Simply (Or, Not Simply) Messing About In Boats

Jascin n. Leonardo Finger • August 17, 2015

In the Mitchell family’s time, Vestal Street was not a quiet place. A cooperage, a boat building shop, and the gaol (jail) were all located on what was originally referred to as Prison Lane. Around the corner on the corner of Main and Milk Streets was the Town building where at one time William Mitchell taught before he started his own private school. Add to that background noise – albeit no modern machinery so it was more pleasant – the likelihood of carts going up and down the street for these two shops with supplies and carting away their products, people walking by, other animals roaming free, and a person’s calash (cart) or even a horse – though in Town walking pretty much ruled.

The boatshop certainly interests me – as do all the other activities of course. The boatshop was located on the corner of Vestal and Bloom Streets. Boats were a bit of my world growing up. I spent a LOT of time on the ferry. And then, my Nana loved boats. She didn’t care if it was the Uncatena or a sport fishing boat, she just wanted to be on the water. I believe she went sport-fishing not to fish, but for the boat ride! She used to take us out on harbor cruises too – I remember being seasick quite often because she didn’t care what the weather was – she never got seasick, except once. Then there is me; no matter how long I have been on boats (since I was a year old basically), I get seasick in choppy seas and of course rough seas. Marrying a US Coast Guard officer did not change that – he can eat a bowl of chili and drink a cup of coffee in high seas (I’m talking 30 feet!). Ugh.


My world of boats expanded with my husband, Eric. He maintains and repairs quite a few sailboats – and a few power boats – here on the island. His focus has been mainly on wooden boats but he will do fiberglass as well. With a degree in naval architecture, he also designs and builds boats but he has never had the time to focus on building. Thanks to an expanded crew at his boatshop, they are starting to finally build – though his own designs remain on the computer for now. Nantucket once had a myriad of small boat shops – even building whaleships at Brant Point. Since the first half of the twentieth century, building has slowly begun to fade away on Nantucket. There are still a few people building and I am happy to say Eric is helping to grow that number with this venture.


They have started with a wooden boat that is excellent for the waters around Nantucket – a Haven 12 ½. 12 ½s were originally designed by Nathanael Herreshoff – the “Wizard of Bristol” – who is also the original designer of the Alerion which now graces Nantucket’s waters and my husband repairs and maintains. Herreshoff’s 12 ½ was a full keel boat which is not good for shallow waters. The Haven 12 ½ was designed by Joel White, a naval architect and boat builder from Maine who was also the son of author, E. B. White – yes, THAT E. B. White. The Haven is a centerboard boat – meaning it is good for shallow waters because it does not have a full keel – the centerboard acts as the deeper full keel would but can be raised and lowered at will by the sailor to keep the boat safe from running aground in shallow waters.


Eric and his crew are currently lofting the boat. After building a platform, they began the painstaking process of drawing out the lines plans of the boat on the platform – basically drawing the designer’s plan to full scale on a 16’ by 20’ wood platform. Once they have the pattern all drawn out they can then begin the process of making molds for the frames which you see here in this image.

 

What, do you say, does this have to do with Maria? Well, it’s a little piece of what she would have seen more regularly as boatshops popped up even in backyards as boat builders built whaleboats and dories and then other small craft for fishing to fill the need. She would have been able to see the whaleships being built at Brant Point and she and her father, William, certainly had a hand in whaling – William rated the chronometers for all the whaleships homeported on Nantucket (roughly ninety) and thus likely rated every chronometer on Nantucket – and those of visiting ships as well. When she was 14, Maria started that same task on her own. And, her brother, Andrew, ran away to see as a young teenager and would later serve on a ship during the Civil War. Boatbuilding is one of the oldest trades in the world and there are some on island who continue to ply this trade. It reminds one of the past. Stay tuned – I will keep you up to date from time-to-time on the building.


