“Beckets & Hinges,” edited by Arnold Sturtevant, Trafford Publishing, 2009; paperback, 156 pages; available at major bookstores, through the publisher’s website or at www.homenestbooks.com
FAYETTE — Author Arnold Sturtevant has edited and illustrated a Maine maritime history book focusing on the real-life experiences of Abbie Oakes, who accompanied her husband, Captain Charles Oakes, on extended sea voyages to faraway lands.
“Beckets & Hinges” contains stories taken from journals kept by Oakes, Charlotte Sturtevant’s cousin, and Abbie.
The family journals of this brave young woman, who dared venture into a man’s world of seafaring, recount tales of stormy passages, war, childbearing, shipwrecks and murder at sea.
Old-time seafarers held that “every sea chest worth its salt must have good beckets and hinges — rugged hinges to secure its contents and allow convenient access; good beckets (or handles) to provide portability.
Sturtevant states in his preface to “Beckets & Hinges” that he hopes he and his grandmother Charlotte Sturtevant — from whom he first heard the tales — will prove to be good beckets and hinges, preserving and giving access to treasured sea tales of Old North Yarmouth, Maine, home port to dozens of their forebears who “went down to the sea in ships.”
The book contains more than 100 illustrations, including a map of Abbie’s voyages, six full-page colored images of the ships sailed by the family and 12 full-page pencil sketches by Sturtevant, illustrating some of the especially interesting events.
For decades, Sturtevant and wife, Leda, have collaborated in preserving the rich stories of their ancestors from pre-Colonial days to the early 20th century. Prior books include “Ripe Berry Moon,” stories of Leda’s Native American Micmac roots; “Tales from Labrador,’ stories of Sturtevant’s family from pre-Revolutionary days to the 1900s; “Josiah Volunteered,” a compilation of personal letters, diaries, poetry and rare early photographs recounting a great-grandfather’s Union Army service in the Civil War; and “Cradle to Nest,” the authors’ joint autobiography.
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- This pencil sketch by Fayette author Arnold Sturtevant in his latest book, “Beckets & Hinges,” shows heroine Abbie Oakes onboard a ship. The text reads: “When the morning and afternoon sights are taken, I take the time from the chronometer and, having my own pig yoke, I go bravely on deck for a shot at the sun with the other navigators.”
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