Former Portland resident brings pre-Revolutionary War artifacts back to Maine

Bill Thompson was just 17 when his friend John Peabody asked him for help investigating a shipwreck. Peabody had found the shipwreck in 1971 when his lobster fishing gear got caught on the wrecked ship’s anchor. Thompson and his friends Peter Benoit and Mike Cahill managed to salvage four cannons from the wreck. “So, we went down to explore and see, you know, what the heck is this?” said Thompson. Over 50 years later, Thompson decided the time had come for him to part ways with the two cannonballs he had kept, and donate them. But the cannonballs weren’t Thompson’s only prized possessions. This week, Thompson donated the cannonballs he found in the shipwreck as well as a statuette of former British Prime Minister William Pitt to historical societies in Maine. On Tuesday, the Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society welcomed the cannonballs and a sounding lead, a depth finding device that Thompson had also recovered from the wreck. Advertisement The next day, Thompson donated the statuette of William Pitt to the Maine Historical Society. The statuette, over 250 years old, had been in his family for generations. Thompson grew up in Portland and has made previous donations to the Maine Historical Society of items once belonging to his great-great grandfather, Charles Quincy Goodhue (1835-1910), including many of his pencil sketches of Portland before the Great Fire of 1866 wiped out much of the city. [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/43636924_20260610_WilliamPittStatuette_07.jpg) A sketch of Alice Greele’s tavern by Charles Quincy Goodhue at the Maine Historical Society on Wednesday, June 10. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer) Thompson drove up from his home in North Chesterfield, Virginia, with his wife Debbie to deliver the precious historical items. [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/0CBD3F4D-073D-488C-BB17-6CF725253BCA_1_105_c.jpeg) Bill Thompson and his wife Debbie at the Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society. (Chloe Swedberg/Staff Writer) DIVING INTO THE PAST The shipwreck Thompson and his friends found belonged to a merchant vessel that was dashed to pieces just off Cape Elizabeth on Oct. 16, 1711. Of the ship’s 41 crew members and passengers, only 14 made it onto lifeboats and survived. Though their discovery of the shipwreck wasn’t new, fellow scuba diver Benoit was the first to identify the ship, called the Three Friends, and pinpoint the date it wrecked. He studied history at Bowdoin College and is now a local historian and author. Benoit wrote the book [“Shipwreck at Portland Point”](https://www.pressherald.com/2017/07/09/lost-and-found-tale-of-a-1711-shipwreck-off-portland-head-light/) about the wreck of the Three Friends. Benoit previously gave the Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society his two cannonballs, and Thompson’s cannonballs will join them on display at the society. Advertisement [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/IMG_2457.jpeg) Bill Thompson holds the two cannonballs he is donating next to cannonballs previously donated by Peter Benoit. All four will be on display together at the Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society. (Chloe Swedberg/Staff Writer) Cape Elizabeth resident and former president of the society, Jim Rowe, said the wreck happened about 55 years before the town was incorporated in 1765 and 65 years before the American Revolution. “Here we are putting this story together. Nobody knew about it for the longest time, and now they do. I found that terribly interesting,” said Rowe. A GIFT FOR AMERICA’S 250th To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, Thompson thought it would be fitting to also donate a statuette of William Pitt (1708-1778), first Earl of Chatham and the former Prime Minister of Great Britain. Pitt was sympathetic to the American colonists before the Revolutionary War. The statuette of Pitt was carved in the late 1760s and eventually found its way to Thompson after his mother passed away in 1985. “I’ll miss him,” Thompson said about the statuette. “But the time’s right.” [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/43636924_20260610_WilliamPittStatuette_01.jpg) Bill Thompson presents a statuette of William Pitt, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, to the Maine Historical Society in Portland on Wednesday, June 10. Thompson grew up in Maine and the statuette, which is about 250 years old, has been in his family for generations. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer) Thompson said that he trusts the Maine Historical Society will take good care of it. Tiffany Link, the collections curator at the Maine Historical Society, said that the statuette will go into climate-controlled storage but can be viewed in their online archives or by request. [](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/02/05/maine-copy-of-the-declaration-of-independence-to-tour-state/) Related [Maine copy of the Declaration of Independence to tour state](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/02/05/maine-copy-of-the-declaration-of-independence-to-tour-state/) For museum visitors interested in American history, the [Maine Historical Society](https://www.mainehistory.org/) will hold a special event on July 4 where attendees can view the society’s rare copy of the [Dunlap Broadside edition of the Declaration of Independence](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/02/05/maine-copy-of-the-declaration-of-independence-to-tour-state/) before the copy goes on tour statewide. Museum-goers can also visit the [Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society](https://www.cehistory.org/)‘s exhibit [“Revolution: Cape Elizabeth’s Response,”](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/06/10/cape-elizabeth-honors-its-revolutionary-war-soldiers-in-exhibit/) on display at the Cape Elizabeth Town Hall through the end of the year. Copy the Story Link Tagged: [historic preservation](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/historic-preservation/), [portland maine](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/portland-maine/) [](https://www.pressherald.com/author/chloe-swedberg) [Chloe SwedbergStaff Writer](https://www.pressherald.com/author/chloe-swedberg) Chloe Swedberg, a graduate of Bowdoin College, is pursuing a master of journalism degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She is working with the Press Herald's features team. [More by Chloe Swedberg](https://www.pressherald.com/author/chloe-swedberg)