MANGA REVA

MUTINY ABOARD THE MANGA REVA

AT DELAWARE BREAKWATER. 1913

Off the Lewes waterfront lay the three masted bark, Manga Reva, where she

would need to remain at anchor over night due to a storm brewing . The vessels master,

Captain H. C. Townsend, had received the pilot and the orders.

As the pilot was leaving the Manga Reva, Captain Townsend slipped a note to

him asking for assistance as the crew was in hands of mutineers. Once ashore the pilot

notified authorities.

Next morning, the revenue cutter Onondaga with U.S. Marshall’s and a 'boarding

party' arrived prepared to retake Manga Reva and a crowd of Lewes residents had gathered on the shoreline to watch the action.

The Manga Reva was originally the “Pyrenees”, built in 1891. On a voyage across

the Pacific she caught fire and was beached o a low lying atoll, by name of Manga Reva.

After a violent confrontation with the atoll natives the crew was rescued by a passing vessel.

Later the Pyrenees was taken to San Francisco, repaired, and renamed Manga Reva in

honor of the island where she had foundered. The refurbished sailing ship returned to

long distance voyages and on October 9, 1913, the Manga Reva, commanded by Capt.

Townsend, sailed from Philadelphia to San Francisco with a cargo of coal. A month after

clearing Cape Henlopen the crew mutinied, broke into the ships liquor supply and within a

short time most of of the sailors were drunk and unable to navigate the ship found themselves

helpless. The mutiny leaders realized they could go to the bottom in a big blow, went to

Captain Townsend begging him to navigate the ship for them. The mutineers agreed to let

Townsend take the sailing ship back to Philadelphia. Townsend believed that when near shore

the mutineers would take to small boats and escape

Now the ship was anchored in Delaware Breakwater, a gale was raging and it was not

possible for the small boats to leave the Manga Reva and the crew was trapped aboard

as the Onondaga approached. The boarding party, with fixed bayonets, boarded the bark

and within a short skirmish the Manga Reva mutineers surrendered.

The three masted bark was returned to owners and the Lewes crowd on the beach

watching the dramatic action returned home .

Abstract : 08/29/18 by Harrison H from Delaware Coast Press, Michael Morgan's

Sussex Journal for www.iinni.blogspot.com and Facebook

INDIAN RIVER WATERWAYS 1935

A CRUISE THROUGH INDIAN RIVER WATERWAYS IN 1935

We have heard a lot about the Indian River Inlet lately, trying to keep it open and

permanent , and such, but we do not hear much of the Indian River system, the bays,

creeks of which it is part. Yes, to a visitor or new resident, the Indian River country

and waterways might just be in South America. A motorist in a hurry might drive over it

at Millsboro and never know he has done so.

The river itself is well hidden even though there is a large metal sign at the Millsboro

causeway saying Indian River.

So to see the Indian River country and it's waterways will be to take a boat ride. To the

south east of the Millsboro bridge , down stream, is the swamp. Just a short way and the

so called swamp fades and a brown marsh lays on either side of our boat, and ahead

is an open marsh with the river cutting it up in curves, with the shores covered with

green loblolly pine woods. Several miles the rived bends through cat tails and the

savannahs, the river widens and the marsh broadens. Soon the river is several hundred

yards wie and no more marsh. On the banks are several small summer cottages, each with

tiny pier or wharf, sticking out into the river waters. At a farm site we see a duck pen,

allowing the farmers ducks and geese some “water privilege”. Over yonder is a pen of

'tame' Canada geese, live decoys, heads high on black necks, dignified, but never looking

domesticated .

To our left, the north, is Long Neck, and on it's shore is a settlement, Riverdale Park, home of a dark skinned people with high cheek bones, pleasant manners, descendants

of Nanticokes, who once hunted the the country over to the Chesapeake. Farmers and

fishermen they are, their own separate communities with their own special schools ,

churches and leaders. Once a year they have a powwow, dancers in native garb and

Indian music. They have as guest the Chief's of other Indian Tribes and his own people.

North of Riverdale, is the “Archard' , a beach and pier with a dance hall at its watery

end, Oak Orchard at the tip of Piney Neck . This year there are two hotels and 30 some

cottages. Here is the mouth of the river proper, emerging Pepper Creek and we are now

in the bay, waves a foot high with ripples , a bay a mile or two wide, from 2 feet to 9 feet

deep, blue and sparkling , a matchless beauty. Leaving Long Neck, six miles up , it's

the low lying Burton's Island, hence, the coastal barrier and the Atlantic Ocean.

Next we find Sandy Landing and Pots Nets. On the south shore at Peppers Creek is

Sandy Landing , this is where the Wilmington Y.W.C.A. has it' s Camp Otonka .

On Long Neck shore at Lingo's Creek is Pots Nets where history says on the woody

shore originally the Indians held council and later settlers gathered for a good time.

The early families came by covered wagon drawn by mules with everything needed forr

a weeks vacation from the farm, live chickens, haul seines, crab nets, jugs of apple and

peach brandy, mosquito netting. Here sits “The White House Farm” with its brick house

built by Woolsey Burton about 1722. Here to are graves of the Burton's , and their slaves.

Eastward down the bay is Burton Island, a 1000 acres of fast land and marsh.

The Indian River Inlet is beyond and to the right, the south. Here too is the Big Ditch, what

takes the Indian River Bay into the Rehoboth Bay. 'They say a pioneer farmer dug this ditch to

act as a fence to keep his cattle from straying too far from his homestead.

Now here is Rehoboth Bay, four miles long and three and a half miles broad. To

the west is Angola Neck , a forest of pine trees. Herring Creek divides Angola and Long

Neck. Heerring Creeek is fed by Burtons Pond , where there is a post office. Two miles up

Herring Creek is Possum Neck, now Pinewater farm. Drakes Neck, right here is cut from

the mainland and Long Neck by Guinea Creek.

