"Annual Winter Gam" Historic Nantucket article from the Nantucket Historical Association

NHA Home | Historic Nantucket Articles |

Annual Winter Gam

A Summary of the High Spots for Absentee Members
by W. Ripley Nelson

At seven-thirty p.m., on Wednesday, February 27th, at the Maria Mitchell Library, President George W. Jones opened the Annual Winter Gam saying:

"It is almost a year since we met here for the same purpose and it doesn't seem to be any less popular than last year. We seem to have more people than before and I am glad to see that people appreciate what we aire .trying to do. I am not going to say very much. I am very glad to see you all and as President of the Association I am turning the meeting over to Mr. Norman Giffin who will carry on from here."

Transportation

Mr. Giffin thereupon took the chair, making the following introductory comments:

"Mr. President, friends, I don't know how I came to be in on this, but in January when George asked me what subject I wished to speak on, I said, 'Let's talk about transportation, that's a subject I know a little something about.' So you can reminisce about anything you want but I thought it would be interesting because most everybody here has at some time or another traveled on the steamboats, a great many of you have traveled by plane to and from Nantucket, and a great many of us have traveled by the old Nantucket Railroad to 'Sctonset. So if anybody has anything to start off with, let's go."

Railroading

Miss Grace Brown Gardner promptly started the train rolling by offering a question. "I would like to ask how many here ever traveled on the 'Sconset train?" Over fifty people were present and almost half of them raised their hands.

Your editor then spoke up saying: I have a sort of carry-over from last year. There was a reference made with regard to the Nantucket Central Railroad, and afterwards I received a longhand letter from Bassett Jones which says:

"Reading of the Winter Gam in the April Historic Nantucket the Part about the Nantucket Central Railroad reminds me of the fact that I am the only person alive who survived a fatal accident by that famous conveyance. This was in 1917. I and my family were staying in Wau-and I was commuting weekends. Jim Backus owned a boat which
was to take me to town with my city duds and suit to change into later intending to catch the moon boat off island. Off Pocomo Point with a head tide and the wind dying out we put back to Wauwinet hoping to catch the hotel trip of the farm wagon. The wagon stood ready to leave driven by the elderly man who did odd jo'bs for Jim. I just made it, and telling the old man to hustle, proceeded to change my clothes standing up in the rickety cart.

"As we reached the junction of Milestone Road and the 'Sconset Road along came the 'Sconset Express also bound for the boat. The railroad tracks to town paralleled the Milestone Road, thence to the crossing at Upper Orange Street. The driver of the wagon set out to beat the train to the crossing, leaning over the dashboard and whipping the horse. I asked him to stop but without effect. Soon I realized the race would be a tie, both train and wagon would reach the crossing together, as they did! I decided to go feet first when the smash-up occurred and stuck feet and legs ove*1 the dashboard. Then the locomotive hit the wagon between the wheels broadside to. I recall flying through the air in a clutter of lumber and finding myself sitting in the grass alongside the fence on the east side of Orange Street. The driver was hurled out head first and was killed instantly. The horse, without a change of pace, went on down Orange Street pulling the whiffletree behind him. I got up and walked over and saw that the driver was dead. Then I looked at my tnouser legs and saw the whole back of my pants hanging on the fence. Somehow I didn't receive even a scratch.

"Finally, after Louis Coffin had fitted me out witih new pants, I made the steamer. I joined Captain Sylvia in the pilot house and, of course, I was as stiff as a board. Capt. Sylvia turned me over to a crew member who claimed to be a masseur of sorts. He laid me face down on the mess table with a not too clean towel and a kettle of hot water and went to work. The next morning on reaching New York the doctor said he had never seen anyone so black and blue and so bruised without a bone broken. If it hadn't been for that freight wrestler I probably would have spent some time in a New Bedford hospital. I have had several close calls including an airline crash which have caused Eddie Whelden to say, 'Bassett is slated to die in his bed. They can't kill him!'

"To cap the story of the railroad accident, Jim Backus gave the driver a funeral and burial, after which three different women turned up all claiming to be the man's wife. How Jim got out of that mess I don't know. That's that." Signed, Bassett Jones.

Mr. Giffin: "Anybody got anything to offer?"

