The sale of the Uncatena comes as no great surprise. She has not been needed for some time, even as an extra boat, and the sight of her at her berth in New Bedford has been a glimpse of the past for those Island travellers who noticed her. Her disappearance from the line to which she gave long and honorable service marks the end of an era. She was the last side-wheeler. Amazingly enough, the entire Island fleet has been recreated since 1922 and the four new craft which serve the Islands in summer are a great advance over the boats they have superseded.
Nearly 25 years after the M/V Martha’s Vineyard began her daily seven-mile passages between Woods Hole and the Vineyard, the Steamship Authority ferry is getting a $17.4 million makeover.
The steamer New Bedford of the New Bedford, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamboat Line, is being requisitioned by the government as of noon today. This is the second boat to be taken from the line under the war power of the government, and her departure follows by little more than three weeks the requisitioning of the line’s flagships, the Naushon.
Every assurance has been given, it is learned, that no more steamers will be taken from the Island line.
The Naushon, pride of the Island Fleet of steamers, yesterday took her last look at the Island which she has served since she was built in 1929. For the last time she breasted the Island waters which on countless trips have offered their caress or attacked her with savage force. She has been taken over by the federal government and will play her part in the war effort, in some capacity not divulged.
Passersby near the Oak Bluffs public beach were startled yesterday morning when, eerily, out of a thick morning fog, crept the bow of a large white steamer heading straight toward shore.
The 233-foot M.V. Eagle, the Steamship Authority’s largest and most extravagant ferry, arrived in Woods Hole 24 hours ahead of schedule on Tuesday. Sailing out of a cold fog bank into the Vineyard Sound beneath a torrent of sleet and rain, the $8-million ferry completed her voyage from Louisiana.
Dealing with the more than 150 years-history of steamboat transportation between the Island and mainland, Mr. Love styled his talk, The Evolution of Operation, Wood Boilers to Gas Turbines. He also brought out the little-known fact that far from being a new idea, the inclusion of Hyannis in the Island boat system was carried out over a long period of years and with a high degree of success.
The motor semi Islander struck submerged rocks moments after leaving the Oak Bluffs wharf at 9:15 Wednesday morning and began taking on water through five holes ripped in her hull. But the vessel’s captain, Antone Jardin, wrestled the foundering ship back to port, averting a major disaster and possible sinking of the ship.
The cause of the mishap is under investigation by the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety office in Boston, but Coast Guard officials said yesterday it appears that a previously unplotted rock in the channel may have caused the damage. Earlier reports that a key buoy had drifted out of place were discounted by the Coast Guard and Steamship Authority officials.
Pennant-bedecked and fresh paint, the Steamship Authority’s newest ($3.8 million) and biggest ferryboat (230 feet, 1,000 passengers, 494 net tons of freight), the motor vessel Nantucket, docked Wednesday at the Oak Bluffs wharf for public inspection. The Regional High School band and hundreds of cheering spectators had welcomed her to Woods Hole at the end of her 871-mile voyage from her Jacksonville, Fla., shipyard birthplace. She goes into service from the mainland to Oak Bluffs and Nantucket today.
