Sea Stories in Stone

Thomas Winslow (1821-1901) - Maple Grove, Bath

Safely Anchored At Last

According to his obituary, Thomas J. Winslow "went to sea as a young man and was engaged in coasting for a great many years." His seafaring career began before 1849 on the Kennebec River where he was a "gondola man" rafting lumber, and other cargoes, between suppliers and shipyards with his brothers, Benjamin and Nathaniel. After Benjamin died of consumption at age 33, both Nathaniel and Thomas went on to command a series of increasingly larger merchant vessels sailing between ports on the eastern seaboard.

In 1862, at age 41, Thomas took command of the Hector, a sloop of 41 tons in Bath. Two years later he built, owned and mastered a 66 ton schooner, the Gen. Grant. Next, he captained the 78 ton schooner Chilean. His last command was another schooner, the 141 ton Odell, sailing out of Portland from 1873 until 1885.

Twice married, Thomas left behind a widow and three grown children when he died at his Portland home in February, 1901 at "the advanced age of 79 years, seven months and five days." Two months earlier, his brother Nathaniel had passed away after his own lengthy career as a coasting sea captain.

More than a century later, Thomas remains "safely anchored at last," buried next to his first wife and his brother Benjamin and not far from Nathaniel. They all rest in Maple Grove cemetery in Bath.

Sources: Bath Daily Times; Baker's A Maritime History of Bath, Maine;US Census; Bath cemetery records;
MMM Captains Index; Portland City Directories;

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