John Bartlett: "The man's name was Dodge."

Mr. Giffin: "We talked about it at the Sons of the Revolution meeting. Bob Backus was there and mentioned his name was Dodge. He didn't dodge the train though. He was a poor dodger."

Mrs. Seddon Legg: "Apparently he was dodging wives."

And, so, under the able and humorous guidance of Mr. questions were asked and answered and stories told, but far too numerous to print in full. That which follows, therefore, is a condensation of the gam.

Mr. Jones: "Have you heard about the time they greased the tracks out in 'Sconset? The boat used to leave at 6:30 in the morning and the train tried to catch it, but one morning somebody conceived the bright idea that it would be a good idea to grease the tracks. It happened where they come off Low Beach by Tom Nevers. Some young man put bacon grease on the tracks. Everybody was leaning forward in the seats trying to force it ahead to get there in time for the boat. They got 'halfway up the grade and began to spin, backed down and tried about four times to make it. They finally had to put sand on to get over the top."

Mrs. Legg: "Was that the time someone in 'Sconset was going to elope? I think that went with the story and they didn't make the boat."

Doc Powers' Ceremonials

The arrival and departure of trains at the 'Sconset station was always a great event to which the following stories by Mrs. Margaret Fawcett Wilson serve as verification.

"Does everybody know about Doc Powers who used to greet the train with a bugle and see it off? The man who owned the Ocean View Hotel, just above where the old station was in 'Sconset about where Hughston's is now, was Doc Bowers who was a dentist and ran this hotel. Most of the theatrical families or members of the theatrical profession who did not have children or rent houses in the summer lived at the Ocean View. He would go to the head of the stairs leading down to the station and, if any special guest he knew about was arriving, he blew his welcome call on the bugle.

"If a special guest was leaving there was a great ceremony of leave-taking. Everybody went down to the train to see them off whether you knew the people or not. Doc Powers would generally play something very sad, perhaps the famous old fraternity song 'How Can I Leave Thee?' Then the train whistled and would go.

"There is another tale of a lady in a hotel whose husband came into the roiom with tears in his eyes. She was so startled by his appearance she said, 'But what's the matter?' 'They've gone.' 'Yes, but who?' 'I don't know, but they've gone!' No one can realize how sentimental we were in those days!"

Pertinent Facts

Timetables, the birth and demise of the railroad were ques tions asked and answered by the following.
Mrs. George Jones: "I found in an old magazine, that I think came °ut in 1913, the timetable of 'Sconset trains and it says that they leave Nanitucket at 7:45 a.m. and 'Sconset at 6 a.m. and gives the whole day's schedule. It says that flag stations are Main Street, Orange Street, Milestone Crossing, Tom Nevers Head, and Beach House. Passenger round trip tickets on the wharf 60 cents. R. D. Colburn, Superintendent It says: 'The owners of the Nantucket Railroad believe that the summer visitors will appreciate first-class, reliable service'."

Miss Margaret Harwood: "Which year did the 'Sconset Railroad start?"

Mr. Jones: "1880 was the year."

Mrs. T. Berna: "What year was it given up?"

Mr. Giffin: "1917."

Mr. Nelson: "One evening, about 1918, I was going from New York across the Jersey meadows and as we passed a repair shop for locomotives I happened to look up and couldn't believe my eyes. I saw a little engine and its coal car bearing the name 'Nantucket Railroad.' It was probably one of the last times it was seen in the U. S. It proba'bly had been sent there to be reconditioned before being shipped overseas for a construction company to which it had been sold."

Steamboat Stories

Steamboat stories were then started by Mr. Giffin saying:

"I remember an amusing incident when I was a small boy. Many mornings I would be roused out of bed to go to the boat to mail a letter. It didn't take much to get me out of bed if the errand was to go to the boat. So this particular morning I went down and I always hung around until the boat went out and W. H. H. Smith's hack drew up with the curtains all drawn and stopped right in front of the passenger plank. The boat used to back in on the <south side then. Everybody got ready to throw rice at the bride and groom, and then he opened the door and there was not a soul inside! It seems his daughter, Zetta, and Maurice Boyer had been married the evening before and the old gentleman was playing a joke because they had gone to Madaket the night before. It happened her brother was purseir at the time. I got quite a kick out of that."

