› › Disaster Off Martha S Vineyard

Disaster Off Martha's Vineyard

Author : Thomas Dresser

Publisher : Arcadia Publishing

Page : 182 pages

File Size : 39,21 MB

Release : 2012-04-30

Category : History

ISBN : 1614234574

Get eBook

Book Description

With its rocky coast and treacherous shoals, shipwrecks were a common occurrence in nineteenth-century Massachusetts. Few claimed as many lives as the City of Columbus. The night was clear and the route familiar for Captain Schuyler Wright and his experienced crew as they sailed a ship equipped with the latest technology. Yet with all this, the City of Columbus went down with 103 souls. Over a century later, Eric Takakjian and the Quest Marine Services team located the wreckage of the City of Columbus on the north ledge of the Devil's Bridge, off the southern tip of Gay Head. Historian Thomas Dresser takes us into the icy waters of the Atlantic as he recounts the terrible chain of events that led to disaster on that fateful night.



The Sol e Mar Tragedy off Martha's Vineyard

Author : Captain W. Russell Webster USCG (Ret.)

Publisher : Arcadia Publishing

Page : 135 pages

File Size : 27,39 MB

Release : 2014-08-12

Category : History

ISBN : 1625851189

Get eBook

Book Description

On March 22, 1990, local fishermen Hokey Hokanson and his teenage son, Billy, set sail for Cape Cod in the "Sol e Mar." When disaster struck three days later, Billy transmitted a brief, heavily garbled radio distress call. A hoax call immediately followed Billy's cry for help, and believing that the two were connected, the U.S. Coast Guard did not launch rescue units for several days. The Hokansons' deaths prompted a new anti-hoax law and changed United States Coast Guard search and rescue procedures. Historian Captain W. Russ Webster, U.S. Coast Guard (Ret.), and journalist Elizabeth B. Webster chronicle the fascinating story of the "Sol e Mar" and its crew and explain the psychology of hoax callers and Coast Guard technological advancements since the tragedy.



Disaster Off Martha's Vineyard

Author : Thomas Dresser

Publisher : Disaster

Page : 0 pages

File Size : 24,37 MB

Release : 2012

Category : History

ISBN : 9781609495107

Get eBook

Book Description

With its rocky coast and treacherous shoals, shipwrecks were a common occurrence in nineteenth-century Massachusetts. Few claimed as many lives as the City of Columbus. The night was clear and the route familiar for Captain Schuyler Wright and his experienced crew as they sailed a ship equipped with the latest technology. Yet with all this, the City of Columbus went down with 103 souls. Over a century later, Eric Takakjian and the Quest Marine Services team located the wreckage of the City of Columbus on the north ledge of the Devil's Bridge, off the southern tip of Gay Head. Historian Thomas Dresser takes us into the icy waters of the Atlantic as he recounts the terrible chain of events that led to disaster on that fateful night.



Hidden History of Martha's Vineyard

Author : Thomas Dresser

Publisher : Arcadia Publishing

Page : 144 pages

File Size : 10,12 MB

Release : 2017-04-17

Category : History

ISBN : 143966028X

Get eBook

Book Description

Celebrated local historian Thomas Dresser unearths the little-known stories that laid the foundations for the community of Martha's Vineyard. Behind the mansions and presidential vacations of Martha's Vineyard hide the lost stories and forgotten events of small-town America. What was the island's role in the Underground Railroad? Why do chickens festoon Nancy Luce's grave? And how did the people of the Vineyard react in 1923 when the rum running ship John Dwight sank with the island's supply of liquor aboard? Delve deep below the surface of history to discover the origin and meaning of local place names and the significance of beloved landmarks.



Whaling on Martha's Vineyard

Author : Thomas Dresser

Publisher : Arcadia Publishing

Page : 176 pages

File Size : 24,95 MB

Release : 2018

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 1625859031

Get eBook

Book Description

Martha's Vineyard became an integral part of the whaling industry at the beginning of the eighteenth century and inspired a lasting romantic enthusiasm for life on the open ocean. From shorewhaling to daring voyages into the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans, the insular whaling community offered a tempting path for many young Vineyarders to rise from cabin boy to captain. Local businesses were enticed by the potential profit from whaling voyages, and many reaped generous rewards from successful whale oil harvests. Through memoirs, music and memorabilia, author Thomas Dresser recounts this dramatic history of the bygone era of whaling on Martha's Vineyard.



