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.
Manuel Swartz Roberts
August 27, 2009
Mark Alan Lovewell
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.
May 21, 2009
Mark Alan Lovewell
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.
October 13, 1972
Joseph Chase Allen
The story has been told of a sculptor who was asked how he proceeded in carving the statue of an elephant.
May 2, 1969
Gilberta D. Goodwin
When in Edgartown, we invite you to take a walk along Dock street to the northern end. There beside you is a tall grey building.
March 29, 1963
Vineyard Gazette
Manuel Swartz Roberts, one of the best known and best loved figures of Martha’s Vineyard, died at 6 o’clock this morning after a prolonged period of failing health.
May 1, 1959
John M. Leavens
Note: Mr. Leavens - visited M. S. Roberts and made notes of their talk. He had intended to write this interview as an article in the third person, but Mr.
June 20, 1958
Vineyard Gazette
There hangs upon a wall at the summer home of Mr. and Mrs. C.
May 1, 1953
Joseph Chase Allen
There is a “For Sale” sign on the boat shop of Manuel S.
August 18, 1933
Vineyard Gazette
Generations have taken pride in the reputation of the Edgartown shipbuilder, master constructor of barns, barges and binnacle boxes, Manuel Swartz.
August 30, 1906
Vineyard Gazette
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.
