Well, I wish I was in London,
Or some other seaport town
I'd put my foot on a steamboat
I'd sail the ocean 'round.
- Mick Jagger
Ahoy Mateys!
Our tour of East Haddam legends and lore continues with one of my favorite stops on our EHMT map.
Ghost Ship
I know boats, I know sailing, and I know the sea. They are in my blood so deeply it is hard to pinpoint a dividing line between them and myself. I was privileged to spend 40 plus years boating and sailing (there is a difference), including a decade in the waters of the south Florida Keys. Those waters and lands were far different in the 70s and 80s than they are today. I have been back often to visit my stomping grounds and it's not the same as I left it. A deluge of people, too much traffic on land and sea, have decimated the raw natural beauty I remember including killing off much of the coral reef life. The colors I saw in those reefs is no more. Conservation efforts are in action, but it will likely never be the same in my lifetime. I am grateful I knew it when.
My love of the sea has kept me close to it and though I have toyed with moving to Colorado or the Pacific Northwest, it is the great Atlantic that keeps me here. Regardless, the ocean is a formidable girl and though I have loved living on a sailboat along her shores, the tempests she is capable of wielding became a little more intimidating the older I became.
So, I find myself living inland, ten miles up the Connecticut River. Access still to a waterway, but in a home tucked 400' above sea level and surrounded by thirty acres of woodlands. We get our share of gales up here, but nothing like what the coastline endures.
From my hill, I can see the Connecticut River far below, a strand of meandering silver through forested hills. When the wind comes in from the west, we can hear the whistle of the Essex Steam Train echoing down the river as it carries passengers from Essex to Deep River and back again. That sound makes me smile and I am reminded of the 19th century era of steam powered transportation. From our viewpoint, the landscape has changed little since those days. Far from the truth, but with no homes in our line of sight, surrounded by woodlands on either side of the river, we preserve this pristine image of the Connecticut River Valley in our minds.
It doesn't seem that long ago really, when steam powered trains and ships peppered the landscape. A hundred years. I am 55 now. Half of that. That era is just a breath behind us.
Looking down upon the river, I can imagine the great steamships chugging back and forth between Hartford, Connecticut and the ports of New York. One of their stopping places is just 400' below us, The Goodspeed Landing. East Haddam was a popular tourist attraction by river arrival in the 19th century. If we bring out our looking glass and set it to May 18th, 1883, we will see the great steamer called 'Granite State' a 270' long first-class ship making its way back to Hartford with 90 passengers aboard as well as a dozen horses.
Of those 90 passengers, 4 would be dead by the end of the night including a newlywed bride last seen in the arms of her husband going overboard.
If you have ever boated on the Connecticut River in April or May, you know that it is no joke. There is a fierce freshet that roils the water into deadly currents. When you cross the East Haddam Swing Bridge today, you can see these currents in action and they are known for taking countless lives, even the strongest of swimmers.
But in 1883, the East Haddam Swing Bridge was not yet built. Steamships could stop or pass by our Goodspeed Landing on the eastern shore of the river without having to wait for the bridge to open. On May 18th of that year, the sidewheeler Granite State would steam past the landing but not for long. The elements were against her that night. A fire broke out below deck, while up in the wheelhouse Captain Dibble fought against a strong head wind, current, and tide trying to make his way upriver. When he realized his ship was on fire, he steered her more rapidly towards the Goodspeed Landing which only fueled the flames faster. Though the captain was able to get her nose to the landing, the fire below was becoming worse and those holding lines on shore, let go. She swung, engulfed in flames, back into the river and found her nose now on the opposite shore of Haddam. Chaos ensued, passengers and horses fled for their lives. People on shore sent out rowboats and a ferry to rescue those who had jumped overboard.
Most were saved, but four were not. Five, including the Granite State.
The flames would consume enough of the ship that it broke her loose from the western shore, and she was swept down river finally crashing upon Lord Island just south of Goodspeed Landing. Whatever was left of her when she crashed, would burn to the waterline.
The four souls lost that evening were the newlywed, Mrs. Clifford Main; the African American ship's cook who almost didn't get a burial due to his race, Nicholas Jackson; a
passenger known as the "fat man" in the local papers reporting the accident at the time; and an unnamed German immigrant.
The cook's story is a disturbing reminder of our nation's relationship with prejudice. Though his body was found, it was left tied to a rope attached to one of the Goodspeed Landing docks until the town's people were forced to bury him after the Hartford papers shamed them into doing so.
Not one of our town's finer moments.
The "fat man's remains", as quoted by the New York Times, were found in September of 1883 on Lord Island in the rubble of the shipwreck Granite State. He was identified by a signature gold watch found among his skeletal remains that witnesses had seen him wearing the night of the accident.
Lord Island would not be Granite State's final resting place. The shipping company that owned her tried to salvage what they could, including the steam engine, and she was eventually tugged downstream to the port of Old Saybrook where her remains were landed to become a fabricated jetty which is still a part of the landscape today.
Granite State's voyages, however, may not have ended that fateful night in 1883. Residents on both sides of the river have claimed to see a ghostly image of a paddlewheel ship making her way upriver near Goodspeed Landing. Considering she is only one of many shipwrecks in the CT river, it may or may not be her, but other stories make it compelling. One resident claimed to see her pass right through the East Haddam Swing Bridge while others claim that around the anniversary of her death, at nightfall on the Goodspeed Landing, you can hear the ship's bell ringing wildly, the eerie sound of people shouting, and smell smoke in the air.
There are many ghost stories that prowl around the historic downtown area of my hometown. Who is to say that Nicholas Jackson isn't down there right now, outraged for the poor treatment of his body. As he paces the dock he was tied to for days on end, he may be waiting for his ghost ship to finally take him home.
If you would like to visit Site #4 of the EHMT, take Route 9 to Old Exit 7 and the 82 connectors. Make your way across the East Haddam Swing Bridge and follow it to the road behind the Gelston House. Once parked, you will have a view of the bridge, the landing docks, the boat ramp to the left and the East Haddam Airfield. If you are feeling adventurous, you can get to Lord Island by watercraft. Launch and head south. You will surely run into it, as did the Granite State.
I have kayaked out there many times, imagining the great steamship on fire, adrift, and passengers and horses frantically trying to swim to shore. The will to live is a mighty thing if it can outwit these waters in such conditions.
Happy Sailing Legend Trippers,
Your Lore Captain - Ryder Anne
Author's Note: We have an incredible resource in East Haddam, a local historian by the name of Dr. Karl P. Stofko, DDS. No one is more knowledgeable about our town's history and it his work I give major credit to for my research. His stories can be found in a private collection at the Rathbun Library in East Haddam and are not available for checkout. I have enjoyed quite a few hours sitting at a table reading his accounts of our town's amazing and often bizarre history. No one tells these stories like him. If you want a real historian's take on East Haddam, Dr. Stofko is your guy.
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