More than thirty years ago, I sat on the rotting planks of the old Pier 17 in the East River in Manhattan and listened to Bernie Clay and the X-Seaman’s Institute sing a song about the schooner Alice S. Wentworth. The song became known as the “Alice Wentworth.” I only recently learned the song was originally titled “Old Zeb“, and was written by Larry Kaplan.

The song is about Zebulon Northrup Tilton, the famous skipper of the coasting schooner Alice S. Wentworth. Captain Tilton was one of the last coastal schoonermen. Before the interstate highways shifted the cargo to trucks, Zeb Tilton carried everything from lumber, to bricks, to coal, to oysters and anything else that needed to be moved from Maine to New Jersey on the Alice S. Wentworth.

Zeb Tilton was 6’4″ tall, strongly built, gregarious, and cross-eyed. Born in Chilmark, Martha’s Vineyard in 1866, he was famous for his physical strength and skill in handling his schooners. He began working on coastal schooners when he at the age of 15.  He owned and sailed two schooners before buying the Alice S. Wentworth in 1921. He sailed her until 1943 when he finally retired in his late 70s. He died in 1952, at 86.

Alice S. Wentworth was built in South Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1863, as the Lizzie A. Tolles. After Zeb went ashore, Alice S. Wentworth sailed on as Maine windjammer until 1962. In rough shape, she was sold for conversion to a restaurant in 1965 but sank at the dock and finally broke apart in a winter storm in 1974. 

Here is a video of Captain Tilton’s daughter Rosalie talking about sailing with her father in the coastal trade, followed by Gordon Bok singing “Old Zeb.” Bok served for a time as mate on the Alice S. Wentworth in her windjammer days in Maine.

Enchanted Isle: Rosalie Spence, Captain Zeb Tilton’s Daughter Coastal Shipping

Old Zeb