Lemuel Goldsmith Logbook On Board the Schooner Puritan — Fall 2000
~
The Great Lakes… 84% of the continent’s fresh water… a different story in every drop.
Submitted by Robert D. Smith
What follows is an abstract of a log kept by my great grandfather’s brother, Lemuel Goldsmith of Vermilion, Ohio, during the summer of 1849. Although it covers just five weeks, it gives an intimate glimpse into the life of a Great Lakes sailor. R.D.S.
Portrait of Lemuel Goldsmith, 1892.
June 1849
June 1, 1849, Friday: The wind NE, the day fair in the morning. Went below at 8 o’clock. Right aft Cleveland bound to Buffalo. At 8 o’clock at night we was off Grand River. The wind hauled round S.
Saturday (2): Rain in the morning, the wind SE. Off Conneaut at 8 o’clock. At 12 o’clock the wind hauled to the NE. Went below and slept till 4 o’clock. At four the wind SW, light. Thundering in the NW. At 6 o’clock off Erie.
Sunday (3rd): Morning the wind WSW, light. At 8 o’clock off Dunkirk. The day pleasant. Went below at 8 o’clock. Came on deck at 12 o’clock, below Point Evangola. Came in Buffalo at 3 o’clock. Hauled up to Darrow’s elevators.
Monday (4th): The wind SW. The day pleasant. In the morning at 10 o’clock rain. Went to the post office and got no answer.
Tuesday (5): The wind SW. The day pleasant. Went to the post office and got fooled. Came on board and wrote a letter to my friend. Lent one shilling to Robert Orr and one dollar to Alexander Whiten.
Wednesday (6th): The wind NE. The day pleasant. Hauled from Darrows to Smith and Brothers and from there to Sawyers and discharged. I went up to the post office and put in a letter and gave five cents for a paper. We got unloaded at 4 o’clock and hauled down and went out at 8 o’clock.
Thursday (7th): The wind NE, the day pleasant. At 8 o’clock right aft Erie. Went below and slept till 12 o’clock. At 4 o’clock aft Ashtabula. At 8 o’clock off Grand River. A squall from the NW, rain.
Friday (8): The wind NW, light, cloudy in the morning, cleared up at 10 o’clock. At 12 off Avon Point the wind W, light. At 8 o’clock went into Sandusky to Cooks Dock and let go an anchor.
Saturday (9): The wind NE, cloudy in the morning, rain. At 11 o’clock hauled into Barney and Gibbs and that is all. Went up-town and seen some of my friends.
Sunday (10): The wind NE, the day fair. Had one of my friends come to see me at night. I went to the Bethel Church and heard a sermon and the text was let me die the death of the righteous.
Monday (11th): The wind SE, the day pleasant in the morning. Received a letter this morning from home by Captain Grover. At 12 o’clock went up-town and I saw John Black, William, Elisabeth and Rachel White. At 1 o’clock I saw Monroe, Joseph and Gustas. Hauled round to the end of the dock and took in 3,000 bushel of wheat and hauled from there to Hubbard dock.
Tuesday (12th): The wind SE, the day cloudy. In the morning the cook lost 107 dollars, which one of the men found and give it up. Took in 3,000 bushels of wheat. Then dropped round to the other side of the dock and took in 2,000 more.
Wednesday (13): The wind SE, the day pleasant. In the morning at 10 o’clock the wind hauled to the E. At 12 o’clock we got under weigh and beat down to Higgan’s dock. I went up-town and give twenty-five cents for a letter writer and twenty-five cents for a law book and 12½ cents for twelve sheets of paper. At 3 o’clock went up to the Bethel Church and talk with the minister and took four tracks. At 7 o’clock went to the auction and bought 3 yards of linen at 14 cents a yard and went to a tailor shop and got it cut for 25 cents and gave 31 cents for the lining.
Thursday (14): The wind E in the morning, the day pleasant. We took in 2,000 bushels and I went to Barbers and Barney and got ½ cord of wood and then went up-town and gave three cents for a thimble. At 1 o’clock we made sail and went to the first stake and let go anchor. At 6 o’clock a steamboat came and towed us out. At 8 o’clock we was off Huron, at 2 o’clock off Cleveland.
Friday (15): The wind WSW, the day pleasant. In the morning we right off Grand River, at 12 o’clock off Conneaut, at 6 o’clock off Erie. At 8 o’clock thunder, lightning and it rained all night.
Saturday (16): The wind N, the day cloudy. In the morning at 8 o’clock the wind hauled round to WSW. Off Cattaraugus. At 12 o’clock, off Windmill Point. At half past one we got into Buffalo and hauled up to P. Durfee and Co. I went up to the post office and got no letter.
Sunday (17): The wind SW, the day fair. I set down and made a pair of pantaloons.
Monday (18th): The wind SW, the day pleasant. We commenced tarring down.
Tuesday (19): The wind SW, the day fair. We squared our rigging and tarred down and put on some new sizing. We put a gaft on board of the Vincenes. My hands was the blackest thing you ever saw.
Wednesday (20): The wind SW, the day fair. We finished tarring and hauled in to the elevators and unloaded and took in some goods for Milan. We hauled down to the end of the pier.
