The Portland Gale was a storm that struck the coast of New England on November 26 and 27, 1898. The storm formed when two low pressure areas merged off the coast of Virginia and travelled up the coast; at its peak, it produced a storm surge of about ten feet in Cohasset harbor and hurricane-force winds in Nantucket. The storm killed more than 400 people and sank more than 150 boats and ships. It also changed the course of the North River, separating the Humarock portion of Scituate, Massachusetts, from the rest of Scituate.
On November 26, 1898, the steamship SS Portland left India Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts, for Portland, Maine, on a regularly scheduled run. She never made it to port. None of the 192 passengers and crew survived the massive storm that wreaked havoc on New England's coast — a storm that was later dubbed "the Portland Gale" after the tragic loss of the ship. [1]
For years, controversy reigned as to the location of the ill-fated ship. In the summer of 2002, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, joined by the National Undersea Research Center at the University of Connecticut (UConn), solved the mystery surrounding the Portland's location. Using data from American Underwater Search and Survey, they brought back images from the sea floor that conclusively identified the remains of the steamship Portland. [2]
Researchers from NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, along with the NOAA-UConn team and filmmakers from [The Science Channel], returned to the wreck of the famed 19th-century steamship from September 13–18, 2003. Kicking off the expedition to peer into the vessel's past and plan for its future, the team conducted the first surveys of the Portland since its location was confirmed in August 2002 within NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off the Massachusetts coast. [2]
In addition to documenting the Portland, the expedition team investigated the wrecks of the Louise B. Crary and Frank A. Palmer, a pair of Boston-bound coal schooners that collided and sank in 1902 as a result of a navigational error. Like the Portland, the Crary and Palmer lie within the boundaries of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Side-scan sonar images obtained in 2002 during a joint mission between NOAA and NURC-UConn revealed that the two large vessels plunged to the sea floor simultaneously, their bows locked together in a deadly embrace. Schooners Columbia and Delaware also sank in the gale. [2]
Dozens of houses were destroyed in each of the towns along the South Shore of Massachusetts. Coastal railroads were damaged in Scituate and in Hull, telegraph and electric lines were severed, and the ferris wheel and roller coaster in Hull were destroyed. The Duxbury pier was damaged, beaches were badly eroded, and dozens of ships and boats were wrecked on the beaches. [2]
The southern coast of Scituate, Massachusetts, is marked by four distinct flaws, running from First Cliff on the northern end of the town's coast down to Fourth Cliff in the southern end. The area surrounding and including Fourth Cliff is called Humarock. Prior to the Portland Gale, the North River flowed south between Fourth Cliff and Marshfield, Massachusetts, joining the South River and entering the ocean two kilometers to the south of the current opening. A thin strip of beach, which connected Third Cliff to Fourth Cliff, was breached by the storm, leaving Fourth Cliff an island. Eventually the old inlet has silted in, forcing the South River to flow north between Marshfield and Fourth Cliff, where it now joins the North River to enter the ocean between Third and Fourth Cliffs. Although Fourth Cliff is now connected by land to Marshfield, north of Rexhame Beach, there are no roads across the old inlet. As a result, Fourth Cliff and the rest of the Humarock part of Scituate are only accessible via the Marshfield Avenue and Julian Street bridges from Marshfield. The change to the course of the North River also increased the salinity of the large marsh area surrounding the current outlet, resulting in the loss of the valuable salt haying business. [2]
Marshfield is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on Massachusetts's South Shore. The population was 25,132 at the 2010 census.
Scituate is a seacoast town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on the South Shore, midway between Boston and Plymouth. The population was 18,133 at the 2010 census.
The Gale of 1878, was an intense Category 2 hurricane that was active between October 18 and October 25. It caused extensive damage from Cuba to New England. Believed to be the strongest storm to hit the Washington - Baltimore region since hurricane records began in 1851, A complete record exists of this hurricane throughout its lifecycle from formation to dissipation.
The North River is a river, approximately 12 miles (19 km) long, in eastern Massachusetts, the United States. It is primarily a tidal river, formed by the confluence of the Indian Head River and Herring Brook. The North River forms the boundary between the towns of Norwell, Pembroke, Massachusetts, Hanover, Massachusetts and downstream, the boundary between Scituate and Marshfield. The river flows into Massachusetts Bay at New Inlet, where it also converges with the mouth of the South River. The North River area is also known as the "Irish Riviera" due to the large Irish American population that migrated during the 19th century.
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is an 842-square-mile (638-square-nautical-mile) federally protected marine sanctuary located at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, between Cape Cod and Cape Ann. It is known as an excellent whale watching site, and is home to many other species of marine life.
Humarock is part of Scituate, Massachusetts, United States 42°08′10″N70°41′26″W. Humarock is a picturesque seaside village surrounded by water and situated on Cape Cod Bay midway between Boston and Plymouth. It was separated from the rest of the town in the Portland Gale of 1898 in which the mouth of the North River shifted. Humarock is now accessible from Scituate only by boat or from the Town of Marshfield by bridge.
