Ferries were running again Saturday morning after a prolonged gale battered Martha’s Vineyard for three straight days.

The Steamship Authority suspended all ferry service to the Island all day Thursday and Friday, stranding travelers on both sides of the Sound at the start of the Columbus Day weekend.

The storm began whipping up high winds and heavy seas around the Island beginning Wednesday.

Gale-force winds out of the northeast pounded the shoreline and sent waves crashing over seawalls and breakwaters in Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Haven and Menemsha.

There was some beach erosion and flooding in low-lying areas.

On Chappaquiddick an unoccupied sailboat was driven ashore from the outer harbor.

Leaves flew off trees and Islanders hunkered down.

On Friday the National Weather Service said the weather system had become a named sub-tropical storm, Melissa. The storm had begun to move out to sea by Saturday.

The state Division of Marine Fisheries announced mandatory shellfish closures Friday due to heavy rainfall.

More pictures from the storm.