Thursday (21st): The wind SW, light, the day pleasant. Two vessels went out and had to let go their anchor. We got under weigh at 2 o’clock. The wind light, becalmed at 6 o’clock about 3 miles from Buffalo.
Friday (22nd): The wind SSW, the day pleasant. We are off Windmill Point at 8 o’clock. I went below and slept till 12 o’clock. At 12 o’clock off Point Evangola. At 4 o’clock off the Sugar Loaf.
Saturday (23rd): The wind ENE, light in the morning. The day pleasant. At 12 o’clock off Erie. I went below and slept till 4 o’clock. At 6 o’clock off Conneaut. The wind ESE, light.
Sunday (24th): A squall from the NE in the morning, rained 4 hours. We right off Grand River at 6 o’clock. Ran a foul of a brig cleared off Fairport. Wind NNE. At 12 o’clock the wind WNW, light, we was off Cleveland. At 4 o’clock off Avon Point. At 6 o’clock off Black River. At 12 o’clock off Huron.
Monday (25): At 8 o’clock we went into Huron and I went home. I seen all of the folks and walked to Sandusky that night.
Tuesday (26): The wind NE, the day pleasant. We took in 5,000 bushels of wheat. Two of our men had a fight. The Captain and I made a bulk head.
Wednesday (27): The wind NE, warm rain at night. We took in 1,600 bushels of wheat, 1,200 bushels of corn and 150 barrels of pork. We hauled off to an anchor. The Captain went home.
Thursday (28): The wind SW, the day cloudy, rained 3 hours. At 2 o’clock we hauled to side of the dock and took in 2,000 bushels of corn and dropped off to an anchor. We had a squall from the W, rained.
Friday (29): The wind NE, the day cloudy in the morning. I set the Captain ashore and came on board and helped make sail to dry them and then washed three shirts. In the afternoon I went ashore and went to Bethel Church. From there I went on board of the Bunker Hill and kicked over a spit box and gave 25 cents for that. I went down street and sold a knife. Came on board at 8 o’clock and that is all.
Saturday (30): The wind NE, the day pleasant. I helped to put in two long splices. In the afternoon I went ashore and cruised round town. The Captain went home.
July 1849
Sunday (July 1): The wind ENE, the day fair. At 11 o’clock we hove up and made sail and went to Bulls Island and let go an anchor. In the afternoon I and three other men went ashore and got raspberries.
Monday (2nd): The wind ENE, the day pleasant. The Captain and two of the men took the boat and made a sail for it and went to Sandusky. I put a patch on my coat and washed two handkerchiefs, one pair of socks. At 2 o’clock they came back with the news that the St. Mary lost one man overboard yesterday while jibing her mainsail. He hung on to the pendant till the boat was in 20 feet of him and then sank to rise no more in Sandusky Bay. I borrowed the Life Of Stephen Burroughs and perused it to the 14th chapter.
Tuesday (3rd): The wind ENE, the day pleasant. The mate and two men went to Sandusky and brought the news that two died with the cholera.
Wednesday (4): The wind NE, the day pleasant. The steamboat Islander towed us out in the morning. I finished reading Stephen Burroughs and returned it. I saw the Indiana Propeller on her pleasure ride off Kelleys Island. At 4 o’clock off Vermilion. At 9 o’clock off Black River. At 10 o’clock the wind hauled to SW. At 4 o’clock in morning off Cleveland.
Thursday (5): The wind W, the day cloudy. At 10 o’clock the wind hauled NE. At 12 o’clock 20 miles below Cleveland. I went below. At 4 o’clock off Grand River, the wind S. At 10 o’clock off Conneaut. At 4 in the morning off Erie.
Friday (6): The wind WSW, the day pleasant. At 8 o’clock off Barcelona. I went below. At 12 o’clock I came on deck. At 2 o’clock off Dunkirk. At 12 o’clock, mid-night we came into Buffalo and sailed up to Main Street.
Saturday (7): The wind W, the day cloudy in the morning. At 8 o’clock that night I left Buffalo in the Steamer J.D. Morton for Sandusky.
Sunday (8): The wind E, the day fair. At sunrise went in Erie. We stopped at Conneaut, Ashtabula, Grand River, Cleveland and Sandusky. At 11 o’clock at night I went to the exchange and slept all night and got my breakfast and paid 25 cents.
Monday (9th): The wind E, light. The day pleasant. I came down to Huron, gave 50 cents for bringing my trunk down. I paid $6.98 to J. Sharp for Peter Pobmonteer. I gave Captain Grover wife a letter and brought my things to Monroe Black. Came home at 10 o’clock at night.
Lemuel returned to his diary again on July 10 as he “commenced cutting wheat” on a Vermilion farm. July and August passed and on Monday, August 20, our last entry, Lemuel wrote:
I leave home at 8 o’clock for Milan. Went on board the Schooner Puritan, Lem G. before the mast for sixteen dollars a month, that is all.
After the summer of 1849 (documented here), Lemuel worked on various farms in the Vermilion area. He later moved to a farm in Michigan but kept sailing on the Great Lakes.
Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University, Jerome Library, 6th Floor, Bowling Green, OH 43403. The Board of Lake Underwriters show the Puritan of 223 tons, built in Milan by S. Ruggles in 1846.
Read More of Inland Seas Online
