Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100PORTLAND | WESTBROOK (207) 774-5946 harmonsbartons.com 584 Congress St, Portland, ME 04101 PORTLAND’s Landmark BOOKSTORE Books, cards, journals, gifts, & the Largest Selection Of Magazines on the peninsula 207-772-4045 • MONUMENT SQUARE WWW.LONGFELLOWBOOKS.COM from left: file photo; navsource Editorial colin W. sargent, editor & publisher 8 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine H appy March! On March 26, 1898, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt changed Maine’s nauti- cal history with the stroke of a pen. Sir.–It is the intention of the Department to assign the monitor Montauk, Lieutenant W. M. Irwin, U.S. Navy, com- manding, for duty in the harbor of Portland, Maine. This monitor is now at the navy yard, League Island, Pennsylva- nia, and the Department requests that volunteers of the Na- val Reserve of New Jersey be detailed for duty in connection with bringing this monitor from League Island to Portland. Reading between the lines, Roosevelt is simply drum- ming up Navy reservists–with a tour aboard a famous iron- clad in Vacationland as his reward. Not to mention that the future president, a repeat summer visitor to many of the attractions of our state, had a soft spot for the coast of Maine himself. Built by John Ericsson in 1862 in Brooklyn, New York, the Montauk was legendary for de- stroying the Confederate blockade runner Rattlesnake, trapping her upstream in the Ogeechee River during the Civil War. The single-turreted Passaic-class ironclad also figured in the with- ering bombardments of Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina. Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth’s body was spirited aboard the Montauk, which ma- neuvered into the center of the Potomac River to keep his body parts from being made into grisly souvenirs. See our story in July/August 2005 by Matthew Jude Barker. Roosevelt ordered the Montauk here to Portland Harbor as part of a coastal defense re- configuration. It didn’t hurt that Montauk made a great recruiting tool, just as this summer’s “Navy Tour” will be when it takes over Portland Harbor this summer. This Brooklyn girl’s Maine vacation spanned from May, 1898, to March, 1899. Maine Historical Society’s photo of the Montauk is not far from where DiMillo’s Floating Res- taurant is today. Old ironclads never die. They just wind up in the Old Port, cruising for a parking spot. Brooklyn Girl