Now we are 'at' or near Piney and Marsh Islands, known to be great duck and goose

hunting places.

Northwest across the bay is Love Creek , flowing from Goslee's Mill Pond, into

Rehoboth Bay. Love Creek separates Indian River Hundred and Rehoboth - Lewes Hundred.

Sailing on , the north shore of Rehoboth Bay become clearer, there is Whiteoak Point

and the mouth of Whiteoak Creek. East of Whiteoak are the rock jetties and lights at the

entrance of the Lewes & Rehoboth Canal. To our right, be it south or east , is Dewey Beach

sprawled out and beyond is the Rehoboth standpipe.

A mile or so of the canal, vines and small trees on either side, under the bridges, we dock at

the Henlopen Acres yacht basin. We have been some twenty miles through Indian River

Country.

Abstract: Monday, 29 April, 1935, Wilmington News Journal , article of Anthony

Higgins, by Harrison H. on August 29, 2018 for Facebook &

www.delmarhistory.blogspot.com

DR DAVID MARINE OBITUARY

DEATH OF DR. DAVID MARINE

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 27 1976

1976 OBITUARY

Dr. David Marine died Friday, November 26, 1976 at Lewes Beebe Hosptal.

He was 96 year of age.

He had discovered an iodine treatment for goiter and other thyroid conditions.

Dr. Marine, and his wife, former Mary Nuttle, moved to 18 Baltimore Ave., Rehoboth

Beach, after his post WW II retirment 18 Baltimore Ave is the old Nuttle family

cottage.

Mrs Marine died in 1967 and both she and Dr. Marine grew up at Denton , Maryland.

Dr. Marine was orphaned at an early age and was raised by an aunt in Caroline county.

He attended Western Maryland Collage before going to Johns Hopkins where he was

graduated in 1905 and continued his thytroid research and became head of pathology

at Western Reserve University in Cleveland before and after his WW I service. 1913 he

went to Switzerland to work in climics where goiter was in endemic . He left the Army as

a lieutenant colonel. Dr. Marine was world known for his research of thyroid and

received many awards.

While in retirement at Rehoboth Beach he was active in the Sussex County Archeology

Society, serving once as it's president.

His only survivor is his son, Dr. David N. Marine, of Oxford, Maryland.

He is buried in Hillcrest Cemetery, Federalsburg, Caroline county, Maryland after grave

side services on November 29^th 1976.

Abstract: W ilmington Morning News, Saturday, 27 November , 1976.

WW II 1943 TIRE RECAPPING.

1943 RECAPPING AUTO TIRES

The Thursday, August 26, 1943, Wilminhton Morning News , gave thr report of the OPA

in Washington, D.C. authorizing the use of higher grade “C' camel back for the

recapping of civilian passenger car tires.

This action will permit any motorist to have his tires recapped without a rationing

certificate with the higher grade synthetic camel back.

Heretofore, civilian motorest were limited to grade “F” reclaimed rubber for recaps.

Today, this newspaper article is somewhat 'not all of that interseting”, but, during the

WW II, recapped tires is what kept American's 'on the road'.

Folowing are some facts about camel back synthetic rubber.

Camelback is made up of natural or synthetic, carbon black from burning a petroleum

product, waxes and oils.

Retreading is a process to estend the life of a tire and can be done by two methods ,

pe-cure and multi-cure.

BETHEL METHODIST CHURCH OF LEWES

BETHEL METHODIST CHURCH OF LEWES

The first marriage at the new Lewes Methodist Episcopal Church, services by the Rev.

W. R. Mowbrey, were held at noon, Tuesday, Novemner 7, 1911.

Married were Leon Wilde Crawford and Florence V. Blackstone, both being from

Wilmngton.

Mr Crawford is an architect, and the Lewes church is the first of his design to be erected.

Church members had bedecked the interior with palms, roses and chrysanthemums, and

filled the church to witness the ceremony.

The bride was attended by Mrs Gilbert Jones, of Wilmington, her husband, a relative of

the bride, gave the bride in marriage.

In addition to the church members and guest, those from Wulmington to attend the

wedding were; Mr. & Mrs Blackstone, Mr. & Mrs Crawford, Dorthy and Helen

Crawford, Mrs Bisselle, Mr & Mrs Gilbert Jones, Andrew Spiegelhalter and William

Joslyn.

Abstract: August 25, 2018 by HARRISON H from Wilmington Evening Journal ,

Wednesday, November 8, 1911 for Facebook History of Bethel Church

page and www.iinni.blogspot.com.

TWN LIGHTS AT SANDY HOOK NEW JERSEY

TWIN LIGHTS LIGHTHOUSE

AT HIGHLANDS NEW JERSEY

OFF

SANDY HOOK BAY

The Twin Lights Lighthouse, off Sandy Hook Bay at Highlands, New Jersey,

abandoned since 1951, have been opened again as a nautical museum.

The old stone towers were first opened in 1862 and was home of the first U. S. Life

Saving Station.

Guglielmo Marconi, had conducted wireless experiments here at the turn of the century.

The main attraction of the lighthouse museum is the 200 foot high observation tower and

many seafaring momentoes.

Source: Wilmington Delaware New Journal , Tuesday, October 6, 1959

DRAKEN VIKING LONGBOAT.

VIKING LONGSHIP DRAKEN

FACTS

August 24, 2018

The Draken Harald Harfagre is a clinker built Viking Longship, reconstruction of

what the Norse Sagas, data of interest, refer to as a “Great Ship”.

April 26, 2016, she left her home port Haugesund , Norway on an expedition to sail

to America to explore and relive one of the most mythological sea voyage, the first

transatlantic crossing and the discovery of the New World, over 1000 years ago.

As of this date, the Draken, has crossed the Atlantic, sailed the Great Lakes, sailed down

the Erie Canal to New York City, berthed at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut

,

and the week of August 20^th , 2018, visited and docked at the Lewes town dock after seeking

a rest in the Delaware Breakwater on her way to Ocean City, Maryland, on a tour of the

East Coast. At every dock stop along the way, thousands , turned out to see the example

of ancient seafaring.

