merryconeag returned to Portsmouth.  One of the passengers was Skipper Fred Miles who was met at the wharf by his wife and some of his daughters.   He was returning home to 2 Hunking Street in Portsmouth.  He was extremely tired and overwhelmed from the prior day’s events.  He took a few moments to respond to some inquires from a Portsmouth Herald reporter in his first interview with the press.  The reporter’s questions were intended to have Miles respond to the public’s concerns the whaleboat was overcrowded and that Miles was at fault for the accident.

 Miles’s statements, in part, as they appeared in the July 18, 1902 issue of the Portsmouth Herald are as follows.  “A whaleboat of that size has carried forty people and could not be overloaded with only seventeen…I cannot feel that I am in any way to blame for the accident.”

Regarding the events of the accident Miles went on to say, “There was a brisk breeze all afternoon but I really did not think there was any danger.  The squall which brought with it both rain and wind, took me entirely by surprise.  I tried to reef the sail when I saw it coming but I did not have time.  The boat fell dead when the flurry struck us, and then turned bottom up like a flash.  No man ever could have prevented the accident.  It was unavoidable.  In all my experience, and I have had a long one, I have never known a catastrophe so terrible.  It has completely unnerved me.  I almost wish that I had drowned myself so that I could not remember it.  I have neither eaten nor slept since the accident occurred and I do not know when I shall be able to do either.”

This was a big news story across New England particularly in the Boston area where many of the deceased lived and in the Portsmouth area where so many people were familiar with the Isles of Shoals and surrounding maritime activities.  Additionally, two of the young women who died lived in Portsmouth and were well known in the community.  It took several weeks for the buzz about this tragic and very sad story to subside.

Now 122 years later after the discovery of the original death certificates I have this opportunity to reintroduce this largely forgotten story to the citizens of seacoast Maine and New Hampshire.

Deceased

Following is a somber list of the deceased.  As I compiled these descriptions, I felt the sadness these families must have experienced. Included were three sets of sisters and two waiters who were attending Harvard University.  Many were schoolteachers.  The youngest to die was only 15 years old.  I have included miscellaneous information for each of the deceased taken from my great grandfather’s notes and from various newspaper accounts. Many of the newspaper images of the deceased are from the Boston Globe, July 19, 1902.  The death certificates are copies of the originals which are in my possession.

Winfred A Alward, 26, was from Fredericton NB Canada.  He was a graduate student at Harvard taking a special corse in government.  He had been the principal of a high school in Sussex, NB.  He was the head waiter at the Oceanic Hotel.   Alward’s body was recovered by diver Hurley on Saturday afternoon.  He was buried in Fredericton Rural Cemetery in New Brunswick.

 

Laura Gilmore, 20, was born and lived in Exeter NH with her parents and her siblings.  By all descriptions she was a very attractive and charming young woman.  She was a member of the class of 1902 of Robinson Female Seminary in Exeter.  Laura had four sisters and seven brothers.  Her sister Hattie and two other friends were visiting Laura at the Oceanic Hotel on Thursday July 17 and were asked if they wished to attend the boat ride.  Despite the encouragement from Laura, the girls decided not to go on the excursion due to the perceived lack of room on the whaleboat. Laura was buried in Exeter, NH.

 

Catherine Bowes, 24, and her younger sister Elizabeth drowned together in the boating accident.  Catherine and sister Elizabeth lived with their family in Saxonville, a section of South Framingham, MA.  Catherine was a graduate of Framingham High School and was a teacher at Ashland Grammar School.  This was her first year at the Oceanic Hotel although she had worked at other hotels in the past five years.

Elizabeth Bowes, 15, along with her sister Catherine were a set of siblings who drowned together on July 17.   Both sisters lived with their widowed mother, four brothers and a younger sister in Saxonville which is a section of South Framingham, MA.  Elizabeth was the youngest person to die in the boating accident.  She was preparing to enter the Framingham High School in the fall.  The sisters had a double funeral at St George’s Church in Saxonville with burial in the family lot at St. George’s Cemetery.

 

Mary Marshall, 21, was from Haverhill, MA and was a schoolteacher.  She was on the whaleboat with her older sister Eva, both having lost their lives.  Mary’s body was one of the first nine recovered and moved to the Appledore House.  She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Marshall of Ayer’s Village in Haverhill.  She had graduated from high school in 1899 and was assigned as a teacher to the Union School in Ayer’s Village.  She was buried in the Hillside Cemetery in Haverhill alongside her sister.

