Copy
Maritime Updates from Nantucket                                                                         
View this email in your browser

September 4, 2007: Egan Maritime's leaders and supporters gather at the then Nantucket Life Saving Museum to break ground for a renovation and expansion project. Following a $3-million Capital Campaign, the museum reopened as the Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum in July 2008.


Innovative Pathways
Nantucket Public Schools in the running for transformational grant.

Egan Maritime Institute has paired up with Nantucket Public Schools to bring a new grant-funded program to island students: Early College and Innovative Pathway program. Currently, the Nantucket Public School (NPS) has passed through the first round of grant application process with an award of $10,000 and an invitation to launch the program. Following its launch, NPS will complete the second application process in hopes of being awarded a $140,000 grant to support the program moving forward.This grant will give high school students the opportunity to learn more about the maritime and healthcare industries, both of which are vital to Nantucket's community, and the many career paths that sustain them.

Speaking with Sea of Opportunities eighth grade Maritime/Oceanography Studies teacher, Amanda Knight Bardsley, Ph.d., she noted, "This grant program will provide Nantucket students the opportunity to learn about maritime and healthcare careers through the partnerships developed within the grant between the Nantucket Public Schools, Egan Maritime, Nantucket Cottage Hospital, and UMASS Field Station. Our goal is to help students develop a career path, and to give them a jump start with relevant internships, certifications, and coursework. The program is appropriate for students who know they want to go to college, but also those who are trying to figure out their plans following graduation from Nantucket High School. Many students who would be the first in their family to attend college often have difficulty envisioning themselves as college students. This program will help assist and direct them as to which path is the most appropriate and educate them as to the choices available.  The Innovation Pathways grant not only gives students an opportunity to try out the college experience in an environment that comes with support and guidance, but also provides the opportunity for them to obtain hands-on experiences and credentials through internships."

Massachusettes's Governor, Charlie Baker said, "The Commonwealth's Early College and Innovative Pathway program plays an important role in encouraging many young people to pursue higher education, while exposing them to high-demand career opportunities."

On Thursday, April 26 the Nantucket Public School's eighth grade students enjoyed a day-long field trip to explore and experience the maritime businesses and services that have volunteered to be part of the Early College and Innovative Pathway program. Students toured Madaket Marine, Coast Guard Station Brant Point, the Shellfish Hatchery, and Community Sailing's boat maintenance facility to learn more about their work as well as internship opportunities available to them at the sites. Additionally, the students enjoyed meeting with representatives from Northeast Maritime at the Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum to hear about the college courses offered in the program, and also with Nantucket Harbor Master, Sheila Lucey, at the Town Pier and administrative offices on Washington Street.

November 2009: Maurice Gibbs, President Emeritus of the Museum; Ingrid Francis; Philip W. Read,
then President of the Museum; Robbie Francis; and Jean Grimmer, then Executive Director of
Egan Maritime Institute, at the Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum.

Looking Back
2009: Island family donates medal to tell heroic Nantucket story.

During the disastrous Great Gale of 1879 and fighting storm, darkness, hunger, discomfort, and fatigue, Captain Thomas F. Sandsbury and his lifesaving crew faced multiple wrecked ships off Nantucket’s western shore and performed a thirty-two hour rescue. Capt. Sandsbury knew each wrecked ship had a crew and/or passengers aboard in peril. Unable to attend to all ships at once, he ordered his men to the most alarming wrecks first. After rescuing souls from both the J. W. Hall and the Emma G. Edwards off Tuckernuck, Sandsbury realized the loaded lifeboat would be unable to make headway to Tuckernuck—the closest shore location. Though a difficult order to make, he instructed the lifesaving crew to row to town and the safety of Nantucket’s harbor—eleven miles away. After arriving safely, Capt. Sandsbury and crew went out to Madaket to launch another lifeboat to attempt more rescues from the ships they had been unable to attend to previously. As day broke, they reached the schooner Emma and performed their final rescue.



