Island Home (steamboat)

The "Island Home" was a sidewheel steamer operating as a ferry serving the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Nantucket Ferry Service

"Island Home" was built in 1855 in Greenpoint, NY. [ [http://www.mysticseaport.org/library/initiative/VMSearch.cfm Ship and Yacht Register Search ] ] Its machinery was manufactured at the Morgan iron works in New York. Leonard Merritt, superintending engineer of the New Haven Steamboat Company, supervised the machinery construction. [Turner, Harry B. "The Story of the Island Steamers" (The Inquirer and Mirror Press, 1910) [http://books.google.com/books?id=n2kEAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage] ]

"Island Home" first arrived at Nantucket on Sept. 5, 1855 under the command of Capt. Thomas Brown. It was the first purchase of the new Nantucket and Cape Cod Steamboat Co., which had been formed from the Nantucket Steamboat Co. earlier that year when the new railroad terminus wharf was built in Hyannis, MA. It was 184 feet long, with a 29'8" beam and weighed 536 tons. It initially sailed the waters between Hyannis and Nantucket. [ [http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/5aa/5aa10.htm By the Sea: Folk Paintings by Janet Munro ] ] [ [http://www.mvgazette.com/commentary/gazette_chronicle/?document=19061200_100_years_ago Vineyard Gazette Online ] ] [ [http://www.mariefox.com/print_details.cfm/pid/3035/details/true Marie Fox Folk Art – Fine Prints & Paintings: Nantucket Island ] ] [Turner, Harry B. "The Story of the Island Steamers" (The Inquirer and Mirror Press, 1910) [http://books.google.com/books?id=n2kEAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage] ] Capt. Brown had previously commanded the island ferry steamers "Eagle's Wing" and "Massachusetts". He was followed by Capt. Nathan Manter (1818-1897), who commanded the "Island Home" for thirty years. [Turner, Harry B. "The Story of the Island Steamers" (The Inquirer and Mirror Press, 1910) [http://books.google.com/books?id=n2kEAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage] ]

"Island Home" is listed in the "American Lloyd's Register of American and Foreign Shipping" during 1859-1863 as a 450-ton, single-decked vessel. The 1858 "New-York Marine Register" lists the "Island Home" as a 536 ton vessel. [ [http://www.mysticseaport.org/library/initiative/VMSearch.cfm Ship and Yacht Register Search ] ]

Island Home sailed the Nantucket-Hyannis route until the completion of the Woods Hole branch of the Old Colony Railroad in 1872; it subsequently sailed between Woods Hole and Nantucket. [Turner, Harry B. "The Story of the Island Steamers" (The Inquirer and Mirror Press, 1910) [http://books.google.com/books?id=n2kEAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage] ]

Martha's Vineyard Ferry Service

In March 1886 the "Island Home" became one of the initial four steamers operating for the newly organized New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Co. [ [http://www.mvgazette.com/commentary/gazette_chronicle/?document=19061200_100_years_ago Vineyard Gazette Online ] ] (The other three were "River Queen", "Martha's Vineyard" and "Monohansett".)

Later Service

"Island Home" was sold by the New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Co. in 1895 or 1896 (sources vary.) [ [http://www.mvgazette.com/commentary/gazette_chronicle/?document=19061200_100_years_ago Vineyard Gazette Online ] ]

Records of the "Island Home" turn up again in the 1897-1900 editions of "Record of American and Foreign Shipping" as a 184' long, 30-ton vessel. Its owner was listed as Mt. Vernon & Marshall Hall S. B. Co., its homeport as New Bedford, and its master as Capt. N. H. Manter. [ [http://www.mysticseaport.org/library/initiative/VMSearch.cfm Ship and Yacht Register Search ] ]

For six years or so, "Island Home" operated as a work barge for R.B. Little Co. of Providence. In 1902 it was damaged by an ice floe off New Jersey or Rhode Island (sources vary) and sank. [ [http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/5aa/5aa10.htm By the Sea: Folk Paintings by Janet Munro ] ] [ [http://www.mariefox.com/print_details.cfm/pid/3035/details/true Marie Fox Folk Art – Fine Prints & Paintings: Nantucket Island ] ]

New Beginnings

In 2007, a new steamship, "M/V Island Home", started its service to Martha's Vineyard and Woods Hole. It was named after this 19th-century steamer.

Notes

References

* [http://www.mvgazette.com/commentary/gazette_chronicle/?document=19061200_100_years_ago] - reprint of an 1906 article in the Vineyard Gazette

* [http://www.mvgazette.com/commentary/gazette_chronicle/?document=19400000_how_it_all_started] - reprint of a 1940 article in the Vineyard Gazette

* [http://www.mysticseaport.org/library/initiative/VMSearch.cfm] - Mystic Seaport - G. W. Blunt White Library - Ship & Yacht Register

* Turner, Harry B. "The Story of the Island Steamers" (The Inquirer and Mirror Press, 1910) [http://books.google.com/books?id=n2kEAAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage]