The Sabino
by Tom Seymour
The Sabino at Mystic Seaport where it has been since 1974. It regularly carries museum visitors on the Mystic River at Mystic, CT. Mystic Seaport Museum photo
In Maine, people once depended upon steamboats when traveling to and from river towns and offshore islands. Inland, railroads became a favored way of travel, replacing horse-drawn conveyances and as roads became more widespread and of better quality, automobiles became more prevalent.
But nothing could replace travel by water where situations required it. And though in time diesel largely replaced steam, some steam-powered vessels remained in service through the first half of the twentieth century. An example of this is the great passenger steamships that connected Belfast, Maine and Boston, Massachusetts. The last of these remained in service until the mid-1930s.
Sabino Superlatives
One of the last working steam-powered vessels, Sabino, served communities along the Maine coast for 50 years. Sabino, originally named “Tourist,” typical of the small steamers that hauled both passengers and cargo on rivers and bays, was built in 1908 in East Boothbay, Maine, at Adams & Sons Shipyard, by W. Irving Adams. Tourist was 57 feet, 1 inch long, with a beam of 23 feet. She was framed in white oak and planked with southern yellow pine.
A contemporary newspaper had this to say about Tourist: “She is a peach, all but the name.” Another account remarked that Tourist was “handsome.” The little steamer had, excepting for a small cabin, an open main deck for passengers. The pilothouse rose above the upper deck.
Tourist had something else, too, that let her stand out from the crowd and that was a four-bladed propeller. Many earlier steamboats featured rear or side-mounted paddle wheels. These couldn’t match the speed enjoyed by a propeller-powered vessel. Paddle wheels also used up more deck room, space that could better serve to hold freight or passengers. So Tourist was faster and more economical of deck space.
Tourist’s engine is the original two-cylinder Paine compound steam engine. This engine sat in the middle of the vessel and from an inside gallery, passengers could watch the action of the connecting rods deliver power to the propeller shaft. But instead of being noisy, steam engines such as that in Tourist were quiet, the only noticeable sound came from the pistons as they ejected controlled small amounts of steam and this was a soft, puff-hiss sound. Watching the engine and listening to the soft purring was probably quite relaxing and calming for passengers. Originally the passenger capacity was 106, but that was based on an average American at the time of 140 pounds. More recently the regulations changed the passenger capacity to 78 for the Sabino.
Working History
Tourist, later Sabino, ran on the Damariscotta River, Kennebec River and also on Casco Bay. Her shallow draft made her ideal for river service, where shoal water was common.
Tourist first saw service on Damariscotta River and remained in service there until a tragic accident in 1918, where the unfortunate vessel sunk. The accident happened this way. While heading to dock in Damariscotta, a wrist pin in the crankshaft broke and the engineer reached up to try to free the stuck crank. But part of it let go and came down on his hand, holding him firmly in place. At that point, the engine could no longer function and Tourist was at the mercy of tide and current. A quick-thinking person threw a rope to someone standing on the wharf, but that person failed to catch it and Tourist’s fate was sealed.
And so the Tourist floated downstream with the current, where she was swept under a bridge, capsizing her. Tourist then sunk, drowning her engineer.
Tourist didn’t stay under water long. She was soon raised and rehabilitated. She also got a new name, Sabino. The name is a corruption of Sabenoa, an Abenaki chief in the Popham area when George Popham was establishing a settlement there. Sabino is the name of a hill near Popham Beach.
After her sinking, restoration and re-naming, Sabino was sold to the Popham Beach Steamboat Company, which used her on the Kennebec River where she served the recreation and tourist industry. Big attractions at that time were Fort Popham and also a long and wide sand beach. Several grand hotels put tourists and other visitors up in style and Sabino served their needs.
But the tourist industry at Popham Beach was short-lived and in 1927, Sabino was given a new direction and steamed out of Portland to various islands in Casco Bay. At that point, her hull was widened by the addition of sponsons. These imparted greater stability to the narrow hull and fitted her for service in the often-rough waters of the open bay.
The gallery over the steam engine where passengers can view the engine in operation. This photo was taken during the current restoration at Mystic Seaport. Mystic Seaport Museum photo
Sabino’s New Life
Sabino continued in this service until she was laid up in 1958, after a 50-year working life. However, she wasn’t out of commission for very long. The Corbin family of Newburyport, Mass., restored the Sabino and put her to private use until 1974, when she was sold to Mystic Seaport’s the Museum of America And The Sea, where, after a five-year restoration program, she began her new life as a working exhibit.
In fact, Sabino became one of Mystic’s favorite working exhibits and made regular runs during the warm season. Sabino was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1992, becoming one of the few National Historic Landmarks that is active rather than static. In this case, people can ride on it rather than just visit and walk around or through it.
Sabino continued to charm visitors during her daily runs out of Mystic Seaport, during which the historic steamer received regular maintenance work. But in December 2014 she was hauled out and brought to Mystic Seaport’s main shop for restoration. This current work represents the most exhaustive restoration since Mystic Seaport first purchased Sabino and is made possible by a $199,806 grant from the National Park Service.
With all her historic features, Sabino will gain yet another accolade during this current restoration project. The timbers used to refurbish Sabino were sawn way back in the mid-19th-century for use in a restoration project on the U.S.S. Constitution. As was standard practice, timbers slated for use on maritime vessels were cured in salt ponds. This immersion in extremely salty water preserved the wood and allowed vessels built of it to stand up to long and arduous use.
The timbers never reached their planned destination and the salt pond was eventually filled in. But the pond was excavated in 2014, the timbers discovered and they were donated to the Mystic Seaport Shipyard, where they will be used in the restoration of the Sabino. This may represent the best use of the historic timbers and in the end, it seems only fitting they would go to help restore such an historic vessel as Sabino.
A main goal of the current restoration project is to replace the shaft log. The propeller shaft passes through this wooden component, just above the keel. Keel bolts will be inspected and where necessary, replaced. But in order to accomplish these tasks, the boiler, water tank and engine must be removed to permit access to the shaft log and keel bolts.
Also, while outside of the hull, the boiler will receive a thorough inspection. This boiler is the one that was installed in 1941. So while it is not the original, it is one that served the Sabino during her working career.
While in the shop, workers will perform necessary plumbing and mechanical upgrades.
Sabino will once again return to the water in spring 2016. Those interested in following the restoration process, and perhaps taking a ride aboard the historic steamer, can check with Mystic Seaport by visiting the museum’s website at mysticseaport.org; writing to: Mystic Seaport, 75 Greenmanville Avenue, P.O. Box 6000, Mystic, CT 06355-0990; or calling (860) 572-0711 or 888-973-2767.
Read about the engine in the Sabino in this issue, see The J.H. Paine Two-cylinder Inline Compound Steam Engine.