Nathan F. Cobb - History

History

Nathan F. Cobb of Rockland, Maine was a three-masted, square rigged schooner constructed in 1890. Information related to many ships built in Rockland between the years of 1837 and 1920 is generally sparse. In his six volume set titled Merchant Sail, William Armstrong Fairburn describes the landscape regarding construction and registration information for ships built in Rockland during the aforementioned era:

It is to be regretted that the desired data covering construction and registration at most Maine ports have not been preserved, recorded, and made available for inspection locally; that the records still in existence—and that have not been destroyed or lost—are scattered; the tabulations of the data on hand attempted during recent years by the P.W.A. (Pemaquid Watershed Association) are incomplete; and that such records as have been made available are for vessels catalogued alphabetically instead of chronologically. —William Armstrong Fairburn, Merchant Sail Volume V, page 3419

Fairburn cites Customhouse Records with recording information about 275 vessels registered as built in Rockland between 1837 and 1920. Among the vessels listed is the Nathan F. Cobb, which ranged 167.2 feet (51 m) in length, weighed 656 tons, drafted 12.7 feet (4 m) of water and had a beam width of 35.1 feet (11 m).