Mrs. Jones: "About buying tickets, this old newspaper (about 1913) says: 'During the months of July and August and September in buying tickets for Nantucket always buy excursion tickets and you will get a saving of many dollars. Excursion tickets can be purchased in Boston, only at the Old Colony Depot for $4.00 good until November first. If you are coming from New York, round trip from Pier 28 to Nantucket and back, from Fall River by The Island Home, 18 hours to Nantucket, costs $8.00. The best hotels vary from $1.50 to $3.00 a day according to the location of rooms. These tickets also good until November 1st'."

Miss Harwood: "In 1912 a round trip to Nantucket from Boston was $4.00."

Mr. Giffin: "When I first went steamboating a round trip to New Bedford was $2.00. Now it's $10.50. It was $1.75 one way and $2.00 round trip.

"I'll never forget the first summer on the 'Gay Head' as baggage master in '16. This must have been early in July. They used to se tickets at Woods Hole on the boat. Going up in the morning Willie Smith was purser, and he must have had to punch tickets. He was standing there and this Brava family came aboard, a lady with a tribe of young ones. No, the lady got aboard and got all settled. When somebody sang out, 'all aboard,' she got up and went to the door and one after the other came the whole string coming down the plank just like a lot of ducks. They got on at Woods Hole and were going to New Bedford. They had been over to Waquoit to pick strawberries. We lined them up at the ticket window and asked them 'How old are you, son?' 'What grade are you in?' 'Fourth grade.' 'Okay, half fare for you,' and so on down the line."

Mr. Jones: "Willie Smith liked to get everybody aboard that wasn't supposed to go and not let them know what was happening until the boat got away from the wharf. My father went down to see my sister, Susie Larrabee, off and Willie got the plank up and the first thing father knew the boat was getting under way. He had the presence of mind to run along the rail and jump off. I was on the wharf and thought he was going overboard."

Mrs. Alice Amey: "I remember when my sister and I used to come to the island we brought those enormous trunks. Do you remember those trunks, and were they brought for nothing?"

Mr. Giffin: "The regulations on baggage haven't changed much, $100 value or 150 Ibs. free.

"Can you remember Kittredge, a little short fellow with a wife with red hair. He would always say: 'Ain't got no time,' but show him 50 cents and 'Be right with you.'

Steamship History

Mr. Jones: "What's the first boat you can remember, Norman?"

Mr. Giffin: "My earliest recollection of anything is the day the 'Uncatena' first came. Louise Vincent, George Lake's wife, took me down in the evening. I was only about four years old. They docked on the south side of the wharf and they had a searchlight on the town clock. I thought that was something."

Mr. Jones: "I remember when the steamer 'Sankaty' came. I was in the sixth grade. The same day somebody had given out catalpa tree plants. Everybody that came down had one of them. Most of them went overboard when we got tired of lugging them around."

Mr. Giffin: "I was in the eighth grade. It was early in May and they were supposed to be planted for Arbor Day. I think there are some of them around. They're big trees now."

Mrs. Amey: "I live at the .corner of Gardner and Howard Streets and I think there are four of them right there."

Mr. Giffin: "When I went to work they had the 'Uncatena', 'Sankaty', and 'Gay Head'."

Mr. Jones: "Was the 'Gay Head' smaller than the boats now?"

Mr. Giffin: "Exactly the same dimensions on the water line as the present 'Nobska' and the present 'Martha's Vineyard', 203 feet on the wateir line."

Miss Harwood: "What was the one you said was new?"

Mr. Giffin: "The 'Uncatena'. In 1902 it took the place of the old 'Monohansett'. In 1911 the 'Sankaty' was the first propeller boat."

Mrs. Herbert Foye: "How long did the 'River Queen' and the 'Island Home' run?"

Mr. Giffin: "I have a clipping here. 'New steamer "River Queen" 1874'."

Mrs. Foye: "I am reading from the Daily Memorial, Vol. 1, No. 3, published by the Inquirer and Mirror, August 19, 1881, at the time of the Coffin reunion. The steamers then were 'Martha's Vineyard', 'River Queen', 'Island Home', tickets to Oak Bluffs and return $1.00, round trip New Bedford to Nantucket $2,00."

