A Fated Crash With his debts mounting, Captain Thomas O’Neil of
the Annie C. Maguire was in legal trouble in December 1886.
Portland’s sheriff had asked the keeper of the Portland Head
Light, Joshua Strout, to keep an eye out for the British
frigate, which he intended to seize on behalf of American
creditors. Bound from Buenos Aires to Quebec, the British
captain lost his way and crashed the ship into the rocks at
Portland Head, right in front of the keeper’s house. There
wasn’t much left for creditors to claim. The ship was destroyed
and a satchel with ship documents and cash was discovered
missing, presumably lost in the wreck. The captain later learned
that his wife had hidden the money and papers in a hatbox that
she carried ashore when she left the beleaguered boat.