The Draken Harald Harfagre was launched in 2012, not a replica of any know ship, but

reconstructed based on historic documents, archeological findings, and Norwegian

boatbuilding traditions. .

She carries one large square sail , 2800 square feet, which will drive the ship at a speed

of 14 knots, or, shecan be rowed by 100 oarsmen , with 25 pair of oars, each oar having two oarsmen.

Specifications are; 115 feet long, 26' 2” beam, 78' 8” high, an 8 foot 2 inch draft, her

hull is oak, her mast is Douglas fir and the sail is silk, the rigging is hemp.

The Draken Harald Harfagra is named after King Harald Harfagra, the king who unified

Norway and sat his royal seat in Avaldsnes near Haugesund , Norway, the home

port of the vessel.

Abstract: Source Mystic Seaport Museum world wide web. 2018.

Wikipedia world wide web:

Draken Herald Harfagra, in English “Dragon Herald Fairhair”, is a large Viking

longship , built in Haugesund Norway and brings the seafaring qualities of a warship

from Norse Sagas to life, a ship that combines ocean crossing 'sailing' capabilities with

a warships use of oars.

Construction was funded by Sigurd Asse, a Norwegian oil tycoon in 2010.

She is 115 feet, 26 foot beam, displacement of 95 metric tons, is of oak and carries

2800 square feet of sail. Launched in the summer of 2012 its initial period was exploring

how to sail and row the ship and experimentation with the rigging .

In 2014 summer Swedish Captain Bjorn Ahlander took the longship on a three week

sail from Norway to the British Isles , Liverpool, Isle of Man, Orkney and Shetland.

In 2016 Expedition America took place, from Norway to Newfoundland, retracing the

Vikings transatlantic crossing and the discovery of the New World. There were port stops

at Shetland, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, then Newfoundland.

Arizona Daily Star, Tuscon, Tuesday July 10, 2018 reports that the “Viking Ship”

to start voyage along East Coast from Mystic to Booth Bay Harbor, Maine. The ship is

powered by sail and oars, with a crew of 32.

Sunday,, July 24, 2018, Chicago Tribunes Kim Janssen, reported the captain of the

Viking warship accusing U. S. Authorities of 'rudeness' when as the ship was bearing

down on Chicag and entered the Great Lakes and U. S. waters, they needed to hire a $400

per hour pilot.

Todd Haviland, director of Great Lakes Pilots said the captain knew of the federal laws

requiring pilots. Tall Ships America director Patricia Lock agreed the Vikings were

told but misunderstood because the Canadian waters did not require pilots. The Sons of

Norway Heritage Group raised $61,000 to get the vessel to Chicago but not enough to join

in the races.

Captain Ahlander said the American people were very welcoming but now the fees will

mean fewer stops, and less people will get to see Draken Viking Longship and learn of

Vikings voyages to America hundred of year before Chistopher Columbus

MARCH 1934 FLOOD OF LEWES' KIMMEYTOWN. .

MARCH 1934 FLOOD OF LEWES

The Wilmington News Journal of Monday, March 5, 1934 reported an sudden deluge

of flood waters caused by the thawing of heavy snowdrifts and Friday nights heavy rain

flooded the canning factory district of Kimmeytown with three foot of water Saturday

morning in the streets and over a foot in the cellars and first floors of dwellings .

Residents had gone to bed high and dry and awoke to find items floating around the lower

floors. The W. J. Warren Canning Company sat in several feet of water and 2100 bushels

of pea seed were lost when their warehouse flooded. Residents in high top boots went

about gathering floating items before they were swept out in the streets. The Lewes

fire department responded with pumps and other apparatus to help relieve the condition.

The high water blocked traffic with water above their car radiators and were flooded out

when they tried to drive through the high water on Kings Highway.

Town authorities found the cause to be frozen culvert under the railroad which\ would have

ordinarily drained off the section. One feature of interests was a maltese house cat that was

stranded on a post in the middle of the wide expanse of water until the firemen saved it.

There were no drownings or injuries reported.

There is concern the Lewes Rehoboth Canal will overflow tonight as the thaw continues.

The solid field of ice in the Breakwater is beginning to break up but no vessels have been

able to reach the Lewes piers . River pilots have been set ashore above Cape Henlopen the

past week or two. Late this afternoon two tugs, Van Dyke and Van Dyke II rescued the

Standard Oil tanker J. C. Donald and drew up to the Queen Anne Pier for supplies.

Abstract: Harrison H from Wilmington News Journal, Monday , March 5 1934.

1903 NEW LIGHTS FOR THE DELAWARE

NEW LIGHTS FOR THE DELAWARE

1903

Washington, D.C. February 22, 1903:

A plan by the Philadelphia Maritime Exchange for an up to date lighthouse system for

the Delaware River channel was introduced in the Senate today by Senator Penrose ,

prepared by Sherwood and Neall of the Maritime Exchange and officers of the Lighthouse

Board of the War Department

It is titled “ Establishment of Further Aids to Navigation in the Delaware River and Bay'.

The bill provides a $250,000 appropriation for the following improvements;

Lighthouse and fog signals at elbow of Cross Ledge, lighthouse at George Island of

the Cross Ledge, lighthouses at Grey Island flat of Horse Shoe Shoal, Joe Flogger Shoal,

Miah Maull Shoal, Brown Shoal and Arnold Point Shoal.

Also to establish a new system of range lights for Cherry Island range, one on the Jersey

shore at Old Mans Point, a rear light on the Delaware shore, the front of that range to be a

lighthouse in the river, off Old Mans Point, with a fog signal.

Then to build a first class steam steel self propelled Five Fathom Bank light vessel with

lights o f high power and a powerful fog signal.

