Beginnings

According to records available at the Maine Maritime Museum:

• The ship was built in Calais, Maine, in 1876 by O.B. Rideout and owned by Brett & Sons of New York
• Her official number was 19,468 and signal letters were JSCM
• The ship’s gross tonnage was 634, and dimensions were 149’ x 32.7’ x 17.6’
• The ship was originally built as a bark and was converted to a barkentine in 1902.

 The ship’s original master was Captain Tristram Thurlow Corbett of Cutler, Maine. Personal accounts of sailing on the ship are found in the quick links side bar to the right. 

Ship painting detail of the Olive Thurlow

Endings

Captain Corbett retired in Rockville Centre, New York, and the Olive Thurlow was sold to the Pendleton Brothers of South Street, New York. In December 1902, the ship sank off Cape Hatteras during a violent storm. Detailed accounts of the wreck are found on the following sites:

Saga Of The “Olive Thurlow”

Wreck of the Olive Thurlow (National Park Service)

Olive Thurlow Project (SIDCO – Non-Profit Marine Archeology & Exploration)

Barkentine Olive Thurlow ~ 5 December 1902 (North Carolina Shipwrecks)

Olive Thurlow (except from Graveyard of the Atlantic)

The painting of the Olive Thurlow above was done by Marie-Édouard Adam (1847–1929) and painted in 1881 in Le Havre, France. The artist was regarded as the best French ship portraitist of his time.