Lost Overboard: A Story in Slate, Part I

by Bethany Groff Dorau, Museum of Old Newbury

The slate log is affixed to marbled board covers and resembles a book when closed, and a small chalkboard when opened.



On June 15, 2023, the Museum of Old Newbury purchased a slate tablet from an auction in Cincinnati, Ohio. A slate of that era is a common enough object – a notebook-paper sized piece of thin stone, double-sided and framed in walnut. In an era when paper and ink were expensive, small, portable slates were ubiquitous – the scratch paper and post-it notes of its time. Students used slates to copy their lessons at school. They would take these slates home, memorize the material, and return to school with a literal blank slate. So, too, slates were used to record the raw material – the wind, weather, and navigation notes that would be later transcribed into the ship’s log. Whether used in the classroom or at sea, the notes kept on slate were ephemeral, meant to be erased shortly after they were memorized or copied down.

This slate deck log became, accidentally, a permanent record of the last days of a man’s life, however. 

This advertisement from the Newburyport Herald in 1841 offers “various hard-wood frame slates – also the large sizes, for (ship’s) log slates.”

Captain James Knapp Pritchard was born in Newburyport on June 11, 1834. He was the eldest son of William Pritchard, a ship’s rigger, and Elizabeth Hoyt (Knapp) Pritchard, daughter of a ship’s caulker. Both families were deeply entrenched in Newburyport’s maritime economy, and it is little surprise, then, that James turned to the sea to make his living, listed as rigger like his father at age 16 and 21, and then, in 1860, age 26, listed as mariner.

James Pritchard married Emily Goodwin in 1856, and rose quickly through the maritime ranks. In February, 1863, he was proposed for membership in the Newburyport Marine Society, which he joined in November, age 29. 

Less than two months later, on January 4, 1864, Captain Pritchard bought himself a slate tablet in a marbled board case, perhaps one of the many “of the best quality” sold “cheap” by G.W. Clark at 21 State Street, who advertised his wares in the Newburyport Herald. The Civil War was raging, with Newburyport merchant ships in constant danger from Confederate battleships. James K. Pritchard signed his name and wrote the date of his purchase on the inside of the slate box, and added, “Fear Not”. 

Image courtesy of Bob Watts

This inscription remains somewhat inscrutable and led to a misidentification of the slate in later years. A ship called the Fearnot was built in Newburyport by George W. Jackman Jr. and sold to the Navy in July 1861. She was long gone by the time Pritchard purchased the slate, however, arriving in Key West in August 1861 and remaining in the Gulf until she was decommissioned in 1866. It is certainly possible that Pritchard intended to join the ship, but there is no evidence that he ever did. His assignment was the newly built Elcano, a Currier-built merchant ship of 1,228 tons built for the East India trade and owned by the Cushing family. Later, the slate was thought to have been from the Fearnot, though it seems Captain Pritchard may have been simply expressing a hope that he would be courageous on this voyage.

The slate log was erroneously attributed to the USS Fearnot.

Image courtesy of Bob Watts.

How Captain Pritchard passed the eleven months between the purchase of the slate and the departure, at long last, of the Elcano from Boston on December 20, 1864, remains a mystery. We know that the Boston Post noted her arrival on November 20 to “load for East Indies”, and she began running advertisements for passengers and cargo headed for Galle (in present-day Sri Lanka) and Calcutta. 

Meanwhile, a young Presbyterian missionary named Samuel Henry Kellogg booked passage for Calcutta with his wife Antoinette, joining another missionary party headed by the Myers family. It is from his letters home that we know of another important passenger.

Emily Goodwin Pritchard, the captain’s wife, was on board the Elcano when it sailed.

The slate deck log, covering December 20 and 21, records the ship’s progress out of the port, past the “Highland Light” off Cape Cod, and into the Atlantic Ocean. What happened next was recorded later by others. The Newburyport Marine Society says simply that Captain Pritchard was, “lost overboard Dec. 22, 1864.”

What we know from later recollections is that Captain Pritchard was reported on deck taking readings for the log when he was swept overboard and drowned. And someone, perhaps Emily, had the wherewithal to close and keep the deck log in his memory. And then, this object made it back, in its fragile state, from India, via Liverpool, to Newburyport, and then somehow to Cincinnati. And now we have it, and a part of Captain Pritchard is home.