Mr. Giffin: "The 'Gay Head' was new in '91. The 'Martha's Vineyard' I don't think ever made regular runs after that except to fill in. The old 'Nantucket' would break down. Everyone hated to go on the old 'Martha's Vineyard' it was so cold, no steam heat. The "Nantucket' was the first one that had steam steering gear and steam heat."

Mr. Jones: "I remember the 'Martha's Vineyard' had colored lights around the top of the saloon deck, red and blue. I recall waiting several days at Woods Hole for the boat to come. I was under school age, about four years old, it was blowing a hard northeast gale but they decided to come. The 'Martha's Vineyard' cracked and snapped all the way."

Mrs. Amey: "I was on the 'Gay Head' when the floor slid apart and everyone said, 'One of these days this boat is going down!' "

Mrs. Jones: "Miss Gardner has given me this to read: 'I860. Daily to the Camp Meeting, Steamer 'Island Home'. Daily trips commencing August 2,1st, leaving 5 a.m. Fare to go and return any day, $1.00.' In 1887 they had the steamers 'Nantucket', 'Martha's Vineyard' and 'Monohansett'." To which Mr. Giffin added: "They still had the 'Island Home' also."

Mr. Giffin: "I remember one time, it might have been 1925 or 1926 I was working as purser on what was the 'Martha's Vineyard', then the 'Islander'. There was some mixup in schedule. It was in January or February. We were to transfer Nantucket passengers and freight to the 'Uncatena' at Oak Bluffs and she was coming to Nantucket. We were going to Edgartown. When we got there they came out and we asked 'What have you got for Nantucket?' There wasn't much freight. 'Who have you got for Nantucket?' 'Haven't got anyone.' Zadoc Cottle was chief engineer. He said, 'My God, what'll Junior Wood and John Terry think when we get there and not a soul gets off. I went once with only a corpse but never went without anything!'

"At one time they only made four trips a week in the winter as evidenced by the following notice: 'Starting December llth the "Island Home" will make four trips a week between this place and Hyannis; leave and return the same day, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays. Connections with the morning train. Take notice the steamboat company reserves the privilege of going to all vessels to render assistance and to lend aid as may be required without notice to the passengers.' "

Mrs. Jones: "In other words, if you missed the train it wasn't their fault."

Miss Harwood: "Which year did they change from Hyannis to Woods Hole?"

Mr. Giffin: "In 1874 when the Old Colony extended its branch to Woods Hole."

Local Boats and Coasters

Mrs. Jones: "What about other means of transportation besides the steamboat and train? Here is an ad for the boat 'Dauntless' leaving the Cliff Shore Bathing Houses at 9, 10, 11 o'clock running until 1 o'clock p.m., ten cents each way. After that can be chartered for fishing and squantums. Sailboats also available'. Underneath is an ad for Squantums. 'Subscribe now. In readiness to accommodate squantums and the like. Lobsters, clams and all the necessaries on these occasions. B. C. Eldridge.' "

Someone asked: "What are squantums?"

Mr. Jones: "Beach parties, as a rule, kind of a picnic."

Someone asked: "What was the name of the boat that went to Wauwinet?"

Mrs. Jones: "The 1887 paper says: 'The yacht Lillian, Captain C. E. Smalley, will make two trips daily from steamboat wharf to the Wauwinet House, commencing June 20th, 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., fare 20 cents.'"

Mr. Giffin: "I can remember when it was 50 cents."

Mrs. Foye: "Was there another boat called the 'Island Belle'?"

Mr. Jones: "That was a steamer. William Codd and Charles Robinson built her."

Mr. Giffin: "She was the 'Coiskata' after that."

Miss Gardner: "I have here a record of a number of the coasters that used to ply between Nantucket and Boston, Nantucket and New York, Nantucket and Baltimore. I should say there must have been more than 100 of these coasters. Included among them was this boat you have been talking about. They are listed here if anyone would like to look at them."

Someone asked: "Did they have regular schedules?"

Miss Gardner: "Yes, some did and some didn't."

