Spirits Alive hosts a privateer party

From gray sea-fog, from icy drift,
From peril and from pain,
The home-bound fisher greets thy lights,
O hundred-harbored Maine!
But many a keel shall seaward turn,
And many a sail outstand,
When, tall and white, the Dead Ship looms
Against the dusk of land.

— The Dead Ship of Harpswell by John Greenleaf Whittier

Written in 1866, Whittier's poem is rumored to be about Maine's famous ghost ship, the Dash, one of several New England-based privateers — armed private ships licensed to attack enemy shipping — that sailed into the the history books and maritime lore.

At 10 a.m. Saturday at the Maine Historical Society library, Maine author James L. Nelson will explore the ghostly and the gritty past of privateers, part of a series by the Eastern Cemetery restoration group, Spirits Alive.

"In my talk I'm going to discuss privateers — privately owned vessels that went to sea to capture enemy shipping for fun and profit," Nelson wrote in an email message to the Daily Sun. "And, as a distant third, patriotism. ... We'll talk about all the various aspects of privateers and the exploits of some of the ships that sailed from Portland during the Revolution and the War of 1812. And of course we'll touch on Portland's famous ghost privateer!"

Some have said the Dead Ship of Harpswell chronicled by Whittier was the famous privateer, Dash, built in Freeport for Seward and Samuel Porter of Portland and employed in the plundering of British ships during the War of 1812. According to the blog site, http://forums.wildbillguarnere.com, a post reported on this legend: "Her name was the Dash and she had been commissioned in June of 1812 to 'detain, seize, and take all vessels to whomever belonging' along with their goods and crews and bring them into U.S. ports for legal prosecution 'under the rights of the United States as a power at war.'"

"It was on a cold day in late January of 1815 that the Dash, in the company of one of her sister ships, the Chamberlain, set sail and encountered a gale after two days at sea," the blog continued. "The Chamberlain changed course, but the Dash drove on into the storm, disappearing from sight, but not, some will avow, forever. Months afterward, some fishermen in Casco Bay swore to hearing the creak of a vessel bearing down on them out of the mists and suddenly seeing a fully rigged phantom ship glide by them through the fog, bound for Freeport. On her bow were inscribed the words 'Dash-Freeport.'

"The incidence of sightings by fishermen and other boaters on the bay increased over the years; although the ghost ship would appear seemingly at random, certain details were noted at each instance – there would always be a fog up, there would be no breeze, even though the ship would be cruising fast, as it had been wont to do during its earthly service at sea, and there would be seen standing on the bow the young sailor boys of Freeport, their eyes cast towards home. The legend of the Dash grew, and soon it was speculated that whenever a family member of one of the lost 60 crewmen died, the ship would return from the hereafter to bear their loved ones on board for their final journey."

Nelson, who was born in Lewiston and became fascinated with ships at an early age, said his talk will delve as well into the mundane realities of privateering.

"Privateers were what we would call today a 'force multiplier,' doing work for the navy that the navy did not have to pay for," he wrote. "Another term navy people might have used was 'insufferable pain in the neck.' For a lot of reasons privateers were more bother than they were worth. Except to the owners, who could make fortunes off of them."

Maritime history is a passion for Nelson. After several years of working in the television business, he changed direction, and while living in California learned that the replica of Sir Francis Drake's Golden Hinde would be visiting Marina del Rey. When he learned that they were looking for crew members, he decided to run away to sea, which is what he had always wanted to do, according to his online biography.

"In 1988, Nelson signed on as a deckhand aboard the Golden Hinde and was soon promoted to boatswain, much to the annoyance of fellow crewmember Lisa Page, who also sought the position," reads Nelson's online biography at www.jameslnelson.com/biography.htm. "Lisa vowed then that she would some day marry Nelson and make him pay for the rest of his life for taking that job from her."

While working aboard the "H.M.S." Rose, a replica of a Revolutionary War British frigate, Nelson came up with the idea for his first novel, 'By Force of Arms.' In January of 1992 he began work on the novel. "The following September, Nelson 'swallowed the anchor' to pursue writing. He moved to Northern California, where his old shipmate Lisa Page made good on her threat of matrimony."

Nelson and his wife, Lisa and their four children now live in Harpswell.

There are several privateer crew members buried in the Eastern Cemetery, according to Holly Doggett, who handles marketing for Spirits Alive.

But the real reason to feature Nelson, who has written a string of books about maritime history, was to attract a larger audience than Spirits Alive typically enlists for its cemetery projects, Doggett noted.

"Even though we can't do much in the cemetery this time of year, this is a good way to keep our name out there and let people know what we're doing. A lot of people don't know who we are and what we're doing," she said.

The lecture series was a big success when Spirits Alive hosted it in 2007, Doggett said, and after the series took a hiatus last year it's back this year with three diverse subjects.

Saturday's talk on privateers will be the second of three. On Jan. 30, Emerson Woods Baker, a history professor at Salem State College, discussed "Native Americans of Casco Bay," including Native American burial practices, a tie-in to the cemetery theme.

On March 27,  Earle G. Shettleworth Jr., director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, will present a slide lecture on "The Historical Development of Munjoy Hill." All lectures take place at 10 a.m. on their respective dates at the historical society.

Anyone planning to attend Saturday's session may want to show up early.

"Our last lecture was standing room only," Doggett said.

The Maine Humanities Council provided a grant to support the series, she said.

For more informatlon, visit http://www.spiritsalive.org/lectures.htm.