252 History of Hingham. 



first of these was in 1740, when Governor Belcher received orders 

 to enlist a force to be sent to Cuba to the relief of Admiral Ver- 

 non, who was in need of reinforcements. Among the five hundred 

 soldiers recruited in Massachusetts, there is much reason to 

 believe that quite a number were recruited in Ilingham. The 

 rolls are, however, not only very imperfect in other respects, but 

 they fail entirely to name the towns from which men served. 

 We know, however, that among the officers was Lieut. Joshua 

 Barker, who had declined a captaincy, and who now went as 

 second in the company commanded by Captain Winslow, Lieu- 

 tenant Barker was one of the very few survivors of this ill-fated 

 expedition, in which, it will be recollected, was Lawrence Wash- 

 ington and a Virginia contingent. The forces of Massachusetts 

 and Virginia together stormed the castle of Carthagena, the prin- 

 cipal town of the Spanish Main in New Granada. The place was 

 not taken, however, and the expedition was a dismal failure. It 

 is said that only fifty of the men from Massachusetts returned. 

 Lieutenant Barker afterwards, as Captain Barker, served in nil 

 the wars of his country from this time until 1762, when he was 

 again engaged in the second and more successful attack upon 

 the Spanish West Indies. He held a commission in the British 

 service, and was a kind and able man. He resided upon the 

 spot where now stands the Hingham Bank. 



There was also a Nathaniel Chubbuck in this service, who may 

 have been a townsman. 



On the night of September 30, 1741, a number of the Spanish 

 prisoners escaped from Boston with a large sail-boat. As they 

 were armed, great fear was felt for the safety of the New Eng- 

 land coasting vessels, and Capt. Adam dishing, formerly one of 

 HinghanVs selectmen, and now an able officer, was ordered in 

 pursuit, with special instructions to search the creeks of Hing- 

 ham and Wevmouth. There remains no account of his success 

 or otherwise. 



In 1740. a division of the town into the wards whose limits 

 remain unchanged to this day took place, and it is interesting to 

 note that this division was solely for military purposes, and that 

 the ward boundaries were merely those of the several companies, 

 which the town thereafter maintained. At this time Cohasset, 

 which had been made the second precinct in 1702, continued to 

 be so designated, while the third comprised what is now known 

 as the middle ward, embracing that part of the town south of the 

 town brook, as far as Cold Corner, the remainder lying in the 

 former fourth, now the south ward. The first, or north ward, 

 then as now, embraced the country north of the brook. The first 

 powder-house in Hingham was built by the town in 1755. It 

 stood a little north and nearly on the site of the New North Meet- 

 ing-house. Afterwards it was removed to Powder-house Hill, near 

 where Mr. Arthur Hersev's house now is, off Hersev street. 