There is much more to this story than the loss of its young captain so soon after leaving home. Join us in two weeks for missionaries, mutiny, mayhem, and murder aboard the Elcano. 

 Captain Pritchard’s probate record from 1866, after the return of his widow to Newburyport, notes that he is a master mariner, and that he died intestate, without a will.  

Captain Pritchard's body was never recovered, but his headstone is at Oak Hill Cemetery, shared with his wife Emily, who lived until 1908 and never remarried. Pritchard's birthday on the stone is off by one month - he was born on June 11, 1834.

Upcoming Events

New Acquisitions for Old Newbury: 2023 Member Reception and Annual Meeting

Wednesday, September 13, 6:30-8pm, free.

Join us for an exciting evening at the New Acquisitions for Old Newbury event! This is your chance to connect with fellow members and celebrate our organization's achievements over the past year.

Following a reception and brief business meeting, you will have the opportunity to view highlights of the past year's acquisitions. Enjoy images of Newburyport and New England from two ground-breaking amateur photographers from the turn of the last century, John White Winder and George Varney, and a recently digitized collection of slides documenting Newburyport during and after urban renewal. Check out 20th century design artifacts from Towle Silver Company, breath-taking ephemera from two doomed Newburyport captains, and items from the Pearson collection, spanning two centuries of intimate family history in Newburyport and Byfield.

Wash Day at the Cushing House

Friday and Saturday, September 22 and 23, 9:00 am - 11:00

Come by and be ready to roll up your sleeves and get wet. Visit the wash yard of the 1808 Cushing House in Newburyport and try your hand at cleaning clothes the old-fashioned way, with a washboard and wash tub. Learn where the house’s water would have come from, see where clothes were dried in the rain, and hear about the people who would have done this work for the Cushing family in the 1800s. All ages welcome. Event will take place rain or shine. 98 High Street, Newburyport. Free to all - part of the 2023 Trails & Sails event.

History and Cultures of the Great Marsh

Monday, October 23, 2023, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

The Governor's Academy

Join us for the History & Cultures of the Great Marsh Conference on Monday, October 23, 2023 at The Governor's Academy. This is an in-person event with limited capacity - get your tickets soon! Museum of Old Newbury members and members of Essex County Greenbelt: $30, General Admission, $45. Add-on field trips an additional $10-15.

At this day-long conference, you'll have the opportunity to learn about the rich heritage and diverse cultures of Essex County's Great Marsh. Our expert speakers will cover topics ranging from the indigenous peoples who lived in the area, the impact of European settlement on the development of the Great Marsh, the art that this beautiful place inspired, and the challenges facing the region's most captivating natural landscape today. 

Topics and speakers include:

Christoph Strobel, Ph.D., "The Great Marsh, Newbury, and the Indigenous Worlds of the Merrimack River Valley System and Beyond."

Gordon Harris, historian, "Contention in the Commons: The Open Field Land System in 17th Century Newbury"

Tricia Peone, Ph.D., "Slavery and Memory in the Great Marsh"

Monica Reuss, American fine art specialist, "Splendour in the Grass: Art Inspired by the Great Marsh"

Panel: "Agriculture, Fishing, Hunting, & Conservation in the Great Marsh"

• Rich Clyborne, Executive Director of The Gundalow Company
• Russell Hopping, Ecology Program Director, Trustees of Reservations
• Geoffrey Walker, sportsman & wildlife activist, Great Marsh Partnership

Closing remarks: Peter Phippen, Merrimack Valley Planning Commission, Great Marsh Partnership

Optional field trips include:

1. Bird watching with Laura Vehring in the Parker River marsh surrounding The Governor’s Academy
2. Guided tour of Plum Island’s cranberry bogs
3. Guided tour of the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm & its salt marsh hay production, past & present.



Attendees will also be invited to tour of the Academy's brand-new Alfond Coastal Research Center (completed just this summer), a state-of-the-art marine study facility overlooking the south bank of the Parker River near Thurlow's Bridge.

