Codseeker

The schooner Codseeker was constructed at Port Clyde, Nova Scotia, in 1877 by Thomas Coffin & Company.Easton At the time, the Coffins were known for their beautifully crafted ships, mostly schooners and square-rigged ships which sailed all over the world.Easton She was a wooden vessel, constructed for the profitable, yet dangerous fishing along the coasts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

The schooner was {{convert|58|ft|6|in|m|2}} long, with a beam that reached {{convert|18|ft|5|in|m|2}}.Easton Codseeker had a net gross ton{{Ambiguous|reason=Should be either net tonnage or gross tonnage|date=October 2023}} of 42 and registered ton of 29.5.Easton The vessel sailed with the standard rigging and gaff topsail. A schooner with her dimensions would have required a certain amount of ballast to combat lateral forces against the sail. However, Codseeker was not built with the customary amount of counterbalance, most likely due to the schooner's depth.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

On 9 May 1877, while on her very first fishing outing,{{efn|The ship had previously sailed to Halifax for provisions.Murphy p. 262.}} the new schooner capsized just east of Cape Sable Island. Eastern wind had been increasing the entire day and had turned into a storm, which caused strain on the slender vessel. Once the wind increased, the schooner started rolling heavily to its leeward side, often taking its time to recover.Murphy p. 261. At this time, Captain Phillip Brown ordered the mainsail down, and headed for land.Murphy p. 262. According to Brown, sailing towards the Shoal of the Rock would mean a shorter and steeper run of sea, and therefore no need to reef the foresail.{{cn|date=October 2023}} However, the lightness of the vessel, being empty in the hold, caused severe and unnatural rocking and she gradually careened over until Codseeker was flat on the beam ends. Half of the schooner's deck became submerged in the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Quickly after Codseeker keeled over, Brown, as well as a cook and another young fisherman, were able to locate a fishing dory, which sat between the foremast and the mainmast of Codseeker. Once the three men dislodged the small dory, they attempted to rescue the remaining men, but had drifted out too far while bailing the excess water out of the dory.Murphy p. 263. The next morning, the men in the dory made it back to land. Arriving in Barrington, newspapers initially reported that the rest of the crew had drowned.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-portland-daily-press-schooner-capsiz/133079237/ |title=Schooner Capsized and Thirteen Men Drowned |newspaper=Portland Daily Press |page=2 |date=May 11, 1877 |accessdate=October 7, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}

There were a total of 13 men on Codseeker, and after those in the dory reached shore and reported the capsizing, the American schooner Matchless, under the command of Captain Job Crowell, set out on May 10 to search for survivors, sailing through heavy seas.Murphy p. 263. It found the Codseeker and was able to rescue four men clinging to the wreckage.Murphy p. 264. However, unknown to those survivors and their rescuers, two men were still trapped alive inside Codseeker.Murphy p. 264. On May 12, the American schooner Ohio was passing by the wreckage when members of its crew, dispatched to identify the capsized vessel, realized that survivors were still onboard and rescued crewmen James Smith and Samuel Atwood by chopping into the hull with an axe.Murphy pp. 265–268. One account states the men had been trapped in the ship for 89 hours.Murphy p. 268.

Of the 13 men of the Codseeker, nine survived the capsizing: three via the dory, four rescued by the Matchless, and two rescued by the Ohio. Of the four men who did not survive, two died below deck when the ship capsized,Murphy p. 262. and one surnamed Nickerson was washed away and drowned while awaiting rescue by the Matchless.Murphy p. 264. Codseeker was later towed to Green Cove in Yarmouth County by the two schooners Condor and Dove.Easton Upon arrival, three bodies were found in the ship.

Names of the crew of the Codseeker were published in the Boston Evening Transcript of 12 May 1877:{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/boston-evening-transcript-the-morning-ne/133126610/ |title=The Morning News |newspaper=Boston Evening Transcript |page=2 |date=May 12, 1977 |accessdate=October 8, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}

{{div col}}

• Phillip M. Brown (master)
• Samuel Atwood
• Robert Bass
• William Goodman
• Ziba Hunt Jr.
• Norman Newell
• J. Nickerson
• James Smith
• Jesse Smith
• John Smith
• John E. Smith
• two unnamed boys

{{div col end}}

Brown, Atwood, and James Smith are known to have survived, while Nickerson is known to have perished. There are inconsistencies between the Transcript list and other sources, including Nickerson's given name and mention of survivors named Will KenneyMurphy p. 264. and Tanny Knowles.Murphy p. 269.