Materially enlarge Cape Henlopen day beacon and increase power of rear range deep water

point light.

Establish an upper Cherry Island Range with a rear light on the Delaware shore near

Marcus Hook and with a front light opposite Grubbs Landing for ranging through the

channel from point Cherry Island range to Schooner Ledge range.

Raise the tower at Billings Point the front light for Tinicum Island and Fort Mifflin

Bar Cut range and place a fog signal at Brammalls Point.

Establish a lighthouse and fog signal on southern end of Harbor of Refuge to clear the

Hen and Chicken shoals, also establish a lighthouse at northwestern end of Harbor of

Refuge, and lighthouses and fog signals on the east and west end of the Delaware

Breakwater.

Abstract: August 20, 2018, by HARRISON H from Philadelphia Inquirer, Sunday ,

22 February, 1903. for www.delmarhistory.blogspot.com

DRAPER KING COLE RANCH 1988

DRAPER KING COLE RANCH

In 1985 a hot spot of concern for environmental authorities, the massive operations of

King Cole Ranch and Draper Canning Company , is now a national model for

“Coordinated Resource Management”.

The waste water from the vegetable processing plant in Milton which once polluted the

nearby streams is now irrigating vegetable growing fields and the vegetable waste has

become a slurry added to the food rations of King Cole Ranch cattle, which once were

allowed to stand knee deep in muddy muck and wander at will into streams and ponds are

now grazing in fenced in pastures and landscaped feeding lots.

The result is an efficient operation that protects the environment and keeps the ecological

cycle revolving.

John E. Wilson, III, secretary of Delaware Department of Natural Resources and

Environmental Control urged Draper officials to seek solutions to their pollution problems

rather than face penalties. A management team was formed, included Draper King Cole

management, DENREC, the Conservation District , Extension workers, Soil Conservation

and Forestry people of Delaware Ag Department , and outside consultants. Fourteen months

of “planning parties” followed which cost both state and federal programs.

Draper Canning founded in 1880 and today is one of the largest food processing plants in the

nation, first added beef cattle in 1960 and became the largest cattle ranch in Delaware .

and hires real cowboys. The 800 hundred acre ranch is home to 30,000 cattle at one time for

about 300 days after being purchased in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley a kept until market.

The herd is feed well on home grown grains, corn, vegetable slurry, mixed with molasses.

The Milton Cannery uses water from six wells and employees 700 people , purchases raw

product from Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and 6000 acres of Delaware farm. Land.

Abstract August 19, 2018, by HARRISON H from Wilmington Morning News,

Monday , August 22, 1988 , Jane Brooks, staff writer. for Facebook &

COLUMBIA, SUSSEX, DELAWARE

COLUMBIA, SUSSEX COUNTY, DELAWARE

Maybe not too interesting, but it is another thing that Sussex county newcomers

should know about. Delaware has a populated place by name of Columbia , it is located

at latitude 38.498 and longitude 75. 678 and sits at an elevation of 43 feet, according to

DEHomeTownLocator on the internet .

Sometime in 1988, Bob Leary of the Wilmington Morning News visited Columbia

and talked to one or two of the locals, there are maybe 50 or so, and here is what he had

to say about Columbia.

The name has a solid ring to it, it conjures up images of a town square, an old court

house, a main street, but our Columbia fails to have any of these tings. This place is in the

far southwest corner almost at the Maryland line, which is just a bit west of it. He talked

with the most visible resident, Warren Moore, age 61, who has the country store at the

cross roads of Sussex 507 and Delaware 76. When asked what is Columbia's claim to

fame he replies, “the Mason Dixon Line marker up the road a mile. “ When questioned

about buildings, he point across the road to the church, the Mt Hebron United Methodist

Church, founded 1860. Looking for celebrities Leary found Sadie Beach, age 92,

Columbia's oldest resident having moved “in town” in 1918 when she married Otho

Beach who had the cross roads country store. The great grandmother does her own grocery

shopping, keeps her yard up in the summers, and says she is in good shape except for laziness,

and has a good case of that.

Nearby is the home of Clyde Cooper, who was born in it in 1900. In his yard is a sycmore

which he thinks is the oldest in Delaware, maybe 200 years old. Melvin Jones, age 69,

the town postman for 25 years until 1975 told of a crop duster plane crash one time.

That's the way it is, life goes on in Columbia, sort of.

Abstract: August 19, 2018, by HARRISON H from Wilmington Morning News, Monday,

August 22, 1988, Bob Leary's column , and www.DEHomeTownLocator.com

www.delmarhistory.blogspot.com & Facebook

ST GEORGES BRIDGE 1939

ST. GEORGES BRIDGE COLLISION IN 1939

FACTS

Captain John Lloyd Reynolds , master of the freighter Waukegan, and the Delaware Bay

and River Pilot, Captain Leroy F. Taylor, testified that every precaution had been taken

to avoid a mishap when the Waukegan struck the St. Georges Bridge over the Delaware

and Chesapeake Canal on 20 January, 1939.

At a hearing of their accusation of inattention of duty by the Bureau of Marine

Inspection & Navigation Captain Reynolds had made it known that there had been malicious

tampering with the steering apparatus discovered while the Waukegan was south bound in the Delaware River, and he had the steering room locked, ordered a series of test which indicated the ship was functioning perfectly. The Captain had anchored the vessel at the

entrance to the canal, took aboard additional water ballast and out the vessel through another

series of test. On a straight section and on two curves the ship responded to it;s helm, but

up the canal on a slight left curve the vessel went out of control heading straight for the

bridge. He dropped both my port and starboard anchors, reversed engines, everything I

could do to ease the impact.

Captain Taylor, of the Delaware Bay and River Pilots , testified both he and the master gave their whole attention to navigating the ship from the time it sailed from Philadelphia to the time it nosed into the bridge and toppled it into the canal.

Abstract 08/18/18 by HARRISON H, from Wilmington Morning News , Tuesday,

August 15, 1939 for www.iinni.blogspot.com and Facebook.

