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Among the dozens of historic photos recently donated to the Shelter Island History Museum, one is particularly curious. It stands out among the beautiful scenes of Dering Harbor, the yacht club and quaint Heights cottages in the late 1890s. A horse-drawn wagon is parked in front of the old Post Office that is now the North Ferry office. The driver sits on the buckboard under a large umbrella. A mustachioed man in a suit stands to the wagon’s left. What the wagon is carrying is hard to figure save for the plaque mounted on its side. A magnifying glass to the rescue: “In this boat the SAPOLIO, Capt. Andrews sailed alone from Atlantic City, N.J. to Palos, Spain (July 20th to Sept. 27th, 1892) THE SMALLEST BOAT THAT EVER CROSSED THE ATLANTIC. Length 14 1/2 feet.”What was this boat from Atlantic City doing on Shelter Island? A traveling curiosity to entertain the guests at the Prospect and Manhanset hotels? A little research please.Captain William Albert Andrews of Massachusetts is a piano maker by trade; an avid sailor and boat maker at heart. He gains worldwide fame in 1878 after making a successful transatlantic trip with his brother aboard the 20-foot boat, “Nautilus.” In 1892, after at least two attempts (one didn’t go so well), the plucky Andrews is ready to sail again—solo—in a 14 1/2-foot, canvas-covered, folding, collapsible boat he calls “The Flying Dutchman.” He’s to sail from New York to England. His story captures newspaper readers all that spring. Enter Artemas Ward, the advertising wizard of his day.He works for Enoch Morgan’s Sons Co. of Philadelphia, who hired him in 1883 specifically to promote an all-purpose sandstone-based scouring powder called Sapolio. “Adman Ward took a cake of greasy, gritty soap and put it in almost every grocery store in the U.S. He sent four salesmen to England at a time when virtually no one sent salesmen abroad,” Time magazine writes. With Ward at the helm, Sapolio soap sales soar. It is safe to assume, then, that sometime between June and July 1892 Ward makes Andrews an offer: Change your boat’s name to Sapolio and sail it from Atlantic City, N.J., to Palos, Spain. For that, here’s $50 ($1,734.00 in today’s money) and groceries for your journey. The journey is marketed as a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage from Palos to America in 1492. The gimmick is genius, and a gamble. Andrews leaves Atlantic City on July 20, 1892 in his “cockle shell boat,” as the New York Times deems it, the name SAPOLIO plastered on its every side. Crowds line the beach to watch Andrews sail away. Headlines roar: Will he make it? “When Captain Andrews turned up at Christopher Columbus’ home port two months later, he stole the show from reproductions of Columbus’ fleet which had sailed to publicize the Chicago World’s Fair. Sapolio’s name became so well-known in Europe that Punch made a bad joke to the effect that children knew it better than Napoleon’s,” Time writes. Months later, Captain Andrews and Sapolio are headliners at the Chicago World’s Fair, orchestrated as the World’s Columbian Exposition to commemorate Columbus’ arrival in the Americas. Ward publishes a nearly 200-page lavishly illustrated book, “Columbus Outdone,” based on Andrews’ log and his adventures piloting Sapolio as “She Scoured the Sea!” No wonder, then, that the Sapolio and her famous captain (that’s him standing by the boat) make their way to Shelter Island where Ward spends his summers at his new, stately waterfront home on the 200-acre Shorewood Farm. Where the salty pair went on the island remains unknown. The epilogue:Over the next decade, sales of Sapolio soap start to decline as other powdered scouring soaps enter the market. Ward leaves Enoch Morgan in 1910 to do independent advertising work and manage his vast commercial investments that include the establishment of groundbreaking transit advertising, vending machines and a car company. He also focuses his attention on Shorewood, where he adds buildings for pigs, chickens and horses; a dairy barn, creamery and a pheasant-breeding center. In 1910, Ward, an avid yachtsman, builds a huge Gothic Revival boathouse of poured concrete and later constructs a large Italian-style garden. He dies a multimillionaire at age 76 in 1925, leaving most of his estate to Harvard. After another solo transatlantic crossing in 1898 (he makes at least four solo, small-boat crossings in his lifetime), Andrews is itching to sail again. Although contemporaneous newspaper reports differ on some details, we know for sure that in 1901, he plans a trip to Europe aboard a boat perhaps named “Dark Secret.” (It could also be the “Flying Dutchman.”) At 13 1/2 (maybe 14) feet long, his vessel is much shorter than Sapolio. This time, however, the captain wants company. Like a present-day “Golden Bachelor,” the nearly 60-year-old advertises for a wife. With no shortage of applicants (at least two women are identified by those local papers as his chosen first mate), he picks Mary (could also be Marie) Southron, a nurse at a Philadelphia hospital where Andrews had recuperated after an illness. She is half his age. In October 1901, after delaying their trip because of bad weather, they set sail from Atlantic City on their honeymoon. “I haven’t a bit of fear,” the newly minted Mrs. Andrews tells a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It will be an adventure and a trip, too. When I get to the other side I intend to come home in the largest boat that travels across the ocean.” ————————————— She never got the chance. The Andrews and their “Dark Secret,” are never seen again.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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The Shelter Island History Museum 16 South Ferry Road Shelter Island, NY 11964 631-749-0025 ——————————— ========================================================
AAQ / Resource: Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects=====================================================
AAQ / Resource: Ben Krupinski Builder===================================================
AAQ / Resource: Riverhead GMC______________________________________________________ |
