Loved the Tom Dunlop article in the Nov. 1 edition of the Gazette on Islander ex Hackensack. How wonderful that her basic design and size led directly to the long-lasting Islander of 1946. One subject that you did not touch on was her fuel. I have the impression that she was still coal-fired when acquired, which would fit nicely with her long smoke stacks. Maybe she was converted to burn fuel oil at some stage, but it would have been interesting to load fuel coal, presumably in Woods Hole. Do you happen to know who originally decided to buy the ferry Hackensack? I’m sure it was a controversial decision, after depending on the steamer type for so long. Was it by any chance a decision by Frank Look, who came back from the war and managed what became the Steamship Authority for so many years?

Peter Scott
Brooklyn, N.Y.