This is where old ferries go when they die: to the scrap metal yard.
The ferry Islander, the Vineyard’s favorite diesel ferry that served the Steamship Authority from 1950 to 2007, is now being cut up into pieces somewhere on the New Jersey shoreline.
After she was sold by the Steamship Authority for $500,000, the Islander had a tough go in New York city running between the Battery Maritime Building and Governors Island.
Two years ago she was sold on eBay for $23,600.
Now she is scrap metal.
John A. Witte Jr. of Donjon Marine Co. in Hillside, N.J., confirmed this week his company acquired the rusted ferry and is now “recycling” her. Mr. Witte is executive vice president of the large marine salvage company.
Mr. Witte would not discuss how his company came into possession of the Islander. But it is understood that her brief and unglamorous route that began on eBay in February 2009 included ownership by a New York apple farmer and auto salvage businessman.
“We acquired it a little over a year ago. Right now we are dismantling. The scrap [metal] is being recycled at various foundries. The equipment is being taken apart,” Mr. Witte said. He said his company hoped to sell the engines.
Mr. Witte said the work should be completed in four months.
One large remnant of the ferry Islander that still resides on the Island will not be scrapped. The Martha’s Vineyard Museum has an original lifeboat from the ferry, which is not on display. It was acquired in 2008.
This article appears in February 11, 2011.
I am sure, like most of us who are Islander friends, the thought of our beloved ferry being dismanted, brought back the feeling of loss and pain. My first trip on her in 1953 brought excitment from being on a ferry,and the excitement of visiting the Vineyard for the first time. Through the years she has brought me home to see special friends, bury my family, and watch my children and grandchildren experience the same thrill as I did all those years ago. Memories shape our lives and make us who we are today and even though she is gone the memories will last a lifetime. You can dismantle our Islander but her spirit and our feeling for her will remain in all her pieces, and our memories