MAINE LIGHTS: a preview. 

A chapter from my upcoming book.

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: PART TWO

CRABTREE LEDGE LIGHT

(1890 – 1950)

Hancock Point, Maine (Frenchman Bay)

Lighthouse of Death!

Photo courtesy U. S. Coast Guard

The story of Crabtree Ledge Light is filled with tragedy and an eventual demise at the hands of winter. But, like all Maine lights, it had its glorious beginning.

You might well ask “Who was Mr. Crabtree, to have a ledge named after him?” Agreen Crabtree was captain of a privateering vessel during the American Revolution, and a local fisherman. His ledge was a most dangerous spot on the Atlantic coast, to be avoided if ships could only see it. To that end, Congress ponied up $25,000 to build a lighthouse in 1886. January 15, 1890 marked the first lighting of its 5^th order Fresnel lens. The tower was of the popular sparkplug style made of cast iron. Its brown exterior was changed to white in 1903.

A 1,200 pound bell and striker machinery was added to the Crabtree pier in 1891.

                                                                                                      U. S. Coast Guard drawing

        

The light's first keeper was Charles Chester who had a long history with the ocean. He started as a cabin boy at age 11 and was captaining his own ship by age 19. Charles and his wife Mary Blake Chester produced 11 children, the last 5 of which were born at Hancock Point. Charles was keeper of the Crabtree Light from 1890-1908.

                                                                  Charles and Mary Chester, keepers

Their granddaughter, Dot (born 1903), wrote down her lighthouse memories:

“Most of Grandpa's nights were spent in the lighthouse, although the house on the mainland was located so the bedroom window faced the light so he could see that all was well. If the light went out, as it sometimes did, Grandpa would dress quickly, rush down to the little boat and row out to the light. If there was a smokeout, everything would be all covered with soot and it would take all day to clean it up.”

Bad luck for the lighthouse began in 1898, when the steamer Sebenoa rammed the structure with a tremendous force that rattled the light's foundation. The Sebenoa took the brunt of the damage, and its Captain Dixon was forced to beach it in order to save his crew and cargo.

S.S. Sebenoa,, built in Bath, Maine in 1880. Photo courtesy Jesup Library Special Collection

That brush with death would fade into the background of all memory when the real thing came to visit Crabtree Ledge on October 2, 1916. As the headline in Lighthouse Digest of November 2005 put it: SHADOW OF DEATH FOLLOWS CRABTREE LEDGE LIGHTHOUSE TO A WATERY GRAVE. So bring in the dog, lock up the children, and prepare yourself for the harrowing tale we are about to relate. We could blame it all on keeper J. H. Peasely, whose absence due to illness on 2 October 1916 put brothers Chester and Leon Brinkworth (acting and assistant keepers, respectively) in death's heartless path. Their mutually fatal decision that they needed extra provisions for the evening meal prompted Leon's one-mile voyage in the lighthouse dory to the general store at Hancock Point. The trip in and out was uneventful, but upon his return, Leon made a costly attempt to climb the ladder to the top of the dome. The Daily Kennebec Journal gave a concise account of the event:

“A bottle of milk cast up on the shore unbroken is mute testimony to the fact that

some mishap befell the boy while the dory oars properly shipped and painter

dragging indicate that the lad had reached the lighthouse. The table set for supper,

the light burning brightly and steadily showed that all preparations for the night had

been made and it is probable that with bundles on one arm and the painter of the boat

in the other hand, Leon Brinkworth lost his balance, his call for help summoning his

brother and that both were drowned.”

George E. Moon, the brothers' uncle, aided by area resident Ora Jordan, spent the following Monday dragging the perimeter of the Lighthouse, until they snagged the body of Chester Brinkworth and brought him to the surface on heavy fishing line. [Ora Jordan would eventually become the keeper at Crabtree Ledge.] Officials brought up from Portland to assist in the search for the brothers' remains included Inspector M. Sherman aboard the U. S. Lighthouse Service tender Hibiscus. Leon's body was never recovered. Another assistant keeper, Joseph Whitmore, also drowned 6 months later.

                                                                                              USLHT Hibiscus, courtesy U. S. Coast Guard, 1908

The Daily Kennebec Journal eulogized the Brinkworth brothers:

“The accident is one of the saddest in all the years of living toll taken by the sea

within the memory of the people of the town. Both were bright, able and highly

esteemed young men and their tragic death has brought shock and grief to friends

and associates.”

U. S. Coast Guard photo

17 years later the Lighthouse would be decommissioned, having become “unnecessary,” a term that would become more common in the history of Maine lights. The Federal Government sold it in 1933, and it changed hands one more time in 1937. Over the course of years, poor maintenance put the Lighthouse in position for a major winter storm (in 1950) to topple it into the ocean. As it was no longer Federal property, no official investigation into the event was ever conducted. It is considered likely that the 1898 collision with the Sebenoa weakened the Lighthouse below the waterline, and had a hand in its demise. Only the gods of the sea know for sure! 
 

                                                                                                Crabtree Ledge Light color postcard