JNLF

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By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger August 4, 2025
With the help of Edward Pickering from Harvard, the MMA was able to develop a research program and realized that a photographic telescope would be necessary. Funds were raised and by November 1913, a 7.5-inch photographic telescope was installed. Using Maria Mitchell’s 5-inch Alvan Clark telescope as a guide for the larger photographic telescope, the photographic telescope had a lens from Thomas Cooke and Sons of York, England and a cast-iron pier, mount, and clockwork by Alvan Clark & Sons in Cambridge, MA. The pier, mount, and clockwork are still present in the MMO – the pier and mount still utilized but by a 17-inch research telescope purchased with a grant from the National Science Foundation. The glass plates taken of the night sky at the MMO total more than 8,000 and they are still utilized for research. They capture a moment in the night sky that can never be captured again – just like a regular photograph. In order to capture the image of the night sky, exposures could last for as long as three hours or more. Glass plates were heavily used for researching variable stars. They also afforded opportunities for new discoveries that could go unnoticed when one looked through a telescope by eye. Glass plates are gelatin-coated dry plate negatives that first came into use in the 1870s. They were utilized well into the late twentieth century particularly because they did not shrink or deform like plastic film. At the MMA, we continued to take glass plates of the night sky until 1995 when we had the opportunity and funding to update to a CCD camera – charge-coupled devices. While the CCDs provided many improvements, they still did not have the detecting area and resolution of glass plates. Technology continues to evolve, and the MMA with it, as we work with new methods to capture the night sky photographically. JNLF
August 1, 2025
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.” -Edith Andrews
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NANTUCKET, MA— Please join us in person at the Maria Mitchell Association’s Research Center, 2 Vestal Street, or online via Zoom, on Wednesday, August 6, 5pm – 7pm, for a very special presentation of this summer’s astronomy research. The MMA’s National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) 2025 interns will present their research on everything from glowing supernovae and mysterious variable stars to ways dust affects the light we see. The MMA’s Maria Mitchell Observatory operates the NSF-REU program each summer and has done so for decades. The program, funded by a generous grant from the National Science Foundation, allows the MMA to bring six top undergraduate students to the MMA each summer who are selected out of a pool of over 250 applicants from around the United States. The NSF-REU interns come to Nantucket for ten to twelve weeks during the summer to participate in astrophysics research projects. While on Nantucket, the NSF-REU interns also participate in the outreach efforts of the Astronomy Department, primarily by hosting public Open Nights at the Loines Observatory. This summer’s five NSF-REU interns and their research presentations are: Madison Gerard (University of Texas at Austin): How Low Can You Glow? Analyzing the Low-Luminosity SN IIP 2024abfl Kaylee Perez (Texas State University): How Dust Changes the Light We See: Exploring the Link Between Dust Extinction and Attenuation with Simulated Data Lauren Barkey (California Poly Pomona): Peek-a-Boo!: Exploring the NEOWISE Lightcurves of R Coronae Borealis Variable Stars Aiden Agostinelli (University of Montana) & Ben Radmore (University of Michigan): When the Dust Settles: Late-Time Infrared Imaging of SN 2011ja This event is free to the public. This presentation is offered both in person and online via Zoom. Pre-registration is required. Register for in person here : https://112458a.blackbaudhosting.com/112458a/Science-Speaker-Series---MMA-x-NSF-REU-Interns-A Register for Zoom here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_U5mGYBdESzKI8z_HX835eA The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA), founded in 1902, is a recognized leader in inspiring and training the next generation of astronomers and scientists. Since the Astronomy Department’s inception, hundreds of undergraduate students, the great majority of them women, have discovered the joy of doing astronomical research surrounded by the natural beauty and dark skies of Nantucket Island. Many have gone on to successful careers as astronomers at leading universities, observatories, and other organizations. In fact, it is estimated that one of every twenty American women PhDs in astronomy today acquired their first research experience at the MMA’s Maria Mitchell Observatory. The organization’s success in STEM education was recognized in 2009 with the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Obama for its half-century long program of mentoring student research in astronomy. Over the years, several MMA NSF-REU interns have won the prestigious Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award, including in each of the past five American Astronomical Society winter meetings, a testament to the quality of the MMA’s astronomy internship program. Approximately 90% of MMA astronomy interns have gone on to astrophysics Ph.D. programs. The Maria Mitchell Association was founded in 1902 to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. After she discovered a comet in 1847, Mitchell’s international fame led to many achievements and awards, including an appointment as the first female professor of astronomy at Vassar College. Maria Mitchell believed in “learning by doing” and today that philosophy is reflected in the MMA’s mission statement, programs, research projects, and other activities. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages. ###
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