Martha's Vineyard Steamships and Ferries

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

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 | Friday, October 9 1998 - 1:44pm

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

The Motor Vessel Gay Head Is Unassuming Workhorse Ship

Mike Kolleth

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

MV Katama Sails a New Look into Vineyard Waters

Vineyard Gazette

Welcome aboard the MV Katama, the latest addition to the Steamship Authority fleet. She is now on line in Vineyard waters.

The Auriga and Naushon Collide In the Mists of Monday Morning

Tom Dunlop

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

Islander Ruptures on Rocks Sea Disaster Averted

Joseph B. White

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.