Mrs. Jones: "Here is another ad: 'All Aboard! The side-wheel craft "Swift^Sure" has been put in thorough repair and will be propelled this season about Nantucket and to Siasconset by the safe and reliable Propeller, Frank, with the undersigned tending the main sheets. Fare a§ last season. No spurious coin or taffy received. Leave your bill of due at D. W. Burgess & Sons or F. J. Crosby. Captain Baxter.' "

Mrs. Giffin: "I have heard another tale about Baxter. He used to deliver mail in 'Sconset and the people would pick it up at his house. Somebody didn't like it and wrote the Post Office Department that he was running a post office against the law and they sent an inspector. capt. Baxter met him at the boat and told him he'd take him to 'Sconset see for himself. He lugged him all through Polpis and said: 'You don't see anything out here that looks like a Post Office do you?' and took him back to the boat."

Freeze-ups

No gam is complete without stories of winter freeze-ups as Mr. Giffin well knew when he asked the question: "Did anybody ever get on the mainland in a freeze-up and have to put up at Woods Hole?"
Miss Harwood: "In January, 1918, it froze up immediately after Christmas. Generally I went away just before Christmas and stayed during January but this time I wanted to come back. I knew it was frozen up. It was a war year at the time and they had been taking a lot of freight for the Coast Guard during the fall and they hadn't supplied Nantucket with enough canned things.

"I communicated with some of the teachers. There was a teacher who lived on the mainland, Miss Burt. I guess Mr. Tirrell was superintendent. He had sent word to her not to come until he let her know, and that the boat 'Sankaty' was frozen in the harbor. She lived in Arlington or Cambridge and after eight days 'she finally telephoned that the 'Sankaty' had gotten out. We left the next morning.

"Cook always saw that I had a good lunch when I started out. The train left South Station at 6 a.m. Pretty soon we met some other young teachers and found that one girl had left Springfield the night before at 11 o'clock in order to get to the train. She had arrived at South Station at three or four in the morning and hadn't had any breakfast because the restaurant was full of men and she didn't dare go in. I brought my lunch out and before we got to Woods Hole the lunch had gone.

"We went down to the boat and on the 'Uncatena' they said, 'No, the "Sankaty" hadn't got out' and they had a load of freight for the Vineyard. They said there was plenty of time to get lunch. We went to a restaurant and ordered oyster stew and just as they were putting it in front of us the boat whistled. We had just paid for it and had to leave and race down. We just went to the Vineyard and back all day long. I went to a store and got some crackers. I knew that Nantucketers got out of yeast cakes when the boat didn't come so I landed here with 25 yeast cakes. Later on I was elected to the school committee. I always said I guessed it was the yeast cakes that did it.

"Anyway, after going back and forth the thermometer got up to 8 above, and we finally landed at Vineyard Haven at 6:30 p.m. We went to Mrs. Johnson's and she gave us some supper and even a hot stone in the bed. We got up at 5:3'0 a.m. because the boat had decided to come to Nantucket. The boat backed and butted the ice. We walked around the boat to keep warm. It had no heat in it, or it seemed so.

"At Woods Hole some of them wanted to go back but four, five, or six finally got here, but the boat backed and butted the ice all the way from the lightship and got here at 5:30 in the evening."

Mr. Jones: "Didn't the 'Sankaty' used to back into the ice until she broke her propeller?"

John Bartlett: "She broke her rudder."

Miss Harwood: "The 'Uncatena' people were out as she came into the harbor as the 'Sankaty' was going out. They waited for her side wheels to break the ice for them. They had some songs and rhymes so they stood there singing and jibing at the 'Sankaty' because they couldn't cut the ice."

Someone asked: "What year was that?"

Miss Harwood: "That was 1918. It was something like 8 days, the 7th or 8th of January. The next day it went out and didn't come back until 6 days later. It went out 7 days later and froze for three weeks, and at the end of that time the Corner Store advertised 'When the boat comes we will have. . . . Until then we have Nantucket turnips at 40 cents a peck. In 1857 there was a winter like that."

"Gut around Great Point a steamer out of Glasgow, Scotland, was short of coal and anchored. They carted 90 ton of coal out to 'Seonset, bagged it and took it off in dories. It took two days and then she took the mail.

