Steamer Islander, built by the Bath, (Me.) Iron Works, Ltd., for the New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamboat Co., was launched Wednesday afternoon of last

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.
A farmer and trucker from upstate New York bought the Islander this week for $23,600, placing bid 58 on Ebay Monday for the vessel that ferried Islanders to and from the rest of America for over fifty years.
The auction looked like it might be a humiliating episode with the old girl fetching a starting bid of just $10, with offers crawling to a few thousand in the first days.
But after a flurry of late offers from a total of 19 bidders it finally went to Donald Slovak of Valatie, N.Y.