Friday the 13th really can be unlucky. That’s the date, in June 1913, that the Waldoboro-built five-masted schooner PAUL PALMER, a collier, set sail from Rockport on an ill-fated voyage.

The 276-foot schooner had earlier unloaded a cargo of coal in Bangor, and was headed southward. Two days later, the PALMER caught fire off Cape Cod, and although all hands were rescued, neighboring ships were unable to douse the flames and the 11-year-old vessel burned to the waterline and sank.

That might be the end of the story, except that the wreck of the PALMER was discovered recently, lying on the bottom of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

The month, federal officials announced the remains of the PALMER have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The PAUL PALMER, launched in 1902, was part of a fleet of schooners owned by Boston shipping magnate William F. PALMER, and it was the only one lost to fire. It’s also the only one left, if only the bones of a ship.

In all, PALMER had 15 four and five-masted schooners built for his coal business. Six of them were launched in Waldoboro.

The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration identified the PALMER two years after she was found in 2000 on the sandy bottom of Stellwagen Bank, an 842-square mile area between Cape Ann and Cape Cod. It’s famous for its historical fisheries, for whale watching and seabirds. It’s also part of traditional shipping routes, hence the PALMER’s presence there.

In 1908, the PAUL PALMER had a close brush with disaster in a fire that destroyed Baltimore’s coal docks and a quarter-mile of waterfront. The PALMER’s tops’ls and foremast were burned.

Built by George L. Welt at what is today the Waldoboro town landing, the PALMER was described in an early account as “a beautiful vessel. No effort or expense was spared.”

A visit to the former shipyard in Waldoboro reveals barely a trace of the once-bustling waterfront’s activity. Today the site is used by clam diggers with skiffs and outboard motors.

But a century ago, Waldoboro celebrated launchings in style, with grand balls, feasting, brass bands and the formal christening of a vessel before the chocks were knocked loose and she slid down the ways into the quiet waters of the Medomak River.

The PALMER’s planking consisted of 675,000 feet of Georgia yellow pine, and her frames were built of 450 tons of Virginia mountain oak. Tall Oregon pine trees for her masts and spars were reportedly shipped to Bath, then rafted to Waldoboro. q

— Steve Cartwright