"In one of the last freeze-ups there was a lady that bought a ticket in New Bedford for Nantucket. They got as far as Martha's Vineyard and announced they would go no further, the trip to Nantucket had been abandoned and for all to go ashore. This lady sat on the quarterdeck with her suitcase and didn't move. Finally the purser came and explained the trip to Nantucket had been abandoned. She said, 'No, I have a ticket and I am not going off until you land me at Nantucket.' She insisted. Nobody could move her. They got her a stateroom and for three or four days she went back and forth from the Vineyard to New Bedford, and finally she got to Nantucket."

Stormy Trips; Groundings; Sinkings

Stories of stormy trips and questions about groundings and sinkings followed.

Mr. Giffin: "You may have heard mention of that famous trip of the 'Island Home' over on the beach, out all night, anchored off Tuckernuck Flat."

Mrs. Giffin: "What date did it happen?"

Mr. Giffin: "February 4, 1882." By request he then read the account from "Story of the Island Steamers", by Harry Turner.

Someone said: "I remember when the 'Nantucket' sank off Nobska." Someone said: "The 'Sankaty' went ashore off West Island." Someone said: "The 'New Bedford' went ashore on the Weepeckets."

Mr. Bartlett: "There was one down on Great Point." MT. Giffin: "That was Captain Sandsbury. Right after Christmas.

see anything out here that looks like a Post Office do you?' and took him back to the boat."

Freeze-ups

"Cook always saw that I had a good lunch when I started out. The train left South Station at 6 a.m. Pretty isoon we met s»ome other young teachers and found that one girl had left Springfield the night before at 11 o'clock in order to get to the train. She had arrived at South Station at three or four in the morning and hadn't had any breakfast because the restaurant was full of men and she didn't dare go in. I brought my lunch out and before we got to Woods Hole the lunch had gone.

"At Woods Hole some of them wanted to go back but four, five, or six finally got here, but the boat backed and butted the ice all the way from the lightship and got here at 5:30 in the evening."

Mr. Jones: "Didn't the 'Sankaty' used to back into the ice until she broke her propeller?"

John Bartlett: "She broke her rudder."

Someone asked: "What year was that?"

Mr. Giffin: "I have an old account of January, 1857, as noted in 'Private Log, with notations and incidents.' There were 31 mails that went out on the 'Island Home' on the 6th of February. She came in on the 5th of January and again on the 6th of February. Two mails came in by other vessels in the meantime.
"Gut around Great Point a steamer out of Glasgow, Scotland, was short of coal and anchored. They carted 90 ton of coal out to 'Seonset, bagged it and took it off in dories. It took two days and then she took 'the mail.

Stormy Trips; Groundings; Sinkings

Stories of stormy trips and questions about groundings and sinkings followed.

Mr. Giffin: "You may have heard mention of that famous trip of the 'Island Home' over on the beach, out all night, anchored off Tuckernuck Flat."

Mrs. Giffin: "What date did it happen?"

Mr. Giffin: "February 4, 1882." By request he then read the account from "Story of the Island Steamers", by Harry Turner.

Someone said: "I remember when the 'Nantucket' sank off Nobska." Someone said: "The 'Sankaty' went ashore off West Island." Someone said: "The 'New Bedford' went ashore on the Weepeckets." Mr. Bairtlett: "There was one down on Great Point." MT. Giffin: "That was Captain Sandsbury. Right after Christmas.

1930, the steamer 'Nantucket' came down in a northeast snow storm. After they left Cross Rip a squall struck. He tried to head the steamer up into the wind. The best he could get was E'N'E. They didn't know where they were until they got under the lee of Great Point and when the light shone they could see the hills on Great Point. They squared away and came into Nantucket.

"Among the passengers was the Methodist minister and his bride. All hands were seasick. The story goes that the minister and his brid-e sat on the deck with their arms around a stanchion with a hand basin between them. On that same trip the hand trucks on the freight deck got loose and the mate and one of the deck hands climbed the stanchions to save themselves from getting their legs broken. Also on the same trip something from one of the life boats came adrift and smashed into one of the staterooms. They were four and a half hours coming from Oak Bluffs to Nantucket.

