Theodore Lyman left his Kennebunk shipyard and mansion for Boston in 1790 never to return, but he continued to influence our maritime history for decades.

Theodore’s brother-in-law, Dr. Oliver Keating, occupied the Lyman property as an agent for Theodore until 1799. Lyman then installed his cousins, the Plummer brothers there. The House and shipyard were occupied by shipbuilder John Bourne starting in 1806, after he had married the widow of Captain Israel Wildes. He continued to build Lyman ships, as did his son George W. Bourne and his son-in-law Henry Kingsbury. The Kingsbury family occupied the Lyman mansion into the 1970s.

Two nearly identical 210-ton ships built in Kennebunk in 1800 by carpenter Joseph Bourne were the Guatimozin and Atahualpa. They were owned by Theodore Lyman and specifically designed to engage together in early China trade voyages by way of the Pacific Northwest and the Sandwich Islands.

According to copies of excerpts of the Atahaulpa logbook kept on her maiden voyage, Captain Dixey Wildes of Arundel, cousin of Capt. Israel Wildes mentioned above, sailed her around the world from Boston on September 1, 1800.

He made Cape Horn just before Christmas and was trading with the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest for Sea Otter furs from March of 1801 through October of 1802, before the Lewis and Clark Expedition. From there he sailed for the Sandwich Islands, now known as Hawaii, to add sandalwood to his cargo for China. The Atahualpa arrived at Canton China in December 1802 where she remained for two months, returning to Nantucket on June 9, 1803, by way of The Cape of Good Hope.

Our own Captain Dixey Wildes would become a regular at the Sandwich Islands on Lyman’s behalf. Capt. Wildes also sailed his own Kennebunk-built ship Charles on a voyage through the Bass Strait off Tasmania in 1806. Upon further examination of early ships registers I found many vessels built in the District of Kennebunk for early China Trade voyages whose owners registered them in Boston and Salem.

Vessels built in the District of Kennebunk in 1800 and 1801. Record book made by Deputy Customs Collector, Seth Bryant. Record Book in the collections of the Kennebunkport Historical Society.