“It was heartbreaking to see those boats go to pieces,” Capt. Fred Vidler, keeper of the Edgartown Harbor Light said yesterday. He was speaking of the boats, torn from their moorings in Edgartown harbor, which were carried by the current against the lighthouse bridge at the height of the storm. As soon as the craft hit the bridge they seemed to go to pieces like matchwood.
Sept. 21 marks the 75th anniversary of the Great New England Hurricane of 1938. Although in many respects the hurricane of 1944 was much worse (it killed more people around the Vineyard than any storm in the 20th century), the 1938 hurricane is the one that stands in the record books.
Southern New England is overdue for a major hurricane. The last big one, in terms of lives lost, damage and cost, was the Great Hurricane of 1938. A lot has changed since then that will make the next one even more severe.