 

Eva Marshall, 23, was brought to the surface Saturday afternoon at 12:30.  She was the older sister of Mary Marshall, both from Haverhill, MA.   Eva was a schoolteacher having graduated from high school in 1897.  She was assigned as a teacher at the Burnham Public School on Fountain St in Haverhill.  Once discovered by Diver Hurley near the wreck of the whaleboat, Eva’s body was transported by boat to Undertaker Nickerson in Portsmouth and then sent by train that evening to Haverhill. The Marshall family held a double funeral on Sunday afternoon, July 20 with sisters Eva and Mary laid to rest alongside each other at Hillside Cemetery in Haverhill.

Anna Sheehan, 20, lived with her mother and brother in West Medford, MA.  She was highly esteemed by all who knew her.  She kept house for her mother.  She was very close friends with Laura Bresnahan from Medford, MA who was one of the three survivors of the whaleboat accident.  Both girls had left their Massachusetts homes together on July 3 for the travel to the Oceanic Hotel where Laura was to begin her employment as a summer waitress.  It was Anna’s plans to stay with Laura at the Shoals only for a brief vacation before returning home to West Medford.

Minnie McDonald, 20, from Cambridgeport, MA was born in and had previously lived in Bangor, ME with her parents. She was one of seven children.   Minnie moved to Massachusetts a year earlier and was living with her aunt Mrs. Collin Gillis in Cambridgeport. Mrs. Gillis was her father’s sister.  By all accounts she was a lovely girl and well liked by all that knew her.  She was very good friends with Isabelle Ziolkowska who lived two doors down from her house.  They took employment together and traveled in early July to the Oceanic Hotel on the Isles of Shoals.  They perished together two weeks later in the boating accident.  Minnie’s body was the last to leave undertaker Nickerson’s business for interment in Bangor.

Isabelle Ziolkowska, 20, was born in Germany and had lived in Cambridgeport, a section of Cambridge, MA for the past 16 years.  Her very close friend, Minnie McDonald, lived nearby.  The two of them traveled to the Oceanic Hotel in early July to take positions as waitresses at the hotel.  Both died together in the whaleboat accident.  Isabelle’s body was discovered at 4:30 Sunday afternoon, the last body found.  Diver Hurley received many accolades from the Portsmouth community for his efforts.

Isabelle had been living in Cambridge with her unmarried sister and brother.  She and her sister had vowed to stay together to care for each other after their parents died.  They were extremely close.  Isabelle’s brother and sister traveled to the Shoals and were on the return boat trip to Portsmouth with the recovered body.  The sister broke down completely and was in a state of prostration when the boat reached the city about 7pm that Sunday evening.

Bessie Chase, 23, was born on Nantucket Island and attended Provincetown MA High school.  She lived with her mother Mrs. Amelia Chase in Malden, MA.  Her father was a sea captain and had drowned several years earlier in a gale off the coast of Africa.  It was an ironic twist of fate that his own daughter would also drown.

Bessie and her mother moved to Malden to allow Bessie to attend and eventually graduate from Boston University.  Most recently she was a schoolteacher at the Winthrop Primary School in Melrose.

Her employment at the Oceanic was her first experience as a table waitress.  Her mother mentioned Bessie was a great swimmer and could not understand why she had not been saved.  Bessie was one of the last to be brought to the surface at 3:15 on Sunday afternoon. Funeral services were in Malden and burial was in Provincetown, MA.

 

Mary Adams, 31, and her sister Ena were one of three sets of sisters to have drowned in the tragic whaleboat accident.  They were the only ones of the group to have lived locally, in Portsmouth NH.  They were both well known to management of both the Oceanic Hotel and Appledore House.  Mary had worked at the Oceanic Hotel for eight years and was currently the hotel’s order clerk. They lived on Star Island during the summer months and were both waitresses at the Oceanic Hotel.  A double funeral was held at their home at 65 Marcy Street in Portsmouth on Sunday July 20, just three days after the accident.  The funeral and visiting hours were overflowing with family and friends from across Portsmouth.  Interment for both sisters was the Proprietors Burial Ground in Portsmouth.

