The new steamer Naushon, Capt., Holmes W. Smith, will run as follows, on and after Monday, the 23d of March.

Leave Edgartown, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, at 9 o’clock, A.M., and on Saturdays at 7 o’clock, A.M.

Leave New Bedford, on Mondays and Saturdays, at 1 o’clock, P.M., and on Wednesdays and Fridays, at 11 o’clock, A.M., or immediately after the arrival of the morning train of cars from Boston.

The Steamer will stop at Woods’ Hole, (Falmouth) and Holmes’ Hole, giving ample time to land and receive freight, &c.

Governor [Foster] Furcolo signed the new Steamship Authority bill shortly before 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

Under the terms of the new law, the present Authority will be replaced Jan. 1, 1961, by a new Authority of three members, one of Dukes County - who have already persuaded Robert M. Love to accept the appointment - one named by the selectmen of Nantucket, and one by the selectmen of Falmouth. New Bedford will be responsible for 40 per cent of the deficit for 1960, but after the end of this year will have no responsibility, no representation, and no guarantee of service.

The new ferryboat Nantucket, hailing (God save the mark!) from New Bedford, stopped briefly at Vineyard Haven on Tuesday – about an hour and a half – to give the people who are paying half the bill an opportunity to see the new boat. Some of them did, but the view was hardly satisfactory, the time being limited and the boat swarming with children taking advantage of the spring vacation from school.

Thrice blessed, the motor vessel Uncatena slid down the ways at Blout's shipyard in Warren, R.I., with the high tide on Sunday evening. After her fitting out, she will arrive at Woods Hole before long to join the rest of the Steamship Authority's fleet.

The triple blessing came during the christening ceremony, when not just the customary one bottle of champagne but three were smashed against the Uncatena's bow, each wielded by an Authority member's wife, the whole process making for an excess of bubbled and splintered glass.

A chapter in American maritime history will close Tuesday when the last car and passenger-carrying steamboat in North America sails out of Woods Hole harbor.

The retirement of the SS Naushon from the Steamship Authority fleet marks the end of a 170-year era of steam ferry service along the Eastern seaboard.

We regret to announce the almost total loss of this splendid and favorite steamer by fire. She left here for New Bedford on Wednesday, the 24^th ult., and made a fine passage to that port. Shortly after arriving there, she steamed up for Providence, with the intention of making an excursion from that city. She had proceeded to within five miles of Providence, when she was discovered to be on fire in the vicinity of the steam-chimney on the promenade deck.

The Steamer Eagle's Wing, Capt. Benj. C. Cromwell, now makes four trips per week to New Bedford, instead of three as heretofore. On Monday, she leaves Edgartown at a quarter to 7 o'clock, A.M., and returns the same day, leaving New Bedford at 2 P.M. She leaves again on Tuesday, at the same hour, and returns on Wednesday, leaving New Bedford at 11 o'clock, A.M. She again leaves for New Bedford, on Thursday, and returns on Friday, and finishes up her work for the week by going and returning on Saturday, at the same hours as on Monday.

These troubled times are not the only occasion on which inhabitants of Martha's Vineyard have had difficulty obtaining passage by boat to the mainland. Ask the oldest inhabitant as to boat service, and the chances are that he will refer to the good old days when no difficulties presented themselves and life was sweet and peaceful.