The Paul Palmer was a five-masted schooner built in 1902 by George F. Welt in Waldoboro, Maine.
The history of steamboats on the Oregon Coast begins in the late 19th century. Before the development of modern road and rail networks, transportation on the coast of Oregon was largely water-borne. This article focuses on inland steamboats and similar craft operating in, from south to north on the coast: Rogue River, Coquille River, Coos Bay, Umpqua River, Siuslaw Bay, Yaquina Bay, Siletz River, and Tillamook Bay. The boats were all very small, nothing like the big sternwheelers and propeller boats that ran on the Columbia River or Puget Sound. There were many of them, however, and they came to be known as the "mosquito fleet."
Frank A. Palmer and Louise B. Crary are a historic dual shipwreck site in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, off Gloucester, Massachusetts.
PS Portland was a large side-wheel paddle steamer, an ocean-going steamship with side-mounted paddlewheels. She was built in 1889 for passenger service between Boston, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine. She is best known as the namesake of the infamous Portland Gale of 1898, a massive blizzard that struck coastal New England, claiming the lives of over 400 people and more than 150 vessels.
Many ships have wrecked in and around San Francisco Bay. For centuries San Francisco Bay, with its strong currents, rocky reefs, and low fog conditions has experienced more than a hundred shipwrecks. Ever since San Francisco Bay was discovered during the land expedition of Gaspar de Portolà in 1769, it has been one of the most popular harbors.
The Edna G is a shipwrecked eastern rig dragger located on the seafloor of the Atlantic Ocean in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Laid down at Morehead City, North Carolina in 1956, she was a wooden-hulled, engine-powered vessel. She fished off the North Carolina coast until 1972, and then out of Portland, Maine until 1977, when she was moved to Gloucester, Massachusetts. She sank due to unknown causes in June 1988. The wreck was located in 2003. Due to its relatively pristine condition, the wreck has been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places as an exemplar of mid-20th century fishing technology.
The Lamartine is a 19th-century shipwreck lying in the waters of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, off Gloucester, Massachusetts. She was a schooner built in 1848 in Camden, Maine. She was hauling quarried granite from Stonington, Maine to New York City when she went down in a storm on May 17, 1893. One crewmember drowned; the others were rescued by a fishing vessel that saw the ship sinking. The wreck was located in 2004 by a survey team, documented over the next two years.
The Joffre is a 20th-century shipwreck lying in the waters of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, off Gloucester, Massachusetts. She was a schooner built in 1912 in Essex, Massachusetts. Active in the Gloucester fishery, she first used tub trawls for fishing, and was converted to an eastern rig dragger and motorized in 1939. She was returning to Gloucester when her engine caught fire on the evening of August 9, 1947. The wheelhouse was engulfed, the crew abandoned ship, and she sank the next day. The wreck was documented by a Stellwagen Bank survey team in 2006.
The SS Drexel Victory was a Victory-class cargo ship built during World War II. The SS Drexel Victory (MCV-712), was a type VC2-S-AP2 victory ship built by Permanente Metals Corporation, Yard 2, of Richmond, California under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. The Maritime Administration cargo ship was the 744th victory ship. Her keel was laid on February 25, 1945. The ship was christened on May 2, 1945. The ship was named in honor of Drexel University in Philadelphia, one of 150 educational institutions that had Victory ships named after them.
The following index is provided as an overview of and topical guide to recreational dive sites:
Recreational dive sites – Specific places that recreational divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or are used for training purposes
Hurricane San Roque was a destructive tropical cyclone in August 1893 that principally affected Puerto Rico, eastern New England, and Atlantic Canada. Its informal name in Puerto Rico arises from the feast day of Saint Roch, or San Roque in Spanish, which coincided with the hurricane's landfall on that island. It was the third known hurricane of the 1893 Atlantic hurricane season. The system was first observed on August 13 at low latitudes east of the Lesser Antilles. It grew to be a powerful, slow-moving hurricane in the Caribbean Sea, and on August 17 struck Puerto Rico at the equivalence of Category 3 on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson scale. The eye crossed the island from southeast to northwest in about seven hours. A prolonged period of strong winds caused widespread destruction on the island, most notably along the northern coast. Large numbers of homes sustained varying degrees of damage, with flimsy shacks belonging to poor workers faring the worst; many families were left homeless, and four people were killed. Telegraph communications were severed across the island. In addition to the intense winds, several days of heavy rainfall in interior sectors triggered extensive river flooding. The combined effects of rain and wind destroyed fields of crops, most notably coffee and sugar cane.
The Columbia was a 19th-century pilot boat built in 1879 for the Sandy Hook New York pilots. She was run down by the Guion Line steamer SS Alaska in 1883. A second pilot-boat, also named Columbia, was built by Ambrose A. Martin at East Boston in 1894 that had a unique sppon bow and was extremely fast. She was thrown ashore in the great Portland Gale, and remained on the Sand Hills beach in Scituate, Massachusetts for over thirty years as a marine curiosity.