"Also that same afternoon Captain Sylvia had the 'Martha's Vineyard' and put into Vineyard Haven. Inquiry was made as to the whereabouts of the steamer 'Nantucket'. When it was known she was overdue he made the statement that he wouldn't bank his fire until he knew she was safe. She got here as I remember it around five o'clock that night.

"Young Anthur Rosa was assistant engineer. He said he wouldn't have given two cents for it. They headed in on the north side of the wharf. I thought they were bound for the Yacht Club. Guess Sandsbury was just glad to get to a dock and didn't care where."

Mr. Jones: "What were the two boats that came together and had a collision?"

Mr. Giffin: "In 1930-31 the 'Nobska' plugged the 'Islander'."

Many remember the burning of the "Sankaty" at New Bedford but few know of her reclamation and subsequent disposition but the following tells the story in a few words:

Mr. Jones: "Does the 'Sankaty' still run now?"

Mr. Giffin: "To Prince Edward Island, I think. It went from Stamford to Oyster Bay for a long time. I used to see her there."

Horse Conveyances

Horses and carriages for hire were a subject which brought forth both factual data and old stories when Mrs. Jones asked: "Do you know how much you could rent a carriage for?" and then answered her questions by reading the following from an old paper:

" 'You can rent a public carriage with a driver by the hour. The drivers are very loquacious and will give you a very fine ride. The carriages are all licensed and numbered. The price by the hour is $!• Livery stables have prices for hacks. . . . Three seaters can be hired by parties for the day, will take eight passengers $6'."

Miss Maud Caldwell: "Did the island ever have a stage coach?' ^ Mr. Jones: "They had one that went to 'Sconset the year the train didn't run. They put the stage on over the road. It only ran one season."

Mr. Bartlett: "It had three or four horses on it."

Miss Caldwell: "Did they have large livery stables or did everyone have a few?"

Mrs. Jones: "Here are some of the names: W. H. H. Smith, Covell & Pease, John Appleton, Harris, Atwood, John Wood, John Terry, Clint Folger."

Mr. Bartlett: "There were 600 horses here once. I remember going down to the boat to see the horses that came for the summer. All the kids used to go down."

Glancing through another newspaper Mrs. Jones found and read the following advertisement:

" Tease & Ayers. Everybody that knows Nantucket knows the 'Island Stables'. For not only is this an old-established enterprise, established in 1888, by Covell & Pease, but a very popular one. It is so managed and so equipped as to be in a position to suit all tastes. Horses that the most inexperienced driver can handle are obtainable; horses that will suit the driver who likes a little "ginger" are obtainable. The rigs are up to date in every detail and no rig is allowed to leave the Island Stables which is not "all right". From twenty-three to twenty-five horses are kept for livery service, and forty-five carriages. The business also includes boarding and feed service, the accommodations being first class and the prices reasonable. And a very important and highly popular department of the business is baggage transfer, careful and timely service being assured. The proprietors of the Island Stables, Messrs. Pease & Ayers, have well earned the high position they hold in the favor of the public'."

Mrs. Joines: "All the livery stables had hacks for funerals and weddings. Everybody has heard the story about the two old maiden ladies. I think it was their mother's funeral. The hack driver overheard this on the way to Prospect Hill Cemetery: 'Ain't we having a fine ride. Won't get another until Pa goes'."

Air Transport in Its Early Days

Memories of the early days of air transport between the mainland and the Island were brought to life by a number of anecdotes.

Mr. Nelson: "We don't think anything of flying back and forth between New York and Nantucket, but there was a young fellow by the name of Moon who established a service with seaplanes about 1933. As a regular weekend commuter on the New Bedford Line I always had a stateroom. One weekend I gave up my stateroom and then found I could make it at the last minute on Friday night. I called Pier 14 and they said: 'We can't give you anything, now, but there is some fellow with a seaplane that says he can take four passengers as far as Nantucket tomorrow.' I said: 'All right, I'll try it.'

"I went to Pier 14 in the Hudson River at noon. They fitted the four passengers and the pilot in this small plane. I never knew there was so much driftwood in New York Harbor as I saw then, but we finally did get off. We went around the Battery and there was some question in my mind as to whether we were going over or under the Brooklyn Bridge, but we finally went over.

