Current:Home > NewsBefore lobster, Maine had a thriving sardine industry. A sunken ship reminds us of its storied past -LegacyBuild Academy
Before lobster, Maine had a thriving sardine industry. A sunken ship reminds us of its storied past
View
Date:2025-04-16 13:43:37
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An 83-foot (25-meter) motor boat that was one of the first refrigerated sardine carriers during the heyday of Maine’s sardine industry is going to be scrapped after a recovery operation to retrieve the sunken vessel.
The Jacob Pike fell victim to a storm last winter.
The 21-year-old great-great-grandson of the vessel’s namesake wants the historic wooden vessel to be preserved, and formed a nonprofit that would use it as an educational platform. But the U.S. Coast Guard doesn’t have the authority to transfer ownership of the vessel. And any new owner could become responsible for repaying up to $300,000 for environmental remediation.
Sumner Pike Rugh said he’s still hoping to work with the Coast Guard but understands the vessel’s fate is likely sealed.
“It’s an ignominious end to a storied vessel,” said his father, Aaron Pike Rugh.
Around the world, Maine is synonymous with lobster — the state’s signature seafood — but that wasn’t always the case. Over the years, hundreds of sardine canneries operated along the Maine coast.
The first U.S. sardine cannery opened in 1875 in Eastport, Maine, with workers sorting, snipping and packing sardines, which fueled American workers and, later, allied troops overseas. On the nation’s opposite coast, sardine canneries were immortalized by John Steinbeck in his 1945 novel “Cannery Row,” which focused on Monterey, California.
Launched in 1949, the Jacob Pike is a wooden vessel with a motor, along with a type of refrigeration system that allowed the vessel to accept tons of herring from fishing vessels before being offloaded at canneries.
When tastes changed and sardines fell out of favor — leading to the shuttering of canneries — the Jacob Pike vessel hauled lobsters. By last winter, its glory days were long past as it sank off Harpswell during a powerful storm.
In recent years there’s been a resurgence of interest in tinned fish, but the historic ship was already sailed — or in this case, sunk.
Sumner Rugh, a senior at the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, was halfway around the world on a tanker off the coast of South Korea when he learned that the vessel he wanted to preserve was gone. No one else seemed interested in the vessel, he said, so he started the nonprofit Jacob Pike Organization with a board that includes some former owners.
He said he hoped that the Coast Guard would hand the vessel over to the nonprofit without being saddled with costs associated with environmental remediation. Since that’s not possible, he’s modifying his goal of saving the entire vessel intact. Instead, he hopes to save documentation and enough components to be able to reconstruct the vessel.
The Coast Guard took over environmental remediation of fuel, batteries and other materials that could foul the ocean waters when the current owner was either unable or unwilling to take on the task, said Lt. Pamela Manns, a spokesperson based in Maine. The owner’s phone wasn’t accepting messages on Tuesday.
Last week, salvage crews used air bags and pumps to lift the vessel from its watery grave, and it was sturdy and seaworthy enough to be towed to South Portland, Maine.
While sympathetic to Sumner Rugh’s dream, Manns said the Coast Guard intends to destroy the vessel. “I can appreciate the fact that this boat means something to him, but our role is very clear. Our role is to mitigate any pollution threats. Unfortunately the Jacob Pike was a pollution threat,” she said.
veryGood! (38)
Related
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- A woman hurled food at a Chipotle worker. A judge sentenced the attacker to work in a fast-food restaurant
- Facebook and Instagram are steering child predators to kids, New Mexico AG alleges
- Why Matt Bomer Stands by His Decision to Pass on Barbie Role
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- Robert Pattinson and Suki Waterhouse Make First Public Appearance Together Since Pregnancy Reveal
- Strikes on Gaza’s southern edge sow fear in one of the last areas to which people can flee
- The Masked Singer: Gilmore Girls Alum Revealed as Tiki During Double Elimination
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- Trump expected to attend New York fraud trial again Thursday as testimony nears an end
Ranking
- What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
- Which college has won the most Heisman trophies? It's a four-way tie.
- Air quality had gotten better in parts of the U.S. — but wildfire smoke is reversing those improvements, researchers say
- 'Good enough, not perfect': How to manage the emotional labor of being 'Mama Claus'
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Why Matt Bomer Stands by His Decision to Pass on Barbie Role
- New York man wins Mega Millions twice in one night, cashes tickets in one year later
- Germany’s chancellor lights first Hanukkah candle on a huge menorah at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate
Recommendation
Bill Belichick's salary at North Carolina: School releases football coach's contract details
Halle Berry Reveals She Had “Rocky Start” Working With Angelina Jolie
LeBron James once again addresses gun violence while in Las Vegas for In-Season Tournament
A survivor is pulled out of a Zambian mine nearly a week after being trapped. Dozens remain missing
A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
Trump tells supporters, ‘Guard the vote.’ Here’s the phrase’s backstory and why it’s raising concern
Who are the Houthis and why hasn’t the US retaliated for their attacks on ships in the Middle East?
New York man wins Mega Millions twice in one night, cashes tickets in one year later