Photo credit:
Not Available,
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NOBSKA (steamship)
Inventory No.:
B-3724
Date Listed:
5/2/1974
Location:
Baltimore, Baltimore City
Category:
Object
Period/Date of Construction:
1925
Architect/Builder:
Designer: Alfred F. Haas and Warren T. Berry
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Description:
The Steamship Nobska, built c. 1925, was 210’ in length, 50’ in width, and had a maximum draft foreward of 11’. Her hull was white with black trim and was gray below the guard rail, with a red water line. The canvas covered decks were gray and the stack was buff. The hull, of the sponson design (wider at the guard than at the water line), had riveted steel plates. While her freight deck was metal, her saloon and hurricane decks were made of wood. The pilot house, also of wood construction, housed her original 4’ wooden spoked helm, chain operated engine telegraph, and magnetic compass. Brass voice tubes led to the engine room and freight deck. The single stack (funnel), amidships where the steam whistle was mounted, was flanked by four hand operated air vents used to cool the engine room area. She had two builder’s plates, one on top of the after capstan and one forward on the deck house. "N.E.S. Co.", the abbreviation for the New England Steamship Co. (her original owner) still remained on the threshold of the ladies’ restroom in 1974. Five of eleven staterooms remained. While the original fabric of the vessel was intact, she had undergone many alterations. In 1947 several staterooms and the men’s smoking room were removed to enlarge the freight deck. In 1950 the pilot house was reconstructed and enlarged. In 1971 four more staterooms were removed. Nevertheless, she retained more than 80% of her original elements. In the 1980s the vessel was gutted, leaving only the engine, which was dutifully cared for by the Friends of the Nobska. In 1988 the ship left Baltimore and returned to New England. The Friends of the Nobska removed the engine and attempted for years to acquire finances to perform basic maintenance. The vessel was finally scrapped in June of 2006 at the old Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston.
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Significance:
The Steamship Nobska served Nantucket longer than any other steamer in Island history. A bearer of nostalgia, familiarity, and welcome, she is firmly entrenched as a part of the local scene and color. She was also the only undieselized triple expansion steam vessel on the East coast. When listed in 1974, she retained both her architectural integrity and her original engineering. The steamship was designed by Alfred F. Haas and Warren T. Berry. Overseer was J. Howland Gardner who had designed the Commonwealth, last and largest of the Fall River liners. The vessel and engine were built at Bath Ironworks Ltd. of Bath, Maine and the boat was launched March 24, 1925. While serving as an Island steamer, the Nobska was one of dozens of vessels owned and operated by the New England Steamship Co., a subsidiary of the New Haven Railroad conglomerate of Charles Mellen and J.P. Morgan. The ship represented the last vestige of that empire, the one exception being the Martha’s Vineyard, who was dieselized in 1960 and is in comparatively poor condition. The Nobska made her last official trip from Nantucket to Woods Hole in 1973.
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