I understand that the "noon boat" from Vineyard Haven Mass. to Woods Hole on Monday March 5 is presently planned as the last trip for the double ended ferry M/V ISLANDER, which is being retired after almost six decades of operation with the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority. This is of course unofficial and could be subject to last minute change if operating requirements make other arrangements necessary.

This vessel was featured in THE LAST FERRY HOME and appeared in other television productions and movies during her long career with the line. Originally powered by a direct reversing Fairbanks Morse engine, she was subsequently re-engined with a pair of Fairbanks Morse OP's. In the 6 knot currents in Woods Hole she could sometimes go sideways nearly as fast as she could go forward, and had a well earned reputation for destroying ferry slips when her engines failed to reverse. In the early 1990s she was fitted with a pair of Electro-Motive Division of GM 8-645E6 marine engines with special heavy flywheels driving through quick reversing Rentjes hydraulic clutch gear boxes. These cut her full ahead to full astern time down considerably, and she has reportedly not destroyed any more slips since she went back into service with this propulsion equipment around 1994.

The ISLANDER is being replaced by the newly constructed and much larger double ended ferry ISLAND HOME, which was commissioned today.

Just an additional note here. To make the returning trip on the ISLANDER's noon run out of Vineyard Haven, the 10:45 departure from Woods Hole would be the last trip over if you are coming from the mainland side. There is one earlier round trip, leaving Woods Hole at 8:15 AM that is also listed for the ISLANDER.

News of this hit the newspapers here today. Keep in mind though that this last run has not been publicized as an official "event" by the Steamship Authority, so if there are any equipment problems a boat swap is still a possibility. However the ISLANDER runs about 99% availability so the chances of that happening are pretty low.

That's tomorrow, Monday the 5th of March, 12:00 noon departure from Vineyard Haven Mass. Probably the last trip for the ISLANDER in the service of the Steamship Authority after 56 years and 9 months operating for them.

The good old boats are dropping fast. Direct-reverse is about a thing of the past now.

Ie: Alco no more than 120 mph: I was in the cab of IC's southbound City of New Orleans once while dropping down the hill out of Effingham, Illinois, and the speed recorder was sitting at 130! That was back in the 60's and the double track was very smooth, with ATS signalling. We had high-speed rail back then, too.

The last revenue trip of the ISLANDER seemed to me to be one of those events where you end up regretting later that you did not go, especially when it is happening close to home, so when some other travel plans slipped back a day, I decided at the last minute to go. The trip only ties up an hour of your time each way.

There were a lot of people on the last trip, not a full rated capacity summertime crowd, but several hundred ISLANDER admirers all carrying cameras. There were also several managers from the Steamship Authority and a group of Massachusetts State troopers to make sure parts of the vessel did not go ashore at the end of the trip. The ISLANDER performed perfectly in 30 to 40 knot NW winds, 6 to 8 foot whitecaps, and horrible wind chill conditions (weather report this evening said -3 to -10 ashore, but the wind was higher out in Vineyard Sound) that made it very challenging for people taking pictures topside. The crossing was close to schedule, a large crowd met the vessel in Woods Hole, and suddenly it was all over. Nearly 57 years of reliable service ended with a brief spot of sunshine in subzero wind chill as she docked. Just about everybody who came across on the final ISLANDER trip then loaded on the new ferry ISLAND HOME to take part in her first trip in revenue service.

The last run of the ISLANDER was not nearly as depressing as I thought it would be, because the new ferry was always right there to remind you that the service was continuing and improving. The people who rode the last trip were clearly there to respect and salute the vessel, not to attend a funeral. You could see it was hard on the crew though, the Captain had twenty years of service on that ship.