YEAST

NEW METHOD OF GENERATING YEAST

Invented by a servant of the Rev. Mr. Mason and for which the Society of Arts gave him

a reward.

Reported September 23, 1790, in The Daily Mercury, of Derby, Derbyshire, England.

The discovery of is simply this , decoction, that is the boiling of, malt , without an addition

of old yeast, or any fermentable matter, will produce good yeast for baking or brewing.

It is necessary to keep the malt at 80 degree Fahrenheit.

You will need three earthen or wooden pots, one a three quart size, one a four quart size,

another a six quart size. Now boil a ¼ peck of malt for 10 minutes in 3 pints of water.

When a quart is poured off the grain let it stand in the smaller pot in a cool place, until

it reaches a temperature only the brewers know., then place the liquor some place near

a fire to a temperature of 80 degree and there let it stand until fermentation begins, in

about 30 hours. Then add two quarts more of the boiled malt, and when cool mix the whole

in the second larger size pot, stir it well, then add a greater quantity , of the malt

docoction, into the largest pot, which will give you yeast enough for brewing 40 gallons .

Abstract: 08/18/18 by HARRISON H. from The Derby Mercury , of Derby, Derbyshire,

England, September 23, 1790 for www.iinni.blogspot.com & Facebook

CAPES OF DELAWARE BREAKWATER HISTORICAL FACTS.

HISTORY OF BREAKWATER HARBOR AT THE CAPES OF DELAWARE.

The Thursday, February 2, 1826, Wilmingtonian And Delaware Advertiser, a

Wilmington, Delaware newspaper, reported that the citizens of Delaware have solicit

the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress, to renew

attention of Congress to the construction of a Breakwater, or artificial harbor, in the

neighborhood of the Capes of Delaware.

Such protection for our shipping is much wanted, refer to a 1823 report of

commissioners acting under instruction of the Secretary of War, which was laid before

Congress.

To being the subjects importance to the fore, the citizens of the Delaware wish to

recite a few facts, hence;

The Delaware Bay, presents the only outlet to the Philadelphia and other ports

adjacent to the Delaware River, abounds in shoals. Shipping is often assailed by

sudden and violent gales of winds and during the winter months , beset with floating ice,

which to meet these dangers, skill and experience are often exerted in vain.

The amount of property jeopardized by the causes exceeds thirty millions of dollars

each year.

For the 300 mile distance between the Virginia Capes to New York Harbor,

here is not a single harbor or place of refuge for vessels navigating the dangerous coast.

The extent of this danger is that between the 1^st of January , 1824, and, 1^st of December

1825, 51 vessels were shipwrecked, within ten miles of the proposed Breakwater.

One tenth of the duties received at Philadelphia for a four year period would afford

the protection we which we solicit, and add the immeasurable distress and loss of

life, we hope congress will pass the granting of funds for the construction of a secure

artificial harbor at the Capes of Delaware.

Abstract: 08/17/18, by Harrison H., Lewes, from The Wilmingtoian & Delaware

Advertiser, 2 February 1826. for www.delmarhistory.blogspot.com & Facebook

.

ASSATEAGUE ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE

WILMINGTON MORNING NEWS, MONDAY, 10 JULY 1967

Salisbury , Maryland 10 July 1967.

The Assateague Island Lighthouse, a 110 year old structure, at the southern end

of the primitive barrier reef, off the Maryland & Virginia coast will be opened

next year for a visitors tourist attraction was announced by Worthington

Thompson of the Delmarva Advisory Council .

The old lighthouse, towering 147 feet above sea level sits on a sand dune in

the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge which joins the Assateague National

Seashore of the National Park Service.

Abstract 08/16/18 by Harrison H. from Sussex Bureau, Wilmington Morning

News, Monday, 10 July 1967 for Facebook Lewes to Ocean City page.

TERMITES EAT LIGHTHOUSE

TERMITES EAT LIGHTHOUSE

The Coast Guard nor Orkin neither one can tell how a wave of termites made it to the

Smith Point Lighthouse, off Sunnyland, Virginia, just a bit north of Reedsville, Virginia,

two and a half miles off shore in the Chesapeake Bay.

But they did and before being discovered had eaten a good bit of the third floor, the wall

s

and baseboards. At first it was thought dry rot was the culprit but an examination by Orkin

found the damage had been done by termites.

The Coast Guard and Orkin managed to defeat the termites on the first attempt.

How the termites got to the lighthouse, two and half mile out, remain a mystery. They

need water to survive but the Smith Point Lighthouse is in 17 feet of water, sits on a

concrete caisson sunk 40 feet in the bay bottom , 2-1/2 miles from shore, so tunneling

was out of the question. Orkin experts say the wind could have blown the wave out that far

but tend to believe they some how hitched a ride with Coast Guard deliveries of supplies.

Anyway, the sea going termites are gone now, knock on wood.

Abstract 08/16/18 by Harrison H., from the Cumberland News of Cumberland Maryland,