Ena Adams, 22, was a resident of Portsmouth NH.  She and her sister Mary Adams both died in the boating accident.  They had a combined funeral at their home on Marcy Street in Portsmouth at 2pm on Sunday July 20.  Floral tributes were numerous including forty large bouquets with over ninety separate pieces in all.  Of the larger pieces, there was one from Manager Charles Ramsdell of the Oceanic Hotel.  Oscar Leighton of the Appledore House also sent a beautiful floral star.  

Bertha Graham, 24, was born and brought up in Dartmouth Nova Scotia.  She had been living for the past two years with her brother Charles in Danvers, MA.  She divided her time with brother Charles in Danvers and brother Fenwick in Boston. Bertha’s occupation was a dressmaker. Bertha’s brother Charles had been the steward at the Oceanic Hotel for the past five years.  Two weeks prior to the boating accident, Bertha had joined her brother Charles on Star Island for a short vacation. Two days prior to the accident she had sent a letter home to her mother in Nova Scotia describing the beautiful surroundings of the Isles of Shoals.

Henry C. Farrington, 19, was a student at Harvard University in Cambridge MA.  His home was in North Cambridge MA.  He had just completed his freshman year at Harvard.  He had met Winfred Alward at the University and the two traveled together for summer employment at the Oceanic.  Farrington  took the position of second head waiter in the hotel’s dining room.  By many accounts, Farrington and Alward were both strong swimmers.  At the time of the boating accident, both were seen afloat in the ocean water keeping some of the waitresses above water.  Unfortunately, they could not sustain the rescue, and all eventually drowned before dories arrived on site. Farrington’s body was one of the last to be recovered by Diver Hurley on Sunday afternoon.

Postscript 

The Oceanic Hotel continues to operate on Star Island now owned and managed by the Star Island Corporation – a joint venture between the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ for their programs of religious conferences and study.  Star Island’s wharf and dock remains active receiving guests, supplies and day-tourists at the island in the summer months.  A very worthwhile excursion is the M/V Thomas Leighton operated by the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company.   During the summer months daily trips on this boat leave Portsmouth for scenic and educational round trips to Star Island. I highly recommend this excursion.

The story of the Appledore House is quite different.  This hotel was built in 1848 by Thomas Leighton.  At the time of the time of the boating accident in 1902 the hotel was managed by Oscar Leighton who was Thomas Leighton’s son.  Oscar was the brother of Celia Thaxter who is often famously associated with the Isles of Shoals.  The Appledore House and surrounding cottages were destroyed in a major fire in 1914.  No trace of the Appledore House exists today.   That fire ended the era of tourist vacation accommodations on Appledore Island.  The island is now home to the Shoals Marine Laboratory run cooperatively by Cornell University and the University of New Hampshire since the early 1970’s.

The coroner for the Isles of Shoals boating accident was Dr. Edward Shapleigh who was Kittery’s primary physician for 68 years.  He graduated from Kittery High school in 1884, went to medical school and began his medical practice in Kittery in 1890.  For many years he made house calls with his horse and buggy.  In January 1912 he was the attending physician at the birth of my father.  My mother, who was an RN, worked closely with Dr. Shapleigh during World War II with school health programs and public blood drives.  Doctor Shapleigh continued his practice to the town of Kittery until his retirement in 1958.  He died at age 91 in 1959.  Shapleigh School in North Kittery is named for him.  The drowning deaths at the Isles of Shoals in 1902 affected him greatly.  He never had occasion to return to Appledore Island during his lifetime. 

Skipper Fred Miles was emotionally distressed by the events of July 17, 1902.  As he was a lifelong mariner and fisherman, he returned to the ocean for employment in various capacities to support his growing family.  At the time of the boating accident his wife, Mary, was pregnant and she gave birth to their 13th child in November 1902.   Unfortunately, Fred Miles developed tuberculosis and was confined to home care for a lengthy period of time before passing away in January 1911 at age 57.  He left behind his wife and 11 children.  (Two children had died in infancy.)  It is my understanding there are many descendants of Fred Miles living in the Portsmouth area to the present time.

Appledore Island played an important role during World War II in the defense of Portsmouth Harbor and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.  Appledore was off limits to the pubic during the war years in the early 1940’s.  I have written on this subject.

I am very fortunate to have lived in Kittery and York during all my lifetime and have traveled to the Isles of Shoals on several occasions.

Author: Tom Prince

York, Maine   tomprince326@gmail.com