"In front of me sat a dear old lady and she never said a word the whole time, kept perfectly quiet and never moved. First stop was Fisher's Island, next stop New Bedford. There the pilot found he had gotten mixed up and had contracted to take extra passengers from New Bedford to Martha's Vineyard and didn't have enough seats. One -of the passengers, a friend of mine, was getting off at Martha's Vineyard so I offered to go with him and get off at the Vineyard and wait while the pilot returned to New Bedford for the other Vineyard passengers and bring the plane back and pick me up again. It was the first time I had ever been on Martha's Vineyard and all I could do was sit on the wharf. It was a great many years before I went back again.

"We finally arrived in Nantucket about 6 o'clock in the afternoon, came up to the pier and there was the old lady's daughter and son-in-law waiting for her. We were a little stiff by then. Nevertheless, when they asked: 'Grandma, how are you?' she replied: 'I'm hungry, haven't had anything to eat since breakfast, because I was afraid I was going to get airsick'."

Mr. Jones: "When they first started running planes out, there was a fellow from Fairhaven who used to land this side of Old South Road, and also where the airport is now. I was working in New Jersey, Rozelle a/nd the youngsters were down here for the summer. I used to fly down to New Bedford and get aboard one of these small ones. In the meantime the youngsters had got the idea into their heads that I was going to jump in a parachute and were telling some people in the house how their daddy was going to jump, and they asked my wife if I was a parachute jumper, They were quite disappointed when daddy came down in a normal way."

Mrs. Ellen Chace: "Do you know who was the pilot of that plane?" Mr. Jones: "He was a stranger. The fellow wasn't connected with Nantucket."

Mrs. Chace: "I went up with Dave Raub in 1934 when there was a freeze-up. I thought we had just started and all of a sudden we were there."

Mr. Jones: "Parker Gray ran one at that time and brought freight at the same time. One time they had a lot of freight up front and the pilot looked down and saw a lot of grease in the bottom of the plane. They had packed some butter close to the engine. The heat had melted it, and it was running out of the bottom of the plane.

"Another time in the freeze-up they got a plane ready to take oft. They had wings that could be folded and were held in place by P1"3' Somebody neglected to put the pins in and flagged it down just before ne took off or the wings would have dropped off."

Finale

Other stories, far too numerous to tell, included one about the first boat strike which was no April fool's joke although it was called for April 1, 1937; the end of the Fall River Line; Maria Mitchell's account of a hard winter; farmers and how they distributed their products; the horse car line; the undertaker, who, when he was not busy carrying corpses used to cart seaweed for bedding, and of oxen driven about the Island.

The evening was brought to a happy end with the following several exchanges:

Miss Harwood: "The old horse-drawn taxi drivers used to tell some remarkable stories. Somebody came to me and said that Maria Mitchell must have been a strange kind of person because she had a roadhouse besides. Come to find out Earnest Terry had taken them out by 'Sconset and the Polpis Road and pointed out Miriam Coffin house and said: 'That's where Maria Mitchell used to have a road house.' I asked Ernest whOiSe house that was, and he said: 'Don't you know about it? She was apparently a bright astronomer but she had two sides to her.' I said: 'Why, Ernest, that's the Miriam Coffin House. She was known for smuggling.' He said: 'Somebody told me it was Maria Mitchell's and we have been telling that'."

Miss Gardner: "What did they say about the observatory once?"

Miss Harwood: "They said: 'Maria Mitchell was born here. That must be her mausoleum'. Once I heard them say: "She was born here, that's where she is now'."

Mr. Jones: "This is a story the bus drivers give. They don't drive horses now, but not too many years ago a sightseeing bus was passing the Quaker Cemetery. The passengers were informed that 5,000 Quakers were buried there. One of the passengers on the bus doubted the statement. He didn't think the lot was big enough. The driver said: 'Well, they used to bury them standing up'."

Mr. Jones then said: "I don't like to break up this nice meeting. We have run two hours and unless somebody has some very unique stories we will call it a day and adjourn the meeting." Meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m. with every one in agreement that Norman P. Giffin had proven himself an able Master of Ceremonies.