Generations have taken pride in the reputation of the Edgartown shipbuilder, master constructor of barns, barges and binnacle boxes, Manuel Swartz. Known in every civilized country of the globe for the skill with which he constructs caskets, catboats and checkerboards, he might easily have won a place for himself in world history but for the deteriorating effects of modern milk-and-water mildness inspired by unhampered pacifism.
Manuel Swartz, the boat builder, has moved into new and enlarged quarters - the front end of what was formerly the Norton Bros. mill building. Mr. Swartz has much improved the building and will be better prepared than ever before to cater to his patrons.
On a recent weekend we got a chance to sail away for a few days, leave Martha’s Vineyard and its drama (an approaching Presidential visit and the August summer in full swing) behind.
Nantucket Sound is a wonderful place to get away. You’re never away from the sight of land. Sailing across the 650 square mile inland sea is like being in the ocean without the huge rollers that can be experienced only a few miles away.
A boat has a life of its own. This is the story of one boat whose lineage goes back through Vineyard history; one boat who gracefully carried a Vineyard family as it grew up; one boat that I, a sailor and waterfront reporter, had watched in wonder as she sailed these waters, until she ended up in a field collecting lichens, aging as a home for hornets’ nests.
Then she came to me. This is the story, too, of getting her back into the water, and how the sailors who are the fabric of this community helped me to return this personality to the harbor.
A historic catboat named Edwina B. is the most recent acquisition of the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust. The 22-foot wooden boat, built by Manuel Swartz Roberts in Edgartown in 1931, is possibly the last of three catboats he built still in the water.
The nearly 80-year-old boat has had a circuitous life with different names and different ports of call. She has been part of the Edgartown waterfront for at least the past 20 years. The former owners see the boat’s journey bringing her to Edgartown to stay.
The 21-foot wooden catboat Vanity has been crisscrossing the Edgartown Harbor in the last several weeks, the start of what will be a busy summer. Vanity is one of the most storied catboats on the Atlantic seaboard, and one of the last of the working wooden catboats to have survived changing times.
And she was built in Edgartown.
At 81, Vanity is a living story of the region’s connection to fishing and maritime commerce.