The youngest member of Captain Sandsbury’s crew was 19 year old Marcus W. Dunham, but let it be clear this was not Dunham’s first rescue. Indeed, at the age of 19 he was already a skilled lifesaver with a stockpile of rescue stories and dangerous dramas to tell. Dunham received his first lifesaving award from the Humane Society in 1876, when he was only 17 years old. Two years later in 1878 he received his second. His exhausting efforts under the leadership of Capt. Sandsbury to rescue crews from three vessels caught in the roaring Great Gale of 1879 earned Dunham his third award.

Marcus W. Dunham's Congressional Silver Medal on display at the Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum.
 
In 2009 Ingrid Francis and her son, Robbie Francis, gifted Dunham’s Congressional silver medal from the Humane Society for his Great Gale rescue to Egan Maritime’s Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum. It is a vital part of the museum’s permanent collection and a relic of rescue and valor for Nantucket.  Nearly a decade later, the generosity of the Francis family continues to inspire Museum visitors by sharing Dunham’s courage, bravery and the somber stories of his rescues.

The Great Gale of 1879 was a horrific event. Many lives were lost. Some lives were saved. Dunham’s medal is a reminder to all who visit the museum that the unified efforts of few can save the lives of many—a wonderful testimony to the character of Nantucket.


Two Ships, Fourteen Students
Egan Maritime gears up for Tall Ship excursion sails in June.

In partnership with the Tall Ship Lynx, operated by The Lynx Education Fund, and the Tall Ship Fritha, owned and operated by Northeast Maritime Institute, this coming June, Egan Maritime will send fourteen local students aboard the ships to experience life at sea and learn the ropes. Launched in 2014, the Student Mariner Summer Sails have become an integral part of the Sea of Opportunities maritime education program.

This spring, Egan opened the application process to eighth grade students at all island private and public schools for a three-day sail aboard Lynx. Nantucket High School students applied for a seven-day sail aboard Fritha. Egan's Manager of Maritime Education, Evan Schwanfelder, is busy preparing for the sails; he noted, "We're excited to offer this unique sailing experience to Nantucket's students again. We hope 2018's Student Mariners embrace the challenges that come with their time aboard the ships. This is a time for them to grow, embrace discomfort, cultivate confidence, and forge new friendships, while sailing and discovering the many opportunities available to them in the maritime world."



The application deadline for the 2018 sails was Friday, April 27. In the coming week, students will be chosen for the sails. The first middle school sail aboard Lynx departs on June 8, with the second departing on June 15. The high school sail aboard Fritha will leave Nantucket on June 22. We look forward to updating you with stories and photos following their return.
 
Nantucket High School students have the opportunity to sail aboard Fritha in June.
Stories from Island Shores
The wreck of the Oregon, August 1885

At midnight on August 25, 1885, the schooner Oregon struck Great Point Rip and soon thereafter, ran ashore near Wauwinet. A portion of her cargo--granite paving stones originally destined for New Bedford--became, instead, part of the curbing on Gay Street, located in Nantucket's historic downtown. Some of the timbers from the wrecked schooner were recovered and used in the building of one of the summer cottages in Wauwinet.
 

Wreck of the Oregon. Photos courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association.


Who's who?
Remembering those who broke ground at the Museum in September 2007 and their roles.

1. Jeremy Slavitz, Museum Curator; 2. Donald B. Shackelford, Egan Maritime Trustee and Chair of the Capital Campaign for the Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum; 3. Eric S. Holch, Egan Maritime Trustee and Chair of the Museum Building Committee; 4. Philip W. Read, President of Nantucket Lifesaving Museum and Vice President of Egan Maritime; 5. Peter Nash, Museum Board of Advisors; 6. Marlin Miller, Jr., Egan Maritime Trustee; 7. Jean Grimmer, Egan Maritime Executive Director; 8. Paul J. Crowley, Egan Maritime Trustee; 9. Robert M. Rosenthal, Egan Maritime Trustee; 10. Ruth Chapel Grieder+, Museum Board of Advisors; 11. BMC Terrill J. Malvesti, USCG Station Brant Point, Museum Board of Advisors; 12. James E. Grieder, Museum Board of Advisors.
Become A Member! Renew!
Make a Splash! DONATE NOW

Copyright © 2018 Egan Maritime Institute, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
Egan Maritime Institute
P.O. Box 2923
Nantucket, MA 02584

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list