A Month at the MOON. Part I

...a guest blog by David In, MOON Intern

Hello members and supporters of Old Newbury! My name is David In, and I was an unofficial intern here at the Museum of Old Newbury for about a month. Frankly, this wasn’t the sort of internship I envisioned, as I am a Mechanical Engineering student going on to my third year at the University of Connecticut; I thought I’d end up as a coffee runner for an engineering firm or something similar - I didn’t even get that great a grade in my history classes! Also, I am not just from out of town, but an out-of-stater (I am a Connecticutian), but I’m here thanks to a healthy dash of nepotism. (Thank you very much, Auntie Kristen!)

I was initially asked to volunteer for a half-week to help support the Garden Tour, but I decided to stay on and see what Old Newbury had to offer. Suffice to say, it offered plenty. My Old Newbury experience began with meeting local historian Ghlee Woodworth on my first day. She headed up a project that used ground-penetrating radar to identify unmarked graves in Old Hill Burying Ground, likely the final resting place of Black Newburyporters who lived in nearby Guinea Village. Despite the quiet weight of history in the graveyard, I was pleased to be present while respect was given to those who were unable to have it for so long. It was an auspicious beginning and touched my heart. After that, I contributed mightily to the Garden Tour, folding tour maps and inserting them into program booklets. That was what was pitched to me prior to starting my work here, and it did not disappoint. To those who received a booklet, it’s likely that I was the one who lovingly folded those maps neatly from edge to edge and gently put them inside the booklets, so you are welcome. A tour of the Cushing House convinced me of the riches of this port town. The history of merchants, politicians, lucky breaks and horrible disasters, and notably this community’s resistance to the scourge of milquetoast modernization, is pretty interesting for a person who isn’t familiar with such rich history.

On my first day, I was also lucky enough to meet Scott Nason, who is another local history expert, and came in to assess some new additions to the collection - an 1830’s antique sea captain’s portable desk, a neat sword-cane, and more, all associated with Captain Thomas Caldwell Page. Captain Page died at sea, and these items had been passed down in the family. I was there as we excavated the desk, examining objects and documents, including a heartfelt letter from the captain to his family, the last he made just days before yellow fever claimed his life. If that piques your interest, come by the museum and take a look in the Maritime Room. Honestly, this first day spoiled me for working at the museum, and I went to sleep that night quite satisfied with how everything had turned out. I had some more Garden Tour maps to fold and insert, but that was simple and easy. Yes, this museum internship seemed a real cinch.

The sword cane that belonged to Capt. Thomas C. Page. The metal band beneath the head of the cane is inscribed with his name and home town of "N Port."

And then, the next day, a printing error was found in all the program booklets. Some text from the previous year’s program book had missed all the edits. The error in question was in the gardeners personal FAQ section, the one where they were asked about their favorite tools, plants, supply store, that sort of information. We could have skated by here, but the garden host was NOT a fan of the plant now identified as their favorite for all time. Crisis! What was there to do? Yes indeed, it was time to bust out the stickers. It was a lot of stickering, but if I am to be completely honest, it was a nice exercise in precision sticker placing, so, good fun. Of course I was not the only one doing this, as there were other more weathered interns participating in the joys of manual labor, and senior staff members joined the table of stickers and map folding when they had no more pressing matters to attend to. That was the whole of my second day. 

From stickers to set-up, the Garden Tour itself occupied the next two days. I was especially instrumental in ticketing and merchandise logistics. I must admit it is fun to plan the routes and avenues which people will use to get to desks in order to buy or pick up their booklets. I would like to think of this as analogous to highway traffic planning, with understanding the incoming flow of people from multiple entrances, efficiently directing most to where they need to go, and the fact that people will ignore signs and postings in favor of asking the most immediate receptionist to find out where to go. I am proud to say that I had a hand in the smooth flow of traffic. 

Alas, I was not destined to be out in the yard, checking names and giving booklets, I was to be in the house, in the China Trade Room, as a pseudo docent. This was a daunting task set to me, as I cannot confess to having a strong charisma. I thought that my time spent in the room would have me posted in a corner, dissuading sticky fingers and no-gooders if the need arises with my presence; but after a while, I forgot that I dislike too much social interaction and got into the groove. I also must mention that I met Corey Prince from New England Sketch Book in downtown Newburyport, who was making tintypes as a special fundraiser for the museum. It was fascinating. Check them out!  