Tuesday 19 May, 1970 to www.iinni.blogspot.com

14 FOOT LIGHT

Fourteen Foot Bank Lighthouse - Delaware Bay

History | Characteristics | Keepers | Visiting Info ______________________________________  History As one approaches the Delaware River from the south 14 Foot Bank Lighthouse is the second Delaware Bay lighthouse to be seen, Brandywine Shoal lighthouse being the most southerly. Fourteen Foot Bank Lighthouse is named for the 14 feet of water that cover this shoal bank. The shoal is nearly 6,000 feet long and 1,300 feet wide and many ships lie beneath the sea in and around the shoal. Since 1876 the shoal had been lit by a lightship during most of the year, but due to the ice floe danger, it could not remain on station during the winter months when it was most needed. The Lighthouse Board decided to erect a lighthouse on the location. Many plans were submitted to the Board, but the Board finally adopted the proposal of its chief engineer, Major D. P. Heap, in 1883. Heap proposed to build a lighthouse with a caisson construction of a cast-iron cylinder 73 feet high with a 35 foot diameter, composed of 1.50" thick iron plates each 6 feet high and 6 inches wide with both horizontal and vertical flanges that would be bolted together to assure a water-tight fit. The government supplied the materials and requested bids from contractors to assemble and sink the caisson. The firm of Messrs. Anderson and Barr, a New York civil engineering firm was awarded the contract. They proposed to sink the caisson by means of a pneumatic process. A square wooden working caisson was constructed on the shore. It measured 40 foot square, 5 feet thick, with walls 7 feet high around all four sides. The water-tight structure was roofed on top and open at the bottom. The bottom was to act as a cutting edge when resting on the bottom of the bay. An air shaft was constructed in the center of the wooden caisson, and provided the means for entry and exit from the working chamber. The permanent caisson of iron was built atop this working caisson initially to a height of 18 feet. When completed the composite structure was towed into position on the shoal. A layer of concrete was put on top of the wooden caisson and this formed the floor of the permanent structure. Both units were then sunk to the bottom by allowing water to enter through 6 inch valves. The box and the cylinder descended slowly to the bottom of the bay, but unfortunately came to rest listing 12 . The top of the cylinder's upper edge was just inches from the surface of the bay, an increase of tide or wind conditions would drive the sea over the top thus repeating a disaster that occurred during the construction of the Rothersand Shoal Lighthouse. The engineers quickly averted disaster by adding additional sections of cylinder wall and filling the cylinder partially with rip-rap hastily procured on shore and rushed to the site by tugboat. The cylinder finally righted itself, the extra weight driving the edge of the wooden caisson deep into the bed of the bay. More sections of wall were bolted onto the iron caisson and the water was pumped out from below. The wall of the iron caisson was finally some 20 feet above mean high water. It became necessary then only to increase the length of the air shaft at the same rate at which the men dug into the bay bottom, and fill the upper iron caisson periodically with concrete to drive the wooden caisson to the required 33 feet into the bottom of the bay. Eight men worked eight hour shifts around the clock removing about two inches of bottom an hour. On August 18, 1855, the required depth had been reached, just one month after digging and concreting had begun. While the digging and sinking operation was going on, another group was busily engaged in the dumping of some 6,000 tons of rip-rap around the base of the caisson to secure it from movements of the current as well as to protect it from ice floe and shipping. The iron caisson was then flattened, the air shaft filled in, and a quaint, picturesque three-story gabled house built upon it. The lighthouse cost $125,000 to build. It is 59 feet to the focal plane of the light. The lighthouse is still in operation and described on current nautical charts as "GP Fl (2) 20 sec. 50 ft. 12 m Horn," which indicated to mariners that the light is a group flashing light (2), every 20 seconds on a 59 foot tower, visible 12 nautical miles at sea and that the station is equipped with a fog horn.

Hayden's WW II eterans

Rehoboth Sons in the Thick of Fight on Two Hemispheres

World War II 1944

A Rehoboth mother, Mrs Eugene Hayden keeps a close eye on the war's progress

as two of her sons are there in the fighting.

Private James Hayden,, 23 year old son, is a member of the 5^th Army's 339^th

Regiment, kown as the Polar Bear Regiment from WW I action, fghting in waist deep snow

on the 400 mle Leningrad front in Russia. They now are on the Gothic Line in the

Itialian peaks as high as 3400 feet, near Futa Pass. The 339^th regiment landed in Italy last

March with the 85^th division.

Sergeant Robert Hayden, age 22, is a member of the U. S, Army Engineers,

Airbourn Troops, in the Pacific with General MacArthur's landing on the Island Leyte.

Abstract Wilmington Morning News, Tuesday, January 16, 1945.

By Harrison H 08/13/18 for Facebook page Growing Up in Rehoboth

and www.delmarhistory.blogspot.com

SAND HILL METHODIST CHURCH

SAND HILL METHODIST CHURCH

July 2, 2018, Sand Hill Methodist Church was 159 years old according to

the following newspaper article in the Wilmington News Journal of Wednesday,

September 22, 1954.

95 Year Old Sand Hill Church Plans Reunion:

Georgetown, Delaware, September 22, 1954:

The annual homecoming at the 95 year old Sand Hill Methodist Church will be held next

Sunday, September 26 1954, beginning with church school at 10 am.

The Rev. Joseph V. Holiday, pastor of the Georgetown Methodist Circuit will hold the

11 am church service at Sand Hill. At noon there will be a meal served at Jones

Memorial Hall in Georgetown by the Sand Hill Church Ladies.

At 2 pm the Rev. Olin Shockley, Ellendale Methodist Church pastor will give the

service.

The 7 pm service will have the Rev. William O Hackett, pastor of Georgetown

Wesley Methodist Church conduct the evening service.

Guest vocalist will sing at each service.

Sand Hill church is on the Milton to Georgetown Sand Hill road. It sits on a one acre

site donated March 26, 1859 by Dr. William Marshall. By July 2 that year a frame

built church building was raised.

This church was dedicated November 20, 1859 with the name “Reeds Chapel” in

honor of the pastor then serving the circuit.

The structure has seen several extensively repairs, once in 1885 and again in 1940.

The past several weeks repainting and minor repairs were made for the homecoming

reopening. There is an active cemetery in the church yard.

Abstract: August 12, 2018, by Harrison H from Wilmington News Journal , Wednesday,

September 22, 1954

1966 MISS DELAWARE PAGEANT

1966 MISS DELAWARE PAGEANT

There are 18 entries from the state to copete in the June 12^th pagent according to

Miles Frederick, pageant director.

