The Captains Well, (sculpture).

The Captains Well, (sculpture).

Craske, Leonard, 1882-1950, sculptor.

Gorham Manufacturing Company, founder.

The Captains Well, (sculpture).

1930. Dedicated July 24, 1930.

Well: granite and bronze; Background wall: granite and bronze; Benches: granite.

Well: approx. 54 x 36 x 36 in.; Background wall: approx. 104 in. x 12 ft. 4 in. x 14 in.; Benches: each approx. H. 2 ft. x W. 5 ft.

Leonari (sic) Craskey Gorham Co. Foundry (On proper right side of well:) This well was dug by Captain Valentine Bagely in 1796 and/immortalized by J. Greenleaf Whittier in 1890, was/restored by Mr. and Mrs. James Hume Walker in 1930. (On upper center of background wall, incised letters:) THE/CAPTAINS WELL (On bronze plaques on background wall:) (Proper right plaque:) And if ever I reach/My home again/where earth has springs,/And the sky has rain/I will dig a well/For the passers-by,/And none shall suffer from thirst as I. (Center plaque: portrait of Valentine Bagley) (Proper left plaque:) Now the lord be thanked/I am back again,/Where earth has springs/And the skies have rain/And the well I promised/By Oman's Sea,/I am digging for Him/In Amesbury. signed Founder's mark appears.

A well composed of four granite slabs and two posts. Between the posts runs a bronze log and bronze rope. A cast bucket sits on a corner of the well. Behind the well is a granite wall, with a bronze relief of Valentine Bagley and two plaques with text from Whittier's poem "Captain's Pledge." The plaza area also includes two granite benches.

Architecture -- Other -- Well

Portrait male -- Bagley, Valentine

Occupation -- Transportation -- Captain

Literature -- Whittier -- Captains Well

Outdoor Sculpture -- Massachusetts -- Amesbury

Administered by Town of Amesbury, Department of Public Works, Friend Street, Amesbury, Massachusetts 01913

Located Maine Street, near intersection of Route 110, Amesbury, Massachusetts

The sculpture is dedicated to and commemorates the efforts and intentions of Valentine Bagley. On July 10, 1792, seaman Bagley was shipwrecked near Cape Morebet off the coast of Arabia. Bagley and a number of the crewmen survived having been washed ashore in a dry, thinly populated area. The survivors were forced to trade the natives bits of clothing for water. They crossed four hundred miles to Muscat where they received aid. While suffering thirst, Bagley vowed that if he ever returned home to Amesbury he would dig a well so that no "passer-bys ever suffer from thirst as I." In 1796, Bagley returned home and dug his well at the roadside near his mother's home. The well, covered by a protective wooden shed, stood from 1796 until 1930. In 1930, Mr. and Mrs. James Hume Walker restored the well and had it fabricated in bronze and granite. The sculpture was fabricated in 1930 and was dedicated and donated to the Town of Amesbury by the Walkers on July 24, 1930. As early as 1945, the bronze plaques were added to the wall, after individual raised letters were torn off its face. Water service was restored to the well on November 21, 1973. The sculpture was vandalized with graffiti in 1978 and was restored by the Amesbury Improvement Association.

For related newspaper articles see: the Boston Evening Transcript, July 24, 1930; the Amesbury Daily News, Aug. 24, 1961; and the Amesbury News, Aug. 23, 1973. For additional information see the Massachusetts Historical Commission WPA Guide, pg. 508; The Historic Committee of the Town of Amesbury's "Pictorial Guide to Historic Amesbury," Rowely Printers, Inc., 1975; and Joseph Merrill's "History of Amesbury and Merrimac," Heritage Books Inc., 1978, pg. 356. Other related materials are available at the Amesbury Public Library's reference desk.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1994

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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