Annual Meeting

20 HISTORIC NANTUCKET That ageing mother, and those loves at home, Bribe thee to spare? Couldst not have slowed thy surging tide, And stilled thy roaring crests, thy choking foam? Again, Alas! Ere light, came death. Hoarse voices prayed, "Oh, God. Send comfort to my wife, my child." A fiercer wave, a smitten mast, then bubbling breath. Their forms sink low — their souls uprise beyond all waters wild.

Sleep, loved ones, sleep. — As well beneath The flowerets of the sea. As others where the daisies bloom and nod, Our earthly love shall still go out to thee. And reach thee through the smile and grace of God. A. L. Matheson

The E l i z a was out of Beverly, Mass., and was on her second fishing trip of the spring. She was owned by Captain Martin Hopkins and one other resident of Beverly, and had a crew of Nova Scotia fishermen. The three survivors were: Guilford Doane, (a brother-in-law of Captain Hopkins), George Miller and Adelbert Nickerson. Those who perished were: Seth Hopkins, Emerson Hopkins, Herbert Smith, Kinman Smith, Moses Bethel, John Smith, Lin Smith, cook, and John and James Matheson, brothers.

The 'Sconset fishermen who helped the survivors were Asa Meiggs, Horace C. Orpin, William Sandsbury, Jesse H. Eldredge, John P. Taber, Nelson Dunham and Arthur C. Manter.

The A N N U A L M E E T I N G of the Nantucket Historical Association will be held at four o'clock on Tuesday, July 19, 1983, at the Friends Meeting House on Fair Street.

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On May 4, 1933 — fifty years ago — the lighthouse at Sankaty Head was first lighted by electricity. When the Fresnel lens was installed in 1850, the lighting was by sperm oil, in a large lamp with three wicks. This was succeeded in the early 1890's by a more brilliant flame made possible with the introduction of a kerosene vapor lamp. The electricity of 1933 enabled the flash to be seen as much as 45 miles at sea. In 1968 a new lens assembly replaced the fine old Fresnel lens.