From the May 3, 1940 edition of the Vineyard Gazette:

The boathouse at Gay Head, built years ago by the Massachusetts Humane Society to house a lifeboat, has been purchased by Mrs. A. N. Piper of New York city, and will be remodeled into a summer residence. The work is to be done by H. C. Hancock and Son of Vineyard Haven.

The boathouse formerly stood a mile or more south of the lighthouse on the so called West Beach. During the hurricane a year ago last fall it was washed from its foundation and carried inland, where it finally landed in the edge of a small pond. When the building was purchased by Mrs. Piper it was necessary to move it some distance to land she purchased from Mr. and Mrs. Francis Manning, southwest of the Cooper Wigwam. The moving is being done by Harry Horton of Vineyard Haven.

Probably few buildings of this size are as heavily constructed as the Humane Society boathouses. Heavily timbered, strongly planked, they were built to stand every imaginable strain and stress that might be encountered along an open beach, and this building is as sound as ever.

The Humane Society maintained a number of such buildings with their boats and lifesaving gear previous to the establishment of the Coast Guard station at Gay Head. For some years thereafter, there were boats and gear in some of the houses, but all such equipment has been disposed of long since. Volunteer crews of fishermen and whalemen pulled to the rescue of many a wreck in these red-painted lifeboats of the society, and many a heroic rescue was made by such crews under conditions when it appeared impossible that such small open boats could live.

The introduction of motorized lifeboats put an end to the use of oars and sails in such boats, as operated from shore stations, and only the tradition of a brave past remains to commemorate the valiance of the surfmen who have passed on along with the boats.

The first report of census-taking difficulties comes from Carl Cronig of Vineyard Haven, who was assigned to the up-Island districts and the Elizabeth Islands. Cronig tackled Gay Head this week, and struck a snag, or rather several of them, in negotiation the various traveled ways of the township. His car was mired three times in the course of one day, and on one occasion he was obliged to walk three miles to secure assistance. The Coast Guard was extremely obliging, and came to the rescue with truck and gear, extricating the discomfited census taker from his predicament. It is the Coast Guard who are expected to trans-ship Cronig to the neighboring Elizabeth Islands, where mud will not interfere with the performance of his duty, unless he gets caught on a flat at low water.

A 1914 Packard phaeton, driven by Kenneth Deitz of Edgartown, rolled smartly off to Boston Wednesday, from there bound by railway freight to New York. The property of Hunt Smith, of New York and Katama, for some years, it has been purchased by a New Yorker.

This twenty-six year old machine, a model 6-48, was owned by John A. Jeremiah, Edgartown summer resident, before it passed to Mr. Smith’s possession, and saw much service on Chappaquiddick up to 1924 when it was put up. Since Mr. Smith had it, it has spent most of the time in storage in his garage underneath the Katama house, and it was a casualty of the hurricane flood of September, 1938.

Ken, who is the son of William E. Deitz, caretaker of Mr. Smith’s place, put new rings in, tightened the bearings, and gave the engine a general overhauling before taking it away. There’s plenty of power and pickup in the big open car enough to hold its own with many of the machines of the road today. The high-pressure, cord tires, which coast about $60 each, still hold the air well after years of inactivity.

Nearly three thousand short lobsters were liberated in Menemsha Pond, Chilmark, last week by the state Department of Conservation. The lobsters were trucked from Boston, and taken into the pond by Capt. Ernest Mayhew, who was accompanied by State Game Warden Gordon E. Spofford. This is the third lot of short lobsters to be liberated in Vineyard waters this spring. The lobsters have been liberated in Menemsha Bight, along the Sound shore and in Lagoon Pond, and still more are to come.

This stocking of Island waters with short lobsters is a part of Rep. Joseph A. Sylvia’s plan to aid local fisheries. The lobsters are those of illegal length, culled from Nova Scotia shipments. In former years they were usually liberated along the state’s north shore. Mr. Sylvia has secured an agreement to divide such lots of short lobsters in order to give Vineyard Sound fishermen their share, and has also arranged for the distribution of about six hundred bushels of seed clams to be distributed in various waters around the Island and in all towns. Mr. Sylvia said that as nearly as could be figured, only about half of the expected number of lobsters have arrived thus far.

Compiled by Hilary Wall
library@mvgazette.com