The sardine carrier JACOB PIKE on the ways at Northend Shipyard in 2013.
BATH – During those winter storms last January we heard about the devastation that wracked the coast of Maine from one end to the other. Facebook had numerous photographs of docks washed away and boats grinding to pieces on the rocks, but little was said regarding the former sardine carrier JACOB PIKE, which had gone to the bottom just above Cundy’s Harbor. Many were not surprised by the news, but it was surprising that the media did not opt to cover it as she was one of the last sardine carriers left.
The PIKE was built by Newbert & Wallace of Thomaston for the Holmes Packing Corp., of Rockland in 1949. She was 59 tons, with a length of 72.3 feet, beam 18.6 feet and draft of 8.6 feet. She was powered with a GM Diesel of 330-hp.
There were more rumblings about the PIKE as some were looking for a new owner for her. At this time, the U. S. Coast Guard had control and just wanted her off the bottom. Then suddenly she became the headline news when she was raised by Determination Marine of Portland and towed to South Portland.
I had heard that there was someone related to the Pike family, who once owned her, who wanted to try and save her. Late this fall I received a call from Sumner Rugh, who was the person doing all he could to save the PIKE. He explained, “The whole thing started almost a year ago in those January storms. I was actually finishing out cadet shipping for my junior year at King’s Point. I was on a tanker over in South Korea at the time. I remember sitting there one night and I got this text, it was 11:50 at night, a picture on a Facebook post that said the PIKE had sunk. My whole life I’d watched this thing, seen family pictures and heard about it. I was kind of shook up that it barely got a Facebook post. I woke up the next day and I was like, I don’t even know if there is anything I can do, but I have got to try. She was such a unique piece of Maine history that had such a long career. Now, when you think of Maine you think of lobster, but back then it was sardines. Nobody really cared about lobster. I thought, well we have got to preserve this somehow and keep the sardine industry history going. I started putting a website together, reaching out to people and ended up doing an interview with Don Carrigan back in February. When Don’s piece came out telling the whole story people reached out. I kept pushing things forward. I designed apparel, just to get the word out there. I then did a thing with the Bangor Daily News. Then Maynard Bray reached out to me and I said, ‘We have got to do something, the Coast Guard is going to raise it.’ That was back in June or July. I was starting to put a 501(c)(3) (a non-profit corporation) together. I actually knew Taylor Allen (Rockport Marine) had an involvement with the WILLIAM UNDERWOOD and he had owned the PIKE. Maybe he’d have an interest in this or some ideas of what I could do to try and save her. We ended up starting to work together and he would give me ideas. The Coast Guard had it raised and brought to Turner’s Island in South Portland.
“I could not be there,” continued Sumner. “I was down in New York finishing up classes. I didn’t see anyone else coming up to bat. Determination Marine raised the boat and it was a pretty impressive job. They put bags all around it and it came right up. She had been sitting underwater for eight months and it just popped right up. That was pretty cool. I mean not cool the end result. Since the Coast Guard was involved there were all sorts of regulations and rules that they had to go by. It became a pretty big job. All of the news agencies were there and reporting on it and now all of the sudden it was something they were interested in. It was neat to see that there was interest at the time, but unfortunately it was on sort of a dark light. At that point we were going back and forth with the Coast Guard, as the JACOB PIKE Organization, trying to save her from being crushed. It wasn’t easy. I said, ‘Well, if nothing else if we can’t have the whole boat saved, maybe we could save some components of the boat.’
The Jacob Pike Organization did all they could to save her from being crushed, but the Coast Guard was not listening. The group even tried through Senator Collins’ and Congressman King’s offices to assist in trying to get them to change their minds, no luck. In the end they were allowed to take numerous items, which included the propeller, rudder, helm, masts, name plates and the boat’s wheel. What we all have to remember is that her condition was questionable and even if they were allowed to have the entire boat, how much of her would have been saved when they did a major rebuild, little if anything.
Back in 2010 Maynard and several others took the lines off the PIKE and did a set of accurate drawings. Her sister is PAULINE, which unfortunately is sitting on the railway at Billing’s Diesel & Marine in Stonington hoping to be saved herself. Sumner said that the only different between the two is that PAULINE has 6 inches more shear at the bow. Moses Pike is Sumner’s grandfather. He added, “I think Gramp had a couple other things he put into it. He was an electrical engineer from MIT so he was big into all the tech. Dad explained it to me, saying, ‘He is the only one I ever met that could read Scientific America cover to cover. When the PIKE came out, which was the second one, MARY ANN was first, if you look at the house it is squared off because he put the radar in there. He had a refrigeration system with a 240-volt electrical system and a generator. The 6-inches more shear was because when it was loaded you could keep the water from coming over the nose. When he did the PIKE he took all those things that weren’t quite right on the MARYANN and he just tweaked them a little bit and made the PIKE.”
