The ferry Islander of the Massachusetts Steamship Lines will make her shake-down cruise on Sunday and begin regular operation Monday, April 15, with four round trips daily between Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven, according to the schedule released today and announced by the line’s president, Paul E. Thurlow.

The ferry is the former Hackensack, used on the run across the Hudson between New York city and New Jersey. She can carry fifty automobiles and seat 500 passengers in service between Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven. Her scheduled time is one hour form slip to slip.

The new Vineyard ferry Islander arrived at Vineyard Haven yesterday afternoon, greeted with whistles from the Martha’s Vineyard, which lay at the dock, the whistles of the fleet of Taylor’s lighters, and blasts from assembled cars. All down-Island towns had displayed their flags throughout the day, and the visiting hours, together with music by the Vineyard Haven Band, followed during the early evening when more than 3,400 people inspected the boat.

An opinion entirely favorable to the Islands has been given to Governor Furcolo by Attorney General Edward J. McCormack Jr., relative to the Steamship Authority bill. The measure was returned to the Senate once again on Tuesday and is now back on the governor’s desk for another grace period of five days within which he may sign or veto it. But this is only one of a number of bills which have been shuttled in this manner between the Senate and Governor Furcolo.

The Steamship Authority has purchased the 157-foot diesel-powered motor vessel Auriga for use as a freight carrier. The price was $435,140, “which will be augmented by the cost of modifications for Island service, as well as outfitting and delivery costs.”

According to a statement released by the boatline this week, Auriga will be employed primarily in transporting trucks and freight from Woods Hole to Nantucket during the summer schedule.”

As the steamer Nobska slipped past the Chops on the ebbing tide late yesterday afternoon, there was none of the celebration that greeted her arrival in these waters just about 50 years ago.

Her decks were empty, her boilers cold. When she left Nantucket slip yesterday she didn’t sound one long blast on the steam whistle people hereabouts have come to know as hers just by the sound - she was on the end of a Coastline Towing Company hawser.

The SS Naushon collided head-on with the freight boat Auriga in thick fog at 8:55 yesterday morning.

The two Steamship Authority vessels hit one another about one mile east of Nobska lighthouse at Woods Hole. The Coast Guard said that at the time of the collision, seas were calm and the visibility was zero.

Fourteen people were injured, 11 passengers aboard the Naushon and three crew members on the Auriga. All were taken to Falmouth Hospital, but were released later in the day.

Welcome aboard the MV Katama, the latest addition to the Steamship Authority fleet. She is now on line in Vineyard waters. And in the years ahead she will sail with us and we with her on thousands of trips to the mainland and back. The Katama, with a new, more spacious look and lines similar to the MV Auriga freight vessel, is 180 feet long, carries 149 passengers and 32 cars. She comes to the Vineyard from the more placid waters of the Gulf of Mexico where she has sailed since launch in 1981 as an oil exploration vessel.

The Steamship Authority’s newest all-purpose vessel, the MV Gay Head, sailed into Vineyard waters early this month with none of the hype or fanfare typical of the arrival of a new passenger vessel.

It has not been christened with its new name and plans to hold an open house on board have been put off. But to the standby passengers it will carry in years to come and to those who sail the vessel, its virtues will not be underestimated.

“A lot of the time these ships go unnoticed but they’re real workhorses,” said Capt. Edward B. Jackson, who currently pilots the Gay Head.

The vessel Uncatena, the smallest and least celebrated member of the Steamship Authority’s fleet, is slated for sale this summer, pending approval of the board of governors next week.

Barry O. Fuller, general manager of the boat line, yesterday said his staff had already sent out advertisements to local newspapers, and said he hopes the boat can be sold soon after the new vessel Martha’s Vineyard comes on line at the end of this year.

The troublesome Sankaty went into service last Friday, March 25, becoming the Steamship Authority’s newest vessel in operation. The Sankaty is running with the Eagle to and from Nantucket.

The Sankaty, a vessel that SSA officials have called an embarrassment, went on line about 10 months late and more than $2 million over budget.

But at least the Nantucket passengers seemed to liker her. “They were delighted,” said Ray Martin of the SSA. “They were all razzle dazzle.”

Mr. Martin said the Sankaty ran without a hitch with Capt. Ed Jackson at the helm.