Uncatena (steamboat)

Uncatena was a sidewheel steamer operating as a ferry serving the island of Martha's Vineyard during the beginning of the twentieth century.

Uncatena
Sidewheeler ferry Uncatena at Union Wharf in Vineyard Haven, MA before 1908.
History
NamesakeUncatena Island
OperatorNew Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Co.
Launched1902
Out of service1928
General characteristics
Tonnage652 tons
Length187 ft (57 m)
Beam31 ft (9.4 m)
Speed15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Sidewheeler ferry Uncatena at Union Wharf in Vineyard Haven, MA before 1915.

Uncatena was built in Wilmington, DE in 1902, and named after Uncatena Island, one of the Elizabeth Islands. She was 652 tons.[1] She started service immediately to Martha's Vineyard for the New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Co.[2] Uncatena was the first steamer built with a steel hull to serve the island[3] and the first with a propeller.[4] The paddles were housed in the superstructure, and an outline of the paddlebox appeared on its sides.[3]

The Vineyard Gazette wrote in June 1961:

The Uncatena, built in 1902, was 187 feet long, and had a 31-foot beam. An innovation in her construction was the placing of her shaft low enough so that passengers, boarding the boat by way of the freight deck as was often necessary, walked over it on an incline. On the older boats they had to duck their heads and pass under the shaft. She had a guaranteed speed of 15 miles an hour, and she often showed her heels to other boats of the line. The Uncatena was the only sidewheeler of the Island line to have a poem, written to her and about her by the Pulitzer Prize poet, Robert Hillyer, in 1948. The title of this nostalgic poem was In Memoriam Sidewheeler Uncatena, and it was aboard the Uncatena that Mr. Hillyer, lifelong lover of the Island, first came to the Vineyard in the early years of this century.[3][5]

Capt. Marshall (evidently Francis J. Marshall (1857–1933) of Edgartown[6]) and Capt. Sylvia were both masters of Uncatena.[7]

Uncatena was retired from service in 1928, after 26 years of operation.[8]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Uncatena (ship, 1902).
  1. Banks, Charles E. (1911). The History of Martha's Vineyard, Mass. Vol. I. Dukes County Historical Society. p. 459.
  2. "Title unknown". Vineyard Gazette.
  3. "Title unknown". Vineyard Gazette. Archived from the original on November 15, 2006.
  4. "Title unknown". Vineyard Gazette. Archived from the original on November 15, 2006.
  5. Hillyer, Robert. "In Memoriam: Sidewheeler Uncatena" (PDF). Woods Hole Museum. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  6. "Notes on the Portuguese Marshall Families of Martha's Vineyard, Mass".
  7. "Title unknown". Vineyard Gazette. Archived from the original on November 15, 2006.
  8. "Title unknown". The Dukes County Intelligencer. Vol. 24, no. 4. May 1983.
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