75 Years Ago

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of September, 1932:

“Millions viewed the eclipse.” So said the mainland newspapers, and the Vineyard added its thousands to the common mass. Plans for obtaining the best view of this unusual display in the heavens were formulated days previous in many cases, several of the larger pleasure craft of the Island ports setting sail early Wednesday morning with groups of guests on board, bound easterly where the eclipse was more nearly total.

After 27 years of building the wooden boats of other men's dreams, Nathaniel Benjamin, 60, built a boat for himself.

They christened her Charlotte under parted skies on Saturday afternoon. Hundreds of onlookers spilled onto the beach, down to the end of the dock and up to a rooftop of the boat yard. The potluck was plentiful and the beer flowed from a rowboat packed with ice. Boat launchings mean big parties at Gannon & Benjamin and this was no exception.

A rescue crew from the Menemsha Coast Guard station came to the aid of a New Bedford-based fishing vessel which was sinking to the south of the Island early Saturday morning.

The crew of the 40-foot wooden-hulled Samantha and Serena first got in touch with the Coast Guard around 3 a.m. on VHF marine radio on Channel 16, the international calling and distress channel. A crew member reported that the ship was taking on water and that the dewatering pumps had failed.

Eight-year-old Donald O’Shaughnessy of Edgartown won the 26th annual Kids’ Mini Derby on Sunday. Mr. O’Shaughnessy caught a 14 3/8 inch scup, the largest fish of the contest. It was the first time an angler had won the morning contest with a scup. The youngster caught his fish at about 7 a.m., at a time when most Island youngsters were at home asleep.

The boy was aglow at the 8:30 a.m. awards ceremony at the Oak Bluffs Steamship Authority wharf. He also received a plaque of a good looking mounted scup, made by Janet Messineo of Island Taxidermy.

Oh boy, what a derby this is.

The second week produced at least two records as eager anglers produced leader changes on a daily basis in most categories.

Discussion of the sheer number of grand slams, including flyrod grand slams and a grand slam on opening day, almost tore the attention of Chris Scott away from a school of false albacore breaking 150 yards away from the weigh-in shed on Monday morning.

Move over Cannes. Sundance, save your films for a rainy day. The second annual Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival was in town this weekend and the roster combined the best of festival award winners, local documentaries and Academy Award nominees.

“It was excellent,” co-director Navette Previd said. “The attendance was fantastic, the audiences were excited about the film selections and the parties were a smash success.”

Holly and Marty Nadler met when he hired her to write on the hit television series Laverne and Shirley in 1976. They moved full-time to the Vineyard in 1991 and broke up here; they were engaged to be divorced longer than they were engaged to be married. But they remain close friends.

Interviews by Mike Seccombe

Marty:

By JACK SHEA

“Every once in a while, you get a home run, a perfect project happens, and this is one of them,” said Willie Smith, sweeping his eyes over the Morgan Woods complex at the official ribbon-cutting on Friday.

In what promises to be an interesting and perhaps emotional doubleheader, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission on Thursday will review both a plan to expand the baseball park at Veira Park in Oak Bluffs and another to designate five ancient pathways in Edgartown into a special protection zone that might limit their use and future development.

The Vineyard football team passed its second test of the season on Saturday, defeating a dangerous opponent on the road in Carver High School by 14-0 to remain undefeated on the young season.

For the second week in a row, the Vineyarders found themselves locked in a tight battle to bitter end. After beating Old Rochester 7-0 in their home opener last week, the Vineyarders on Saturday again led only a single score going into the fourth quarter when Nick Viera scored on a 45-yard punt return to seal the win.