Campobello: An Historical SketchWells, Kate Gannett
History
Campobello: An Historical Sketch
Wells, Kate Gannett
Campobello Island (N.B.)
=Smuggling.= Whether Arnold was attracted to the Passamaquoddy region by
its opportunities for smuggling can never be known. But certain is it
that the embargo law of 1807 had put a stop to foreign trade, and in
1808 destroyed the coasting trade. Before then it had been easy to carry
breadstuffs and provisions across the line. Thousands of barrels thus
reached Eastport; and many thousands were brought to Campobello and
Indian Island, at one dollar a barrel. Smuggling began, or, if it did
not then begin, it increased. Sudden wealth and bad habits kept pace
with each other. At first the price for smuggling was twelve and
one-half cents a barrel, which quickly rose to three dollars a barrel.
One man is said to have earned forty-seven dollars in twenty-four hours.
Fogs helped,--"that's why they were made".
In the war of 1812, Indian Island and Campobello were very busy in
shipping English goods and wares from the large colonial ports. Neutral
voyages were constantly made. American vessels had a Swedish registrar,
and went from Sweden to Eastport in three or four hours. Silk, wool,
cotton, metals, were thus carried up the bays and streams, and shipped
in wagons to the Penobscot, then to Portland, Boston, etc.
Provincial trade was peculiar. British vessels, laden with gypsum and
grindstones, because they came from ports not open to American vessels,
sailed to the frontier out on the lines, and transferred their cargo to
American vessels waiting there. Slaves from Norfolk, Virginia, were sent
to some neutral island, from there transported to an English ship again
out on the lines, and then carried to the West Indies.
=Rice Island.= One of the islands which was cognizant of some of the
smuggling was Tuttle's, now called Rice Island, after Solomon Rice, who
kept store there. It is a little round spot of beauty in the chain of
islands bridged by fallen weirs, between Lubec and Eastport.
=Lubec.= Lubec itself owes its existence to the attempt of five citizens
of Eastport to avoid the payment of duty bonds to the British. Lubec
Point was then only a forest. Though by 1818 it had become a rival of
Eastport, it is now but a small town. Yet it is more picturesquely
situated than almost any other town in New England. Its single steeple
and its flagstaff dominate the steep hill down which run two grassy
streets to the water's edge, where stretch out into the Narrows the
piers, which change their aspect with each rising and falling tide. When
the fog sets in over the bay, the last point it hides is Lubec steeple.
When it lifts, it leaves its gay flower gardens damp with a moisture
that brightens each tiny petal. From the top of Mulholland's Hill, on
Campobello, Lubec looks like some quaint foreign spot, with streaks of
American activity across it.
Out beyond the town is Quoddy Lighthouse, built about 1809. Near it is
the Life Saving Station. On the left of the hill are the low marshes off
Lubec, and beyond them the long purple line of Grand Manan.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account