The JACOB PIKE Organization is moving forward. “We are basically trying to partner with other organizations,” said Sumner. “Our first partner is Herring Gut Organization, which is another 501(c)(3), and the idea is to have the JACOB PIKE Organization be the floating platform. We will provide a reconstructed JACOB PIKE as a floating lab. So, these other programs can come on and run a program for a couple months at a time. Herring Gut is a coastal science center (located in Port Clyde) and does grades up to the college level. They study the gulf and that fits really nicely with us. They are trying to look at the impact that there has been regarding the Gulf Stream. It comes up and swirls around and has been constantly heating the Gulf of Maine. Where the warming occurs, this is a spawning area and due to this warming the herring are gone. The goal here is to show that everything is always changing. It always has been and you are not going to change it no matter what you do. There were ice ages and then there were no ice ages.”
Sumner said, “I just worry, because there is not a lot of appreciation for the generation before myself. My generation I feel like a lot of this is lost. My family (the Pikes) are from Lubec and the family is still there. We still have the family house that Jacob used to be in. When asked about his family, Sumner said, “I think the first one came up here in 1813. I am Sumner Pike Rugh, my father is Aaron Pike Rugh and he’s Alger Pike Rugh’s son and then that is Moses Bernard Pike’s daughter. From there it goes Moses, Jacob Clark Pike, and Jabez. I think there’s one or two more. Jabez was the one that kind of started it. I think about it that way there was Jabez and then Jacob, who obviously JACOB PIKE was named after. He was a ship captain. He did not obviously start out that way. When he was probably in 8th grade, he went to school. He’d had been told by his teachers, ‘If you twitch again, I am going to hit you again.’ He said ‘Well, if you hit me again, I am out that window and I am not coming back until I am captain of my own ship.’ That day his mother had given him lye soap to put in his pocket and deliver before school, but he did not do that so he was itching. He got hit again and he jumped out the window and did not come back until he was captain of his own ship. He ended up over in Europe somewhere, somebody recognized him and said, ‘Your mother would like to see you. It is time to come home. So, he did.’
“I think some of them were smugglers,” continued Sumner. “Jacob was really the ship captain. He was kind of the one that came back and did the sardine thing and that is where Gramp Moses got into the sardine industry as well. He came from a group of five siblings: Marjory, Moses, Alger, Sumner, Julius and Radcliffe. Alger got into sardines and Sumner was the Atomic Energy chair for a while. Gramp bought Holmes Packing, he didn’t start that and sold it in ’79. So, they had the PIKE and the MARY ANN. MARY ANN ran up on the rocks back on Thrumpcap (South Bristol) in 1960. The captain (Alley Wotten) had to go and his mate didn’t show up. It was the middle of winter and he went out and fell asleep as it was nice and toasty in the pilothouse. Gramp didn’t fire that captain, he said, ‘It happens.”
In a search through Maine Mining & Industry Journal I came up with a General E. C. Pike of Calais who had purchased Campobello Island for $50,000 with a group of others from Boston and New York. They wanted to erect a hotel, which they wanted to call The Owen, and a build a number of cottages for summer people. In an article on Red Beach, there is mention of Pike, Newton & Co., which was a plaster mill that operated on Red Beach. This article also mentioned Hon. F. A. Pike of Calais who was involved in the Maine Red Granite Co., which had a large quarry on Red Beach. The first mention of the Pikes in sardine industry comes with a reference of Pike & Gillise, who were running a sardine factory in Lubec in 1882. Later that year there is mention of the New England Sardine Co. of Lubec embracing J. Wolff, B. M. Pike and O. Pillise. Their building was a large two-story structure with all the modern machinery and had been erected in early 1881. It was stated that B. M. Pike superintends the factory work. Also, in 1882 there is a mention of S. H. Pike owning one of the leading farms in Searsport, just east of the town. The following year a John B. Pike is president of a new company, the Union Steamboat Company of Portland, which will run steamers out to the islands. The Pike Brothers were building a new sardine factory in Lubec in 1883, which they hoped to have operating in August. The same year it was noted that Gillise, Wolff & Pike had the largest sardine factory in Lubec, employing over 100 people. They had just installed a new patented oven that could cook 20 hogsheads a day, which is double anyone else. Also, in 1883 there is mention of Captain S. H. Pike, who worked for the International Steamship Co. In 1884 Parker & Pike is noted as starting a new sardine factory in Lubec the previous August. They had put up 6,200 cases of sardines, 350 barrels of pomace (the pulpy matter left over after something has been pressed) and 25 casks of oil. The same year, Pike & Gillise are refurbishing an old building for a can factory. The previous year they had used more than a million and a half cans. So as not to get confused, there was Pike & Gillise and Parker & Pike operating in Lubec at this time. The steamer FRANCES of the New England & Acadia Steamship Co., which operated from Mount Desert Island to the Canadian Maritimes had on board a crew member William S. Pike, who was quartermaster. In 1885 it was stated that Parker & Pike packed 5,000 cases in 1884 and will pack 3,500 cases this year along with putting up 10,000 boxes of smoked herring. There were no references to a Pike until 1890 when there was an update on the sardine factories in Lubec. That year Parker & Pike put up 19,000 cases. In 1891 an article on Lubec states that in the village is the New England Sardine Co., which was established in 1881. The company consists of B. M. Pike, H. P. Gillise and J. C. Pike. The factory has up-to-date machinery and is steam powered with a patent oil stove. They produce about 25,000 cases a year. Then there is Parker & Pike, which is one of the largest sardine factories in Lubec also packing about 25,000 cases. The same year, B. M. Pike had just completed a smoke house 150 feet long with 30 bays and can hold 400,000 boxes. In 1893 H. D. Pike is mentioned as the secretary and later as treasurer of the board for the Red Beach Granite Co. of Calais. In 1895 the steamer CUMBERLAND of the International Steamship Co. was under the command of Capt. Samuel Pike. Capt. Pike was listed as captain of the steamer ST. CROIX but would assume command of the new steamer CALVIN AUSTIN under construction on Wilmington, DE in 1903. She will run between Boston and St. John, New Brunswick. In 1902 there was a court case regarding an agreement a number of the sardine companies had made on 14 May 1899 with the Seacoast Packing Co. The agreement said that there were not to be in the sardine business within 200 miles of Eastport. Bion K. Pike is mentioned as a defendant and their defense was that Sea Coast Packing Co. was a monopoly established for unlawful purposes. Justice Wiswell ruled for Sea Coast Packing Co., but a final decision was pending.
