Sankaty

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title: "Sankaty" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ferries-of-massachusetts", "maritime-history-of-the-united-states", "martha's-vineyard", "ferries-of-prince-edward-island", "ferries-of-nova-scotia", "auxiliary-ships-of-the-royal-canadian-navy", "shipwrecks-of-the-nova-scotia-coast", "1911-ships", "maritime-incidents-in-1964", "transportation-in-dukes-county,-massachusetts", "transportation-in-nantucket,-massachusetts", "transport-in-kings-county,-prince-edward-island", "ships-built-in-quincy,-massachusetts"] description: "Historic ferry operated on many important routes" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankaty" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Historic ferry operated on many important routes ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox ship"]

Field	Value
display_title	ital
section1	{{Infobox ship/image
image	Hsl-pc-ob-Steamer Sankaty.jpg
image_caption	Postcard image of the steamer Sankaty off of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts.
section2	{{Infobox ship/career
name	* Sankaty (1911–1947)
owner	* New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket Steamboat Company (1911–1924)
registry	* USA New Bedford, Massachusetts (1911–1925)
builder	Fore River Works, Quincy
yard_number	192
launched	February 2, 1911
completed	April 1911
out_of_service	1964
fate	Sunk in 1964
section3	{{Infobox ship/career
hide_header	title
flag
country	Canada
name	Sankaty
acquired	1940
commissioned	September 24, 1940
decommissioned	August 18, 1945
fate	Returned to commercial service 1945
section4	{{Infobox ship/characteristics
header_caption	as built
tonnage
length	195 ft
beam	* 32 ft (at waterline)
* {{convert	36
draught	9.6 ft
depth	13 ft
power	Triple expansion engine
propulsion	2 propellers
speed	16 mph
::

|display_title=ital |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=Hsl-pc-ob-Steamer Sankaty.jpg |image_caption=Postcard image of the steamer Sankaty off of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts.

|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |name=* Sankaty (1911–1947)

• Charles A. Dunning (1947–1964) |namesake= |owner=* New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket Steamboat Company (1911–1924)
• New England Steamship Company (1924–1925)
• Snow Marine Company (1925–1931)
• Stamford-Oyster Bay Ferries Corporation (1931–1940)
• Northumberland Ferries (1947–1964) |operator= |registry= * USA New Bedford, Massachusetts (1911–