Hesper and Luther Little - 1932

Hesper and Luther Little - 1932. Wiscasset, Maine. , The two schooners that were for many years an iconic image of Wiscasset were neither built here nor sailed from here. Frank Winters purchased the 1917 Luther Little and 1918 Hesper at a Federal auction in 1932 for $600 and brought them to Wiscasset's railroad wharf. Having also purchased the then-defunct Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railroad, his plan was to ship coal to Wiscasset by schooner, then to the north and interior by train. The growth of new roads, overland trucking and Winters' early death killed the plan. The schooners never sailed again., Although a much-photographed landmark, with no owner or purpose, the ships settled into the mud flats. The Hesper lost her masts in the 1940s and began to list alarmingly to port. Storms, tides, fire and vandals did their worst. By the 1990s, she was unrecognizable. A storm in 1995 finally laid waste to the Luther Little's proud masts and her hull began to crumble., The remains of the Hesper and the Luther Little were removed in 1998. The masts and some pieces of the ships were saved by local enthusiasts. The rest went into landfill. Two of the last surviving four-masted wooden hull schooners were gone.