From the June 7, 1929 edition of the Vineyard Gazette:

Steamboat company officials, town and county officers of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, together with numerous representative men from the Islands and the mainland, were guests of the New Bedford, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamboat company aboard the new steamer Naushon which made her first trip over the Island run on Tuesday. The run from New Bedford with stops at Oak Bluffs and Woods Hole each way was a truly enjoyable event to every person aboard.

The Naushon reached Oak Bluffs at about 11:30 and a fair sprinkling of Island people was there to watch her approach. Captain Ralph M. Packer, veteran steamship captain, declared her to be an exact replica of the English Channel steamers, built to navigate in one of the roughest bodies of water on the face of the earth.

The stop was necessarily brief and once underway again the Naushon headed for Nantucket while the various Vineyard guests started on a tour of inspection and exploration which began at the steamer’s tremendous, cavern-like cargo deck and progressed through the luxurious saloons and staterooms from deck to deck until the weather deck and the wheelhouse were reached.

There are four decks on the Naushon, two of which are devoted entirely to the accommodation of passengers, the saloon and the hurricane decks. The cargo deck has a saloon aft where passengers board, very large and comfortable, and the weather deck, topping everything, is to be barred to passengers.

The arrangement on the two passenger decks is novel in its convenience. There is a saloon at both forward and after ends, furnished with chairs and settees of wicker, well supplied with cushions. There is open deck space provided with chairs at either end and there are staterooms on both decks, 32 in all, and also toilets and lavatories.

On the saloon deck there is a promenade entirely around the outside, the staterooms opening on the deck.

The smaller rooms are fitted with a type of day bed which is ordinarily arranged to form a sort of davenport but which can be opened to form a double bed.

These are well provided with mattresses, cushions and all necessary appurtenances. There are tables, chairs and wash bowls in these smaller rooms, all attractive but of simple design. Simplicity is the rule aboard the Naushon and there is no unattractive “gingerbread” work to conceal the real beauty of the ship.

In the larger rooms there is, in addition to the other furnishings and some extra fittings, a number of toilets and lavatories in small, well arranged rooms accessible only from the stateroom itself.

Right amidship, on the saloon deck, is the lunchroom, equipped with a counter and stools and tables with regular chairs. Everything is complete even to the electric toasters where the Naushon’s chefs were kept busy on the trip, turning out toasted ham sandwiches. It was a hungry crowd, and the food was excellent and provided in plenteous quantities, for although there was a continuous stream of hungry men storming the lunchroom, no article of food was exhausted. Salads, sandwiches, coffee and dessert dishes were the principal articles consumed and there were many cigars and cigarettes being passed over the counter, all provided for the guests.

As soon as the Naushon had approached near enough to Nantucket for her passengers to see people on the beach, that island appeared to declare a holiday. Whistles had blown at every place where there was one, and the Cross Rip lightship had saluted in the approved style, but at Nantucket flags were dipped, bells rung, and from every boat, the power house, cold storage plant and other sources that could not be discovered, whistles of every key blared out a greeting to the new steamer.

The gates at the head of the wharf were closed, a wise provision, for the schools were all dismissed and flocks of the children were pressing against the gates with plenty of grown-ups mingled with them.

As the steamer left the dock, the children were allowed on the wharf, after having inspected the boat, and the passengers threw coins of various denominations to them, watching the tumult as the boys scrambled for them.

With continued fair weather and smooth seas the Naushon headed for the Vineyard, reaching Oak Bluffs in exactly two hours from the time of leaving.

The captain of the Naushon is new to the Island line, although he has been in command of the Pequot on some of her ferrying trips between Woods Hole and the Vineyard. He is Captain Lawrence Durfee who has had long experience on the Fall River Line. Captain Durfee’s home is in New Bedford.

The Naushon carries a crew of 58, 10 more than the other boats. Heretofore the steamers have carried from 43 to 44 men but all the crews have been stepped up in anticipation of the new schedule. All steamers will carry two pilots with the beginning of the summer schedule Sunday.

Compiled by Hilary Wall
library@mvgazette.com