Historic Nantucket, April 1977, Vol. 2 No. 4

T h e Ordeal of the "Island Home A Night "Under" Tuckernuck SHORTLY AFTER 1:30 in the afternoon on February 4th, 1882, a northeast gale developed which, as the day wore on, became one of the worst storms for many years. From early morning the sky threatened snow and at this hour it began to fall, and as the wind increased, the snowfall had become a veritable blizzard. As night advanced the storm grew in its intensity. At 5:00 that afternoon the streets were filled with huge drifts and buildings were covered, with many shaking at the fury of the gale.

When the time for the boat's a rival that afternoon had come and gone, and no sign of the steamer Island Home could have possibly been discerned, it was believed that Captain Nathan Manter, her commander, had not left Woods Hole for the passage across the Sound. But there were others, more experienced in sea matters, who felt that, as the storm had not developed until long after the steamer's regular hour of departure, the Island Home had been caught by the unexpected swiftness of the storm's fury.

The gale continued during the night, and although the snowfall gradually ceased, the wind continued at full force. At daybreak anxious watchers climbed the old South Tower stairs to gain the lookout and train their spyglasses out to the reaches of the Sound. At 10:00 o'clock on that Sunday morning the watchmen in the Tower sighted the steamer broadside on, sweeping toward the breaking seas on Nantucket Bar. The present jetties had not been constructed at that time, and the long shoal or bar across the harbor mouth presented a wild scene.

Word went quickly through the town, and one of the Humane Society surfboats was taken down to Beachside, where Capt. John M. Winslow and his boat-crew waited. Before the boat could be launched a gust of wind lifted it from the cart and only quick action saved it from a jolting fall. But before the boat was shoved into the water the men noted that the steamer was still under its own power-that Captain Manter was carefully backing and filling, using his paddle wheels, so that he was being carried over the bar broadside on.

The seamanship of Captain Manter was never more evident. Unable to get the Island Home around to mind her helm, with the wind force out of the northeast, he came along the channel from the Bar toward Brant