Browse the Vineyard Gazette's coverage of the steamships and ferries that have shuttled residents and visitors across Vineyard Sound.

Nobska stranded off Oak Bluffs beach
The steamer Nobska stranded off Oak Bluffs beach in 1971
Richard Beattie Photo

Ferry Islander Nears Historic Mark: She Becomes Ship of Longest Service

Tom Dunlop |

She was christened by the eight-year-old daughter of Jimmy Cagney. A truckload of 200 live quail once opened up her freight deck (“They were pulling them out of the rafters,” Donna Honig of Edgartown said of the crewmen that trip in 1991. “They were diving after them”). And once on a night back in the fall of 1972, an assassination nearly took place on her darkened hurricane deck when a man, angered by Robert S. McNamara’s role in the Viet Nam war, tried to throw the former Secretary of Defense over the side.

To these events, add one more that will happen at the end of this month:

Steamships and Ferries
M/V Islander
 

 

 

There is Balm in Gilead - Governor Signs Boat Bill

The Vineyard Gazette
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.
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