The Lewes and Rehoboth girls set to compete are Elizabeth Madlyn Ellis, Miss

Lewes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clayton H. Ellis of Lewes, sponsored by Lewes

Rotary Club. Jaunita Diane Shoret, Miss Quakertown, daughter of Mr. and Mrs

George Short of Quakertowm, sponsored by Lewes Chamber of Commerce.. Miss

Rehoboth Beach is Janet Beverly Jeglum, sponsored by Rehoboth Fire Company and

Majory Jane Hendricks, Miss Schoolview, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club.

Abstract: Salisbury Daily Times, Thrusday, June 9, 1966

1970 OCEAN CITY HOTEL FIRE.

OCEAN CITY, MARYLAND

MARCH 1970

Thursday, March 12, 1970, fire swept through two Ocean City boardwalk hotels, the

Roosevelt and the Rideau. It took four hours for 400 firemen from eight companies

to bring the fire under control.

The Roosevelt Hotel was undergoing renovation and both were closed for the season so

no guest were involved. The fire was noticed about 7 pm in the Roosevelt.

As many as a 1000 spectators it was said, stood on the beach, the boardwalk and

side streets as foiremen spread miles of hose through out the downtown section of the

city.

Fire companies from Ocean City, Snow Hill, Newark, Pocomoke city, Rehoboth,

Bishop, Showell, Berlin, Powellville and Willards sent equipment and stood ready

to assist if needed.

It was one of the worst fires Ocean City has seen and all 115 Ocean City firemen were

on the scene and the ladies were about with coffee and snacks .

Abstract Salisbury Daily Times, Thursday, March 12, 1970, by Mel Toadvine, the

Times staff writer.

SPOCOTT DORCHESTER MARYLAND

DORCHESTER COUNTY MARYLAND

SPOCOTT

Sitting on Gary's Creek , six miles west of Cambridge on the Cambridge to Hudson Road

right near the intersection with Garden of Edwn Road, is Spotcott, a mid 1600's home

and once a community, a well known site of Dorchester County.

`It has a view of the Little Choptank River and the Spotcott Windmill. James Michner

called it one of his favorite places on the Chesapeake.

A Lord Baltimore grant gave the tract to Stephen Gary around 1662 for his service in

British military during King Charles II time on the throne.

Gary emigrated from Cornwall England in 1650 to St. Mary's and acquired a

substattial holding of Dorchest land. Gary was one of the first county commissioners

upon it forming in 1669.

Where did Spotcott get it's name is still a question , however, it is thought to be a

misspelling of the maiden name of Garys wife, Specott.

The 4^th great grandson of Stephen Gary , owner George Radcliffe, Jr., tels that his

great grandfather, John Anthony LeCcompt Radcliffe, purchased Spocott in 1849,

made it a successful shipbuilding business site which last until the Civill War, after

which it came to be a farm operation.

Vegetable's and fruits were grow on it's soils, then there was cotton , cows, pigs, and

chickensm seafood from the surounding waters made Spotcltt self sustained .

A most significant person in Spotcliff history is George Lovic Pierce Radcliffe, born

1877 he worked the farm and earned a PHD in history , spent his life reworking the

estate grounds, preserving it's buildings and recording it's history. He was also Marylands

Secretary of State and did three terms in the senate.

In 1888 a blizzard destroyed the windmill built in 1850 and in 1971 it was reconstructed

in 1974 .

SpoCOTTcott was put under the Maryland Enviromental Trust and has been successfully

preserved.

Abstract: “ Theres This Place called Spocott” by Kathi Fergison, in the August 1^st

2018 issue of The Guide. Submit to Facebook page of Dorchester Maryland.

Harrison H 08/09/18 for www.delmarhistory.blogspot.com

1928 MILFORD BYPASS OF REHOBOTH HIGHWAY

MILFORD TO REHOBOTH BYPASS 1928

A new road, which will bypass the center of Milford of the Rehoboth highway, is to

be built east of Milford beginning north of town at the farm lands of Frank Salevan,

then extends to the High Hill Wharf on the Mispillion River east of town , thence to

the farm lands of Burt Deputy, south of town and connect to the Rehoboth highway. It

will be a little bit more than a one mile stretch and will require a lot of fill in's and

a draw bridge to cross the Mispillion river.

This route is opposed by the Milford mechants who feel it will take Milford off the maps,

and that they will loose business. The state Highway Department contands the streets

of downtown Milford are too narrow to take the traffic to and from Rehoboth Beach.

Abstract: Wilmington News Journal , Tuesday January 24, 1928 by Harrison H,

www.delmarhistory.blogspot.com

JOHN MARVIN LeCATO, SR.

JOHN MARVIN LeCATO, SR.

Here is a collection of newspaper items covering the history of a Rehoboth Beach

resident who needs to be remembered and respected as a “Great One' on the “Old Timers”

pages of Rehoboth's history.

First we review his August 7, 1969 obituary which appeared in the Wilmington

Morning News.

Dewey Beach:

Former Delaware State Representative, John Marvin LeCato, age 78, died of a heart attack,

August 6, 1969 at his farm home at the edge of Rehoboth Bay. Services will be private and

await the arrival of his son Stewart who is in Denmark.

LeCato , a biologist, a plant pathologist and advocate of water and sewage control

in Sussex county.

At age 27 he joined the faculty of the University of Delaware, that was in 1918. as associate professor of pathology. In addition he was chosen to be the college track team

coach.

He was the democract representitive from Dewey and was a Rehoboth Councilman in the mid 1960's. As a member of the board of the Mental Health Department of Delaware and

had a keen interest in the Stockley home for the retarded.

In his younger years he traveled for the Firestone Rubber Company throughout West

Africa and East Indies and was charged with the transport of thousands of rubber tree

saplings from Dutch East Indies to Liberia, considered a remarkable feat.

He was born 26 November 1890 in Western Elenthera, Bahamas, to Dr. John Thomas LeCato, 1863 – 1895, a native of Accomack county, Virginia and Nora Isabel Shipley, 1866 - 1893, native of Anne Arundel county Maryland. His father died of Yellow Fever.