Disaster on Devil's Bridge

Author : George A. Hough

Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield

Page : 138 pages

File Size : 33,39 MB

Release : 2018-05-09

Category : History

ISBN : 1493033239

Get eBook

Book Description

The complete story of the tragic loss of the passenger steamer City of Columbus. In the early hours of January 18th, 1884, the majestic steamship ran aground on the treacherous Devil’s Bridge rocks and reef off the Gay Head Cliffs in Aquinnah, Massachusetts near Martha’s Vineyard. Of the 45 officers and 87 passengers, only 17 crew and 12 passengers made it back to land, making this shipwreck one of the worst ocean disasters of all time. Reporter George Hough spent years following this story, tracking down survivors and witnesses to piece together the horrific details and tragic mistakes to uncover the mystery of the disaster on Devil’s Bridge.



Women of Martha's Vineyard

Author : Thomas Dresser

Publisher : Arcadia Publishing

Page : 196 pages

File Size : 49,45 MB

Release : 2016-05-18

Category : History

ISBN : 1614239304

Get eBook

Book Description

Generations of women have traveled to Martha's Vineyard to find solace in its calming waves and varied shoreline. Many prominent and capable women set down roots, contributing to the fabric of the community on the island. Learn of the brilliant poet Nancy Luce, who lived in isolation with her chickens. Emily Post, whose name is synonymous with good manners, sought respite from her personal struggles on the Vineyard. Famed horticulturalist Polly Hill left a perennial legacy for islanders with her tranquil arboretum. In the twentieth century, novelist Dorothy West captured the beauty of Martha's Vineyard with her work. Historian Thomas Dresser provides a series of biographical sketches of these extraordinary women who were bound by their love of the island.



Rise of Tourism on Martha's Vineyard, The

Author : Thomas Dresser; Foreword by Nancy Gardella, Director of the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce

Publisher : Arcadia Publishing

Page : 160 pages

File Size : 18,98 MB

Release : 2020

Category : History

ISBN : 1467143375

Get eBook

Book Description

Now known as a resort community and vacation destination, Martha's Vineyard was once a simple fishing and whaling community. From the popularity of the Methodist Campground, founded in 1835, the Vineyard soon blossomed into a summer vacation mecca, welcoming visitors to its quaint villages and scenic seashores. As whaling lost its economic dominance, tourism became the catalyst for a revived prosperity on the Vineyard. President Grant's visit to the Vineyard in 1874 drew national attention and marked the beginning of several presidential visits to the island. By 1900, Oak Bluffs had developed an amusement park atmosphere with the iconic Flying Horses, toboggan slide and grand seaside hotels. Join local historian Tom Dresser as he reveals the island's transformation into a premier tourist destination.



Mystery on the Vineyard

Author : Tom Dresser

Publisher : True Crime

Page : 0 pages

File Size : 21,40 MB

Release : 2008

Category : History

ISBN : 9781596294233

Get eBook

Book Description

In the pre, World War II innocence of small-town America, a dapper off-Islander impresses the locals. Drawn to the prettiest girl, he is upset when an elderly woman tries to break off their romance. In a drunken stupor he murders the troublesome woman. Through an amazing confluence of circumstances, he avoids prosecution. The reclusive, paranoid teacher of the victim attracts the attention of a distracted district attorney who is eager for a sensational trial to promote himself in an impending election. The teacher is arrested and charged with the murder. The looming shadows of war on the international stage capture the people of Martha's Vineyard, and the local murder fades into the murky memoirs of history.



Bloodroot

Author : Cynthia Riggs

Publisher : Macmillan

Page : 305 pages

File Size : 35,83 MB

Release : 2016-05-03

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1250058686

Get eBook

Book Description

It's just another day at the dentist's office for Victoria Trumbull when fellow patient, wealthy Mrs. Wilmington, dies. It's an unfortunate, though seemingly not murderous incident, but the receptionist is hysterical, so one of the dental assistants offers to drive her home. But after making a quick pit stop, he finds her body floating in the harbor. With the police shorthanded due to an upcoming presidential visit, it's up to Victoria to take on the case. As she wrestles with her ex-son-in-law, a $3 million will, and a deadly dental clinic, Mrs. Trumbull discovers that nothing in the case is quite what it seems. Bloodroot is the latest in Cynthia Riggs' longstanding Martha's Vineyard mystery series, filled with delightful characters and charming descriptions of the beautiful island.