Dylan Wack chats with Corey Prince of New England Sketchbook about the tintype process.

So, the Garden Tour came and went, and the plan was for me to go back to my hometown in Connecticut, but I found it pretty fun working at the museum, so I decided to stay longer. It was worth it, too, as I was handed a whole Trader Joe’s ™ grocery tote’s worth of slides dating back to Newburyport’s redevelopment. These Kodak slides, dating from about 1967~80, were some of the most interesting “close history” artifacts I have seen. My task was to scan them all into the museum’s database and accurately label them.

In all, I scanned and organized 849 slides. Let me tell you, I have never seen so many images taken in one place, from so many angles. I’ve probably seen more of Inn Street over long years than most native residents have, and to any old-timers who’d like to dispute this claim, I ask you this: what the heck is Rowan’s Wall? I saw so many pictures of that run down brick wall and my cursory internet searches just told me something about a dude named Rowan having to rebuild his back wall. Is that it?

"Rowan's Wall" on Inn Street. If you know the story of the name, David wants to know!

Seeing how places like Inn Street changed over the course of a decade was fascinating. Some interesting slides had pictures of campaigners and politicians rallying for Newburyport’s preservation, interiors of some stores at the time, and even in-process demolition of some buildings that couldn’t be saved; personally, my favorite slides were of schematics for an updated waterfront and seawall, the structures here and now. The grandest slides in the set are probably the aerial views, as they capture all of Newburyport from the sky and really show contrast between the quieter town then with the much more vibrant version today.

Schematic of the waterfront plan.

Workers constructing the boardwalk.

Aerial view of Market Square

I was sent out to roam the city and take modern pictures of a select few slides such as most of Inn Street (fountain, playground, buildings, alleys), certain buildings, and a waterfront location. Of course, I chose to do this amid downpours, but really, the excursion was a perfectly interactive foray into local history, aside from one little thing. My nemesis became a UPS truck that consistently blocked an image of the alley next to Bar25, one of my desired locations. After sheltering briefly in The Angry Donut with an iced coffee and coconut-chocolate donut, I tried again, but alas, the view was still blocked. I returned to the museum, had lunch, and went back out, my phone battery on its last five percent. And as I turned down the alley, getting all the way down to get a perfect analogue to the slide I scanned of this place (with stones being put into the ground with construction in the background), a food supply truck pulled up in front of the alley to ruin my shot. This time, I stayed, though I can only imagine what some people must have thought of a dour looking Cambodian-American standing at the entrance to an alleyway, staring daggers at a food distribution truck. I stood there for around twenty minutes before I finally got my shot. 

Threadneedle Alley, then...and now (after much waiting for delivery trucks to leave)

Anyway, I must say that it was a real treat to witness a piece of history close to our time and learn about the struggle to keep that beautiful brick. Maybe it's the museum environment getting to me, but it really gave me an appreciation for the history of this town by seeing its architecture still live today.

Stay tuned for Part Two, when your humble intern goes on a trip around New England with another collection of photographs. 

Avocado Popsicles (Paletas de Aguacate)

Summer is my time to take a break from baking. For a few dollars, a popsicle mold can bring lots of fun. Before you say "never!" give these popsicles a try. To me, they taste like a lime creamsicle. A cool, refreshing treat and you can't beat the color. - Kristen

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

2 small ripe avocados

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil and the sugar has dissolved. Let cool to room temperature.

Cut the avocados in half lengthwise. Remove the pit and scoop the flesh into a blender, along with the cooled syrup and salt. Blend until smooth, scraping the sides as needed. Add the lime juice and blend just until combined.

If using conventional molds, divide the mixture among the molds, snap on the lid, and freeze until solid, about 5 hours. If using glasses or other unconventional molds, freeze until the pops are beginning to set (1 1/2 to 2 hours), then insert the sticks and freeze until solid, 4 to 5 hours. 

(From the book, "Paletas" by Fany Gerson)

Click the image to do the puzzle

A Pleasant Street view- from the recently scanned slides of Newburyport from the 1960s-1980s.