John M. LeCato was educated in the schools of rural Maryland, graduated Baltimore

City College 1910, then the University of Michigan in 1913. He received a masters degree

in biology in 1914 from University of Illionis and did graduate studies at Johns Hopkins

University in the 1920's. 1914 to 1817 he was at Marshall University, Huntington, West

Virginia and spent a year with the U. S. Department of Agriculture as a plant pathologist.

While at the University of Delaware he worked in southern Delaware with sweet potatoes

and cantaloupes to improve the quality. Later in Delaware he was the biologist at the CCC

Camp at Lewes and helped start the mosquito control programs 1933 to 1938. He was

also a sanitary engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers and Public Health Services.

Next he took a position as the principal of Rehoboth Schools, taught chemistry, and became president of Rehoboth Kiwanis.

Survivors are his widow, Esther Virginia Tubbs who he married the 3d January 1914,

two sons, Capt. John M. LeCato, Jr., U.S. Merchant Marines of Charleston, South Carolina,

and Stewart , Linthicum Heights, Maryland and his granddaughter, Crista Skudlark of Milton,

Delaware, owner of “Backyard Jam & Jellies.”

John Marvin LeCato is buried in All Saints Cemetery, Angola, Indian River Hundred,

Sussex County, Delaware.

Professor John Marvin LaCato

In charge of Delaware College Track Team

Friday, January 24, 1919, Wilmington Morning News

Newark, Delaware, January 23, 1919:

At a student meeting at Delaware College, Coach Shipley, announced the Professor

John M. LeCato of the extension service at the college will take charge of the track team

this year. LeCato is a track man and called for track candidates to meet with him this

evening in the gymnasium. Spex Craig will be team captain and Earle Ewing is to be

the team manager.

Saturday, May 28, 1921, Wilmington Evening News Journal

Newark, May 24:

The track season was to end next Saturday with a meet with Muhlenburg but the meet was

canceled . Especially regretted by the track team is the fact that this was the last season

for coach John M. LeCato who has coached the team the past three years and developed

some great athletes. He is seen as a 'wizard' at getting performance out of his team

members along with his teaching bacteriology in the university.

Lecato goes to Johns Hopkins University this September to join the faculty and to

assist in coaching the track team. Several of the track men LeCato has developed are the

freshman Betzmer who holds the Delaware javelin record. Among other records he also

holds the record at Swarthmore with a heave of 176 feet, 8 and a half inches. Betzmer

also holds the shot put record at Delaware and is a discus thrower of note. Booth, a long

distance runner who under coach LeCato has records in the mile and two mile runs . Then

there is Pittman, a sprinter, best Delaware has ever had, never been defeated. Fred Harmer,

under LeCato, a low hurdler, is always a winner.

John LeCato

Monday, February 28. 1966 Wilmington Morning News, Les Hendrix, Sussex

Bureau writes Rehoboth Beach:

John LeCato in his own words was on the worst coal burning, bucket of rust, cargo ship,

with millioms of lice aboard, was about to be arrested or knocking a spanard over board

for damaging secveral rubber tree pants. A $5 dollar American gold piece sealed his release.

LeCato was employed by Firestone Rubber Company and in charge of 1500 young rubber

plants going from Sumatra to Liberia. The cargo, when inloaded was 72% safe after

sailing through a three day monsoon of the coast of Somali. LeCato was to finish the mission

if only 5% lived. He made the trip and finished his mission. After his thre year Firestone

job, wanting to give some attention to his sons, he took a position as biologist with the CCC

Mosquito Control in Lewes Delaware wher he worked until 1938. While in Lewes he was

active in Rehoboth civic affairs and led the fight for city water and sewer systems and a new

High School building, In WW II he worked for U.S. Public Health in North Carolina. He

later taught physic and chemistry in local Delmarva Schools, Worcester County, and

Rehoboth fiv years.

LeCATO OF REHOBOTH BAY

Monday, August 11, 1969 Wilmington Morning News

Delmarva as the natural home of John Marvin LeCato, not just Sussex or Worcester

counties, nor Dewey and Rehoboth Beach, but he was not happy away from sale water

or country folks, so, he put his house a slow turtle craw from the shore of Reboboth Bay at

Dewey Beach. He was happy to be able to step barefooted to the bay and pick up a soft

shell crab for breakfast.

Mr LeCato was a Jeffersonian Democrat with a quite passion that mans best hope is

education he had no patience with anyone who did not make a real effort to use his brain.

He had empathy for the handicapped and special concern for mentaly retarded.

John Marvin LeCato who died August 6, 1969, a human scientist helped lead the way.

BILL FRANK ON JOHN LeCATO

Tuesday, August 12, 1969, Wilmington Morning News

John LeCato, for the past several years he has been asking me to visit him at Dewey

Beach with a promise of lots of good stories and a fried chicken dinner.

I did so, Monday, July 28, 1969.

We sat on his porch at the edge of Rehoboth Bay with the bobwhites, blue jays, from

the LeCato garden of paradise , sang out.

Later we drove to visit Homer Pepper and toured the Pepper chcken plant and munched on

Peppers Pride chicken then back through Dagsboro, Angola to the Rehoboth Bay

LeCato hideaway. Stories of the Firestone days in Indonesia and Africa , many stories on

the rust bucket with 15000 rubber plants, mosquitoes, the 1962 storm when he and mom

evacuated to the second floor and turned off all lights so the coast guard thought they had

left for high ground.

There was the Rehoboth school principal days, when the board calleca special meeting

where a board member told him he had a prostitute as a teacher. “She uses lipstick”

said the member. LeCato said he would take care of that but not fire the woman as she was

a very good teacher, He quit the school over a teacher which was inefficient and top

brass in Dover said not to fire her as she was a friend of a friend. He told me little of

his political battles and principal. Having to leave after the fried chicken dinner I said I

would be back.

But last Wednesday, Miles Frederick called. Jack LeCato died this morning.