By July, just two month after her capsizing, Codseeker was repaired and back at sea.Murphy p. 269. The captain of the Ohio, Edwin O. Dorr,{{efn|Dorr died in October 1933, reportedly the day before his 85th birthday.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bangor-daily-news-capt-e-o-dorr/133121368/ |title=Capt. E. O. Dorr |newspaper=Bangor Daily News |location=Bangor, Maine |page=4 |date=October 26, 1933 |accessdate=October 8, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}}} was presented with a gold watch by the Canadian government{{efn|A letter accompanying the watch, quoted in Dorr's obituary, was signed by Albert James Smith, Minister of Marine and Fisheries.}} in recognition of his life-saving efforts.{{efn|One source says the watch was presented to the Captain Crowell of the Matchless,Murphy p. 269. but this is contradicted by several sources discussing Captain Dorr of the Ohio.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sun-journal-untitled/133120784/ |title=(untitled) |newspaper=Sun Journal |location=Lewiston, Maine |page=2 |date=March 20, 1879 |accessdate=October 8, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}}}

How long the Codseeker remained in service is unclear, as mentions of the ship other than its capsizing, rescuing of trapped crew members,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-montreal-star-sparks-from-the-telegr/133089806/ |title=Sparks from the Telegraph |newspaper=Montreal Star |page=-1 |date=May 16, 1877 |accessdate=October 8, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}} and being towed into port,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-daily-herald-maritime-miscellan/133084380/ |title=Maritime Miscellany |newspaper=New York Herald |page=10 |date=June 2, 1877 |accessdate=October 7, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}} are absent from contemporary newspaper reports. One later account states the ship subsequently survived "the great Newfoundland gale of 1885."Murphy p. 269. Canadian records indicate it was registered as late as 1903.{{cite web |url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/ship-registration-index-1787-1966/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=12385&DotsIdNumber= |title=Item: 12385: COD SEEKER |website=Library and Archives Canada |accessdate=October 8, 2023}} The ship continued on the registry books until 1953, when her registration showed a closure reason of "no longer exists".Vessel Registry, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. A 1937 newspaper article stated the Codseeker was refitted then "lost will all hands on its seconds voyage",{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bangor-daily-news-buxton/133084588/ |title=Capt. Dorr of Bucksport Hero of Weird Tale |first=Henry |last=Buxton |newspaper=Bangor Daily News |location=Bangor, Maine |page=10 |date=January 22, 1937 |accessdate=October 7, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}} but this lacks corroboration.

A relatively complete retelling of the event appeared in The Sun of New York City in June 1884.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sun-three-salt-sea-stories/133132163/ |title=Three Salt Sea Stories |newspaper=The Sun |location=New York City |page=7 |date=June 29, 1884 |accessdate=October 8, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}} Additional detail, especially a first-person account by survivor James Smith, appears to date from the article "The Wreck of the Cod-Seeker", attributed to Colin McKay and published in many American newspapers during 1914.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-shelton-clipper-the-wreck-of-the-cod/133083179/ |title=The Wreck of the Cod-Seeker |first=Colin |last=McKay |newspaper=The Shelton Clipper |location=Shelton, Nebraska |page=5 |date=April 23, 1914 |accessdate=October 7, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}} A variant of that account was published as late as 1945 in England.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-illustrated-leicester-chronicle-five/133082269/ |title=Five Days In A Floating Tomb |first=Colin |last=McKay |newspaper=Leicester Chronicle |location=Leicester, England |page=10 |date=June 2, 1945 |accessdate=October 7, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}

{{notelist}}

• {{cite book |last=Easton |first=Alan |date=1992 |title=Terror On The Coast: The Wreck of the Codseeker |publisher=Nimbus Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1551090252}}
• {{cite magazine |last=Murphy |first=William M. |date=1976 |magazine=Great Canadian Adventures |title=The Wreck of the Codseeker |url=https://archive.org/details/greatcanadianadv0000unse/page/260/mode/2up?q=codseeker&view=theater |pages=261–269 |publisher=The Reader's Digest Association (Canada) |sbn=888500513 |via=archive.org}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/nanaimo-daily-news-derelict-holds-two-im/133082656/ |title=Derelict Holds Two Imprisoned At Sea For Days |agency=CP |newspaper=Nanaimo Daily News |location=Nanaimo, British Columbia |page=6 |date=December 1, 1933 |accessdate=October 7, 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}

{{Shipbuilding in Atlantic Canada}}

Category:1877 ships

Category:Schooners

Category:Ships built in Nova Scotia

Category:Sailing ships of Canada

Category:Maritime history of Canada

Category:Individual sailing vessels

Category:Maritime incidents in May 1877