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11. “A Remarkably Fine Looking Vessel”: The Royal Navy Brig Linnet
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{ 294 } “A Remarkably Fine Looking Vessel” The Royal Navy Brig Linnet Erika Washburn Introduction In the fall of 1949, Ray Stevens stood on the muddy river bank that bordered his New York farm and studied the mysterious shipwreck before him. Protruding from the brownish water just a few feet away were water- worn timbers, the remains of a vessel about 80 feet (24.4 m) in length, whose origins and history were as murky as the river that covered them. Many people in Whitehall , New York, knew about the sunken ships in East Bay (the local name for the lower Poultney River), but no one knew precisely how old they were. According to some of Stevens’s neighbors, the wrecks dated to the Revolutionary War or perhaps as far back as the French and Indian War. Others said they were from the third conflict that swept the Champlain Valley, the War of 1812. This particular hull was said to be filled with war relics such as cannon and cannonballs, but salvage had never been attempted. Unable to resist the mystery and the possibility of unusual finds, Stevens decided to recover the wreck. He enlisted the help of three Vermonters whose farm occupied the opposite bank of the river: Tony, John, and Steve Galick. On an October evening, the Galick brothers joined Ray Stevens with three tractors, several draft horses, and lengths of steel cable to begin their salvage effort. They started by wrapping cables around the heavier timbers, hooked them up, and tugged the hull across the narrow river from the New York to the Vermont bank (fig. 11.1). During this process, the forward one- third of the wreck broke off and floated away.1 The remainder of the hull spun around, leaving the bow facing downriver. The work of Stevens and the Galicks attracted an audience, many of them also curious to know more about the ship pulled from the river. The Whitehall Times conducted its own research and reported to its readers on October 20 that the salvaged wreck was a 75- foot- long (22.9 m) “battleship” of French construc11 Royal Navy Brig Linnet { 295 } tion, dating to the Revolutionary War.2 The Times, alas, had neither the correct war nor the correct ship: the salvaged vessel was actually the War of 1812 ex–Royal Navy brig Linnet. The identity would not be conclusively determined, however, until forty- six years later, when nautical archaeologists began an intensive study of the wreck. Over the course of several weeks in the fall of 1949, more than three hundred people visited the Galick farm to look at the wreck and remove artifacts and hull timbers. Hundreds of cast- iron shot—round shot, bar shot, and hollow bomb shells—were discovered; according to the Galicks, the spaces between the frames were packed with cannonballs that Ray Stevens sold to visitors for “two dollars a pop.”3 One noteworthy artifact discovered in the hull was a copper coin, located in or near the mainmast step, that bore the date 1812 and the inscriptions “Trade and Navigation” on one side and “half penny token” on the other. The American Numismatic Society of New York identified the coin as an 1812 half- penny from Canada.4 Among the other recovered artifacts were four cast- iron artillery pieces: two 8- foot- long (2.4 m) 9- pounder cannon without trunnions, a split mortar, and a 6-foot-6-inch-long (2 m) cannon weighing 1200 pounds (544.3 kg). All were broken or worn out and were serving as ballast aboard Linnet. The two 9 pounders and the split mortar were sold to Fort Ticonderoga for display on the parade grounds; the third cannon was first sold to the Mount Hope Society of Ticonderoga, New York, and later acquired by Fort Ticonderoga.5 Although many of Linnet’s top timbers had deteriorated before 1949 as a result of exposure and rot, the damage to the hull and loss of timbers as a result of the salvage was profound. After the bow broke off and floated away, only a 58- foot (17.7 m) length of the hull remained, consisting of the keel, floor timbers, and first futtocks, some planking and ceiling, the stern deadwood assembly, and the keelson with the mainmast step. The ceiling and most of the stern timbers were removed or dismantled during or shortly after the salvage. Some of these timbers were collected and sold to an antique and relics dealer...