The ''Island Home'' was a

sidewheel steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses we ...

operating as a

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

serving the islands of

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...

and

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Nantucket ferry service

''Island Home'' was built in 1855 in Greenpoint, New York.Ship and Yacht Register Search
Its machinery was manufactured at the Morgan Iron Works in New York. Leonard Merritt, superintending engineer of the New Haven Steamboat Company, supervised the machinery construction.Turner, Harry B. ''The Story of the Island Steamers'' (The Inquirer and Mirror Press, 191

/ref> ''Island Home'' first arrived at Nantucket on September 5, 1855 under the command of Capt. Thomas Brown. It was the first purchase of the new Nantucket and Cape Cod Steamboat Co., which had been formed from the Nantucket Steamboat Co. earlier that year when the new railroad terminus wharf was built in

Hyannis, Massachusetts Hyannis is the largest of the seven villages in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area at the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer t ...

. It was 184 feet long, with a 29'8" beam and measured 536 tons. It initially sailed the waters between Hyannis and Nantucket.Vineyard Gazette Online
/ref> Capt. Brown had previously commanded the island ferry steamers ''Eagle's Wing'' and ''Massachusetts''. He was followed by Capt. Nathan Manter (1818–1897), who commanded the ''Island Home'' for thirty years. ''Island Home'' is listed in the ''American Lloyd's Register of American and Foreign Shipping'' during 1859-1863 as a 450-ton, single-decked vessel. The 1858 ''New-York Marine Register'' lists the ''Island Home'' as a 536-ton vessel. ''Island Home'' sailed the Nantucket-Hyannis route until the completion of the

Woods Hole Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at ...

branch of the

Old Colony Railroad The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, ...

in 1872; it subsequently sailed between Woods Hole and Nantucket.

Martha's Vineyard ferry service

In March 1886 the ''Island Home'' became one of the initial four steamers operating for the newly organized New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Co. (The other three were ''

River Queen ''River Queen'' is a 2005 New Zealand-British war drama film directed by Vincent Ward and starring Samantha Morton, Kiefer Sutherland, Cliff Curtis, Temuera Morrison and Stephen Rea. The film opened to mixed reviews but performed well at t ...

'', ''

'' and '' Monohansett''.)

Later service

''Island Home'' was sold by the New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Co. in 1895 or 1896 (sources vary.) Records of the ''Island Home'' resurfaced in the 1897-1900 editions of ''Record of American and Foreign Shipping'' as a 184' long, 30-ton vessel. Its owner was listed as Mt. Vernon & Marshall Hall S.B. Co., its homeport as

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

, and its master as Capt. N. H. Manter. For six years or so, ''Island Home'' operated as a work

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

for R.B. Little Co. of Providence. In 1902 it was damaged by an ice floe off New Jersey or Rhode Island (sources vary) and sank.

Reuse of name

In 2007, a new diesel-powered car ferry named started service between Martha's Vineyard and

. It was named after this 19th-century steamer.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography
Reprint of a 1906 article in the ''Vineyard Gazette''

Reprint of a 1940 article in the ''Vineyard Gazette''

Mystic Seaport - G. W. Blunt White Library - ''Ship & Yacht Register''
* Turner, Harry B. ''The Story of the Island Steamers'' (The Inquirer and Mirror Press, 191

{{DEFAULTSORT:Island Home (Steamboat) 1855 ships Paddle steamers Ferries of Massachusetts Maritime history of the United States Martha's Vineyard Ships built in Brooklyn Steamboats of Nantucket Sound Transportation in Dukes County, Massachusetts Transportation in Nantucket, Massachusetts