“The [well smack] “Chester T. Marshall” was built in East Boothbay in 1923 and was 70 feet long by 16 feet wide. She was an old-style round-stern sardine carrier that would carry about 50 hogsheads. [1 hogshead (hhd) = 17 ½ bushels or 63 U.S. gallons.] She was used as a lobster freighter and sardine carrier to various American factories.
["...two vessels were lengthened 10 feet [by Southwest Boat Corporation after 1946] by cutting them in two and building a new section amidships. One was a lobster smack, the "Chester T. Marshall" and the other was a fishing dragger, the "Joseph S. Mattos." - "Boatbuilding During World War II: MDI, Ellsworth, Stonington and Bluehill" by Ralph W. Stanley, p. 11 - 1997.]
[At one time she was owned by the Consolidated Lobster Company.]
The “Chester T. Marshall” is now [1993] owned by the Morrisons of Perry, Maine and used as a shut-off and purse seiner. The wheel house has been moved forward to make more room down stern.” - “Masts and Masters: A Brief History of Sardine Carriers and Boatmen” by John D. Gilman, published by John D. Gilman, 1993, p. 168-169.
She was named for Chester T. Marshall (1886-1971), a mechanical engineer specializing in marine engines. Chester T, Marshall was born in Maine in August 1886. He married Margaret E. Perry on April 8, 1909. Chester T. Marshall died on August 16, 1971 in Rockland, Maine.
In 1982 the “Chester T. Marshall” was called the “oldest seiner in Maine.” – “A Maine “Deeper In”: Washington and Aroostook Counties, ” photography and text by Martin Brown, published by Down East Books, Camden, Maine, 1982, p. 18.
