Bequest from the Estate of Elizabeth Beattie, 2023.17.11, Connecticut Museum of Culture and His…

Images(2)

Schooner TOM BEATTIE Deck

Date1890-1918

MediumPhotography; nitrate negatives

DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (overall height x width): 5 1/8 × 3 1/16in. (13 × 7.8cm)

ClassificationsGraphics

Credit LineBequest from the Estate of Elizabeth Beattie

DescriptionBlack and white photographic negative, view of the deck of two unidentified children standing on the bow of Beattie Granite's schooner, TOM BEATTIE. The two children, a girl [left] and boy [right], stand in a coil of rope on the bow of a wooden schooner with view of the machinery on deck in foreground. The girl wears a knee-length, white or light-colored dress with a ruffled platter collar and white or light-colored shoes and mid-calf socks. The boy wears a long-sleeved white shirt, dark colored tie, and dark knickers with high dark socks and ankle boots.

Object number2023.17.11

CopyrightPublic Domain

Inscribed(.9-.19) Typed on envelope: 2Mast Schr. TOM BEATTIE / 8 negatives / Official No. 145419 KDJG / 140 Gr., 133 Net Tons / 93.7’ X 28.3’ X 7.4’ / Built at Bath, Maine 1886 / [crossed out “Isack Chapman?] builder—[handwritten correction] “HAWLEY” / John Beattie had her built for the granti [sic] / trade. He had Capt E. H. Weaver vessel / broker at New Haven supervise her / construction. 12” white oak frames, / 4” white oak planking and 4” yellow pine / ceiling. One hatch, centerboard and / steam cargo handling boom & fast steam / anchor windlass. TOM could get the right / slant getting under weigh [sic]. / Sold 1920 to Portuguese and ran as a / packet New Bedford – Azores –Cape Verde. / Mariner’s Museum Newport News has photo / of TOM, sails torn, towed in by Coast / Guard about 1923. [handwritten note] WRECKED NOV. 1926 / DIPPER HARBOR NBNotesSubject Note: John Beattie's granite quarry, situated in Guilford on the Long Island Sound, was well-positioned to distribute granite via a fleet of schooners to locations in Connecticut and New York. Notably, granite from Beattie's quarry was used in the pedestal at the base of the Statue of Liberty.

The quarry operated from 1869, when Scottish immigrant Beattie purchased 400 acres of land on Leetes Island, until about 1918, when Beattie's sons closed up shop 20 years after his death. At its height, the quarry employed 700 people, many of them immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, England, Finland, Sweden, and Italy.

Subject Terms