“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.
Earnest G. Friez Jr., manager, said that he thought that the Harbor View Hotel had weathered the Tuesday weather in comparatively good shape. “We were very fortunate,” he said, “compared to the trouble some were in.” One chimney fell on the ell of the main hotel, over employees’ quarters, and smashed through the roof into a room on the third floor. Other than that the damage was confined to a few chairs, windows and shutters and shingles.
The northeast storm that walloped the Island last week caused an estimated $3.4 million in damages.
Martha’s Vineyard fared better than her Cape Cod and Nantucket neighbors. Still the damage incurred was enough for President George Bush to consider Dukes County one of six Massachusetts counties qualifying as a federal disaster area.
The storm battered the coastline, eroding cliffs up to 15 feet in some areas and damaging docks, beach stairs, boats and buildings.
Five fishermen were stranded on Nomans Land for more than five hours Wednesday, waiting for the U.S. Coast Guard to rescue them.
The fishing crew were aboard the Michelle Lane, laden with fish and bound for New Bedford when it ran aground at 1:10 a.m. off the south side of Nomans.
The crew contacted the Coast Guard about their predicament. At 9:56 a.m. the fishermen abandoned ship and sought refuge on Nomans.
The stranded men were Brandon Chase, Thomas Albee, Mike Train-ham, Mark Wrigley and Mike Montgerzero.
The northeaster that battered the Vineyard this week was like a hurricane, only worse. This time the wind lasted a lot longer than four hours. It lasted days.
The Island received a hint of the coming severity on Tuesday. The South Shore had breached in several places. At high tide that day, parts of Beach Road in Vineyard Haven flooded. Seaweed and water filled boats tied to the town dock at Owen Park.
Wednesday started off blustery. Conditions deteriorated as the day progressed.
A huge Atlantic Ocean storm with the ferocity of a hurricane and the power of a winter northeaster pounded the Vineyard this week, raging across barrier beaches and sandy Island perimeter with flood tides not seen since the double hurricanes of 1954.
On Wednesday ferry service to the Vineyard was suspended and the Vineyard was lashed by high winds and angry seas, which rose up and flooded the main areas of the down-Island towns with two or three feet of salt water.
On Oct. 19, 1991, 11 days before a piece of “the perfect storm” hit Martha’s Vineyard, three people left the Menemsha harbor on their way to the Bermuda. Nine days later, 100 miles from their destination, the three abandoned their sinking sailboat and all of their belongings to climb aboard a mammoth British container vessel that hours before had picked up their faint mayday call.
The slow-moving post-tropical storm was well south of Nantucket Tuesday after lashing the Vineyard with wind and rain on Labor Day. Ferries are operating again, but rough surf is expected through mid-week.
With active hurricane season underway, Martha's Vineyard emergency managers are keeping a close watch on forecasts. And with no major hurricanes since Bob 25 years ago, the Vineyard is overdue for another.
