Last of the Brig Rig
None of the Wrecked Telos’s Class Built in This Country Since 1883
Special to The New York Times
Bangor, Me., June 16th 1900--- When the brig Telos of Bangor was lost a few days ago on Aves Island, near Bonaire, West Indies, there disappeared from the American merchant fleet the last vessel of the brig rig built in the United States and the only one owned in the district of Bangor. The Telos was built here in Crosby's yard in 1883 and was considered to be the finest vessel in her class ever constructed in Maine. While since the decline of the American foreign commerce few square-rigged vessels of any class have been built in this country, the brig rig seems to have fallen into particular disfavor, and brigs are now very rare. Vessels of this rig range in size from 200 to 600 tons register, few being over 400 tons, and they carry as many men as schooners of twice their size. For that reason, as well as because schooners are handier, no more brigs have been built, and in a few years the rig will be unknown. The barkentine also seems to have had its day and few barks are built nowadays. The only class of square riggers that attracts any attention being the full-rigged ship, a few of which class are built at bath, mostly of steel, for long distance trades.
Telos
The significance of the Telos lay not merely in her rig but in her registry, "the only one owned in the district of Bangor.” By the end of Maine’s shipbuilding boom, many vessels built along its rivers were no longer home-ported in Maine, reflecting a shift in trade, ownership forms, and technology. Ultimately, capital goes where capital grows.
That boom, which had once made Maine a maritime powerhouse, arose from many converging forces - most importantly the federal “coasting law” of 1789 and its 1819 revision, which privileged domestic shipbuilding and coastal trade. While the shipyards flourished, the narrow economy tied to timber, ice, and shipping did broaden to textiles and paper. Yet the prosperity generated did not translate into lasting growth.
One can see this limitation clearly in the demographic record. If the aggregate population increase for the 200 years from 1820 to 2020 is indexed by a growth factor, the New England states rank as follows:
Massachusetts 13.38
Rhode Island 13.25
Connecticut 13.0
New Hampshire 5.6
Maine 4.7
Vermont 2.7
