Jersey Shore Magazine

J e r s e y s h o r e • F A L L / H O L I D A Y 2 0 1 8 10 BEACHCOMBER THE CAPTAIN'S CABINET, continued from page 7 Continental currency, paper money issued by the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War to fund the war effort. A centerpiece of the display was a piece of the old frigate USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, which was presented to Captain Dorsett by Admiral Marston. The vessels represented in the cab- inet sailed from numerous nations, and the list includes ships, schooners, barks, brigs, and packet ships. Some vessels were wrecked in storms, while others were wrecked due to naviga- tional and/or human error. While not all of the wrecks represented in the cabinet resulted in fatalities, the cabinet includes wood from several well-known maritime disasters that had overwhelming losses of life, including the John Minturn (1851), the Powhattan (1854), and the New Era (1854). "It's sometimes referred to as the 'Cabinet of Death,'" said Lieb, "because a total of 669 souls lost are represented by the wood used to make it." Over time, it has become clear that the Shipwreck Cabinet's leg- acy has rendered it as perhaps the greatest and most incredible piece of American folk art produced at the Jersey Shore. It has been dis- played and exhibited in the Point Pleasant Historical Museum, in var- ious branches of the Ocean County Library system, and at the New Jersey Maritime Museum in Beach Haven. The cabinet is currently in the pos- session of Dorsett's great-great-great- grandson, Coleman Brice, formerly of Lavallette, who now resides in Maine. While it might be hard to imagine traveling on a tightly-packed wooden ship for weeks, with storms, illness, and other barriers impeding the jour- ney, that was the norm just a century ago. Captain John Lott Dorsett's Shipwreck Cabinet serves not only as a memorial to those lost at sea but also to the courageous local men like him, up and down the Jersey Shore, who answered the call time and again in the direst hours of his fellow man's need. —Jill Ocone VESSEL TYPES Ship: a sailing vessel with a bowsprit and three or more square-rigged masts Schooner: a sailing vessel with two or more masts, typically with the foremast smaller than the mainmast and having gaff-rigged lower masts Bark: a three-masted sailing vessel, square-rigged at the fore and main masts, and fore-and-aft rigged at the mizzen Brig: a two-masted, square-rigged sailing vessel with an additional gaff sail on the main mast Sloop: A small, square-rigged sailing vessel with two or three masts; a one-masted sailboat with a fore-and-aft mainsail and a jib Packet Boat/Ship: medium sized boat designed for transporting mail, freight, or passengers NOTABLE STORMS DURING THE MID-18oos The February 15, 1846 storm has become known as the Minturn Storm. At least sixteen vessels sank during the tempest, including: • Mary Ellen north of Highlands • Pioneer, Antares, and Van Zandt off Monmouth Beach • Register off Long Branch (one life lost) • Arkansas off Deal (one life lost) • New Jersey off Spring Lake • Lotty off Manasquan (two lives lost) • Alabama off Point Pleasant Beach (all seven lives lost; represented in the cabinet) • John Minturn off Mantoloking (fifty-one lives lost; represented in the cabinet) Total of sixty-two lives lost 1854 was another year of storms and maritime disasters. The two biggest loss of life incidents were the Powhattan and the New Era (both represented in the cabinet). The Severe Gale of April 15, 1854 hampered or wrecked the follow- ing vessels: • Sloop David Vannerman • Sloop Eliza Jane • Schooner Fashion • Schooner Francis • Ship Humboldt • Bark Juris • Schooner Lenity • Packet Ship Manhattan • Schooner Manhattan (only one survivor) • Schooner Minerva • Schooner Nebraska (burned at sea) • Schooner Octavia • Ship Powhattan (represented in the cabinet) • Packet Ship Underwriter • Ship William H. Harbeck Four of these vessels carried 2,360 immigrant passengers combined.

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