| Notes |
- William L. Buck went to school in Gorham, Maine. he worked with his father at the Henry Buck Company and commuted regularly from Bucksville, SC to Searsport, ME, where he spent many summers keeping an eye on his father's investments. The Priscilla Jones collection at the Penobscot Marine Museum library says he was born in 1827 and died January 4, 1880.
William L. Buck's shipyard supplied the lumber for the ship Henrietta, the largest ship ever built at Bucksville, S.C. She was launched in April, 1875 and was named for the wife of her captain, Jonathan C. Nichols, a master mariner and ship owner of Searsport, Maine, who decided to build a ship at Bucksville, where the raw materials were close at hand. Captain Jonathan Nichols and Master Builder Elishua Dunbar came from Maine with 115 ship's carpenters, blacksmiths, joiners and riggers in September, 1874 and laid the keel. She was 45 feet beam, and her cut-water was 42 feet from bowsprit to keel. She was built to draw 12 feet light. Outside of keel and ribs gotten out in the swamps and woods, she had 1,300,000 feet of mill-cut lumber. It took the men from Maine and 10-15 laborers from S. C. all winter to build her. She was launched in May, 1875. With spars, rigging and what she had on board, she drew 13 feet. Georgetown bar afforded about 12 feet at high water. When Capt. Nichols was ready to take her to Georgetown, they built a cradle with a network of ropes holding 200 empty turpentine barrels, which they put under the ship to raise her. She was taken to Charleston to have masts placed on her and never returned to either Georgetown or Charleston as she drew too much water for their harbors. The Henrietta cost $90,000 to build. A sister ship built in Maine at the same time cost $115,000, making a difference of $25,000 in favor of building in the south. Ninety percent of W.L. Buck & Co's business was with northern ship builders. They all told him that if they continued ship building at Bucksville, S.C., they (the Northern builders) would do no more business with them. W. L. Buck & Co built no more ships in S.C. The Henrietta was operated mainly in trade with the Orient and Australia. Her passages averaged well for a ship classed as a carrier. Capt. Andrew M. Ross took command of Henrietta in November, 1890 and accompanied by his wife and three daughters, Marth Jane, Henrietta Lucy, and Rebecca Merithew, sailed from New York to Portland, Oregon in 156 days. Thirty-six days were spent battling summer gales off Capt Horn. During her stay in Portland, President Harrison inspected her with great interest. In May, 1891, the ship loaded lumber at Fairhaven Bellingham Bay for Melbourne, Australia. There she loaded wool for Boston. Mrs. Ross and her daughters left the ship and Boston to return to Searsport, Maine. From Boston, the ship loaded lumbere for Buenos Aires, a trip of 49 days. From Buenos Aires back to New York in ballast for 45 days. In New York she loaded oil for Singapore and came back to New York with a general caro, again loading oil for Yokaama. In August, 1894, the sip loaded 800n ton of manganese ore and a miscellaneous cargo before sailing for New York. She was overtaken by a typhoon in entering Kobe Harbot, and the pilot in charge ran her back some 15 miles to what appeared secure anchaorage. The wind increased so that it became necessary to cut away here masts. In the gale, her ground tackle parted and she went ashore. All hands were saved, but the Henrietta was a total loss.
The obituary of William L. Buck stated that he died in Charleston on Sunday, January 4, 1880. Mr. Buck had gone to Charleston to receive medical treatment for an inernal tumor, which disease caused his death. Deceaseed married Desire, edlest daughter of the late William McGilvery and was one of he administrators of the McGilvery este. Mr. Buck complained of ill health last summeer, and in October, accompanied by his wife, left Searsport for the South. Henry B., the father of William, was a native of this State (Maine), but went to South Carolina and founded the town of Bucksville, where he was extensively engaged in lumbering operations. Large quantities of hard pine have been shipped North from his mills. On the death of his father, William succeeded him in the lumber business, which he has since carried on. William L. Buck was a gentleman of intelligence and ability, had many friends, both in the North and the South, and at the time of his death was a member of the South Carolina State Senate. He was fifty-two years of age and leaves a wife and seven children.
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1828 - 1880 (51 years)
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