Beginning Friday there will be special screenings of The Finest Hours, a new movie about the Coast Guard rescue off Cape Cod during a 1952 blizzard.

A recent, late August gathering at the home of George and Maria Churchill in West Tisbury saw 14 classmates plus seven spouses and friends gather for their 56th high school reunion. Good eats and good stories enlivened the reunion. This was the Tisbury High School Class of 1959.

Last weekend the Charles W. Morgan was relaunched on her 172nd birthday after a major rebuild; much of her remains original including the keelson. The live oak in her massive double sawn frames was salvaged after a southern U.S. hurricane, and she has been rebuilt absolutely true to her original design and methods of construction. She was originally launched from the Hillman Shipyard in New Bedford (the Hillman family came from Chilmark) on July 21, 1841, and sailed on 37 voyages with the last voyage in 1921.

With the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and the northeaster that followed still readily visible, it seemed like I should include some books that spoke of severe weather to my annual list of the best nautical books.

A must-read hurricane piece is The Eye of Edna by E. B. White. This essay is included in his book The Points of My Compass. I just looked up the book on Amazon out of general interest and noted that a 2000 edition is selling at $155, but hopefully can be found cheaper elsewhere.

Editor’s Note: The following was sent by e-mail to Vineyard Conservation Society members on Wednesday morning this week.