Month: August 2018

You don’t have to be a History Geek to be totally wrapped up in the Battle of 1775 re-enactment Saturday morning off Pavillion Beach!   The narrated re-enactment, having the 3 Schooners, Lewis H. Story, Fame and Ardelle, all authentic to the period, and the smell of gun powder gave you a taste of the battles that our Fort defended in her early years.   I’ll be looking forward to reading Joe Garland’s book “Guns off Gloucester.”  Published in 1975, as it told the tale of what Garland wrote as “Gloucester’s resolute role in America’s fight for freedom.”

The Schooner Festival is coming up so of course, my thoughts turn to the role of such vessels in my family’s life in Gloucester.

This is a picture of the schooner Concord, owned and operated by Captain John Duguo, an ancestor-in-law a couple of generations back who sailed about the same time as my direct ancestor Captain John Bentley. This picture puts in perspective for me the relative size of the ship to the men and to the sea. Yikes. Those guys sure look small there and it’s a wonder ANY of them ever came back from these fishing trips.

John Bentley was born in 1847 in County Galway Ireland. I have not yet found the siblings he surely must have had. To my knowledge, his parents Henry and Kate never came to America. He arrived in New York from Ireland before he was 18 years old, perhaps in 1863 when he would have been only 16.  He made his way to Cape Ann and  married Mary Catherine Costello (Kate) Christmas Day 1864 in Gloucester. (17 years old if we accept the dates on the various records). There were 6 children born to this couple.

Captain Bentley and his father in law, Martin Costello, died at sea in February 1882 when he was only 35 years old. His wife was left with 5 living children, the youngest only 8. Kate Bentley died just 3 years later of “natural causes”. By this time, the children were older and probably taking care of each other, but I’ve often wondered what life was like for them after they lost their father and then their mother in such a short time. An article in the October 1886 The Century Magazine called Gloucester Fishers states “Few men who fish on the Banks live to be old, and the result is there are comparatively few old fishermen in Gloucester.” And many fatherless children.

Seeing the schooners in the harbor is glorious and it’s worth taking a minute to remember the high price Gloucester has paid to get to this point.

Nick writes- This was taken Thursday August 9 from our house on Phillips Ave.

The Cape Ann Community Foundation invites you to join us at DRIFT (3 Main Street) on August 20th from 5-6 PM to help us kickoff the online auctioning of the low number Cape Ann License Plates, 1-100. The online auction will run from August 20 through Labor Day (September 3). The Bridge Cape Ann will be videoing the event. So show up and show your love for Cape Ann. The plates to be auctioned are all on Lovecapeann.com for everyone to preview. If you already have a plate and want one of the low number plates you will be able to put your current plate back in the system when you pike up your low number plate.

By Auctioning these low number plates we will be able to increase the size and number of grants in the future.

So show your love for Cape Ann and get a plate today at Lovecapeann.com!!!