In my notes on vessels of Passamaquoddy: Jacob Pike was master of the 190-ton schooner C. P. GERRISH in 1877; the following year he is listed as master of the schooner SEA LARK, which he would command until 1882. John C. Pike was master of the 33-ton schooner HENRY, 1843; brig PEMBROKE, 1850; brig NELLIE MOWE, 1860. Lorenzo S. Pike was master of the bark ELIZA, no date given, brig HANNAH BALCH in 1853 and bark ALBINA in 1872. Mark T. Pike was master of the sloop CHARLES in 1836. Moses Pike was master of the schooner GYPSUM in 1849. S. H. Pike of Eastport was master of the schooner SWIFTSURE in 1837 and SPARTAN, built in Lubec in 1830, in 1844. Samuel Pike was master of the 178 ton schooner ADDIE RYARSON, 1872, the three masted schooner CHARLIE MORTON, 1875-1878.
There is a great story about Moses Pike, who was first mate on the QUODDY BELLE, which departed Lubec for San Francisco in 1849. The voyage took them 160 days to complete.
There was also a Captain William F. Pike of Saco, who was master of the ship CHARLES SPRAGUE in 1851 and ship ADDISON in 1859.
As for vessels there are several named for a Pike. The bark ELIAS PIKE, built at Eastport and owned by Humphrey Pike in 1846; the 124-ton schooner F. A. PIKE, built Perry in 1866; the 148-ton schooner FANNY PIKE, built Calais in 1872; 68-ton schooner JAMES S. PIKE, built Robbinston in 1871; schooner MARY F. PIKE, built Perry in 1872, sailed from Lubec with a load of sardines for New York in 1884. Her former captain, Capt. Thomas G. Mitchell gave up the sea to go into the sardine business, having purchased the A. W. Lamson & Co.’s factory; 70-ton schooner S. S. PIKE, built Calais in 1871.
As for being owners there are too many to list out. Some of the highlights are VINNIE SMALL, which was built as a steamer in Lubec in 1877 and later changed to a schooner in 1886. She would be owned by Alger Pike in 1939. The estate of P. Gillise of Lubec sold their shares of vessels at an auction in 1886 and Ben Pike purchased 1/32 share of the schooner CHARLES E. SEARS.
In 1891 J. B. Pike of Calais signed a contract for a new steamer from J. H. Dyer of Portland. She was named LUBEC and was built in 41 days. She was 50.94/25.47 tons, 77 feet x 17 feet x 7½-feet (69.5 x 18 x 6.3), for the Passamaquoddy Steam Ferry Co. of Lubec and would run between Lubec and Eastport. LUBEC was launched 27 April 1891 and towed to the Portland Company for her engine to be installed. She was powered with an Inverted compound steam engine, 10-inches by 18-inches diameter, 14-inch stroke with a surface condenser. The boiler was a vertical cone, 72-inches in diameter, 9 feet 9 inches long and a heating surface of 36 892. Her propeller had a diameter of 5-feet 3-inches with a pitch of 8-feet 4-inches. Her speed was about 10 knots. She could accommodate 350 passengers and was principally owned by B. M. Pike and her master was Captain J. W. Edgecomb of Lubec.
Another Pike mentioned was C. R. Pike & Son, who had a grocery store in Calais. They were mentioned for having a lobster that was 34-inches long and weighed 19½ pounds. This was stuffed and sent to the World’s Fair Exposition in the mid-1890s.
“So, before the sardine industry,” continued Sumner. “They were ship captains. My father went to college and then went into the Navy. He went into intelligence for the Navy for a few years and did 15 years, 5 active and 10 reserve.
“As we move into 2025,” said Sumner, “We are going to be working with Herring Gut on putting together some different programs that can be run on the PIKE. Rome wasn’t built in a day. I have a full college course load and I couldn’t be doing it without the people that are involved such as Taylor Allen, Maynard Bray and the members of the board, they are all phenomenal people. We are going to keep developing the idea. Our Prospectus just came up from Massachusetts and they will all be getting shipped for a year-end donation. We will keep going forward!”
