The Portland
November 26, 1898. The steamer Portland left Boston for Portland, Maine, and steamed straight into the great gale. Not one soul aboard was seen again. About one hundred ninety-two of them. The storm took the name of the ship along with the people, and kept it.
Her wreck was identified on Stellwagen Bank in 2002. That is a hundred and four years to put a name to something that was never hidden, only underwater.
In the margin of the Log, in a small hand: They want to be called by name. I only have the ship's.
A pen is already in your hand. There is a column down the page the width of a person.
You write the first name that comes. It is not on any manifest. It is yours, or it is M.'s. It stays.
Write down the word NAMED.
- Turn the page. Found under the door “He did not know who would answer. He sent anyway.”
- Go and find who might be singing for them. Found in the chute “The first light you ever made that was not for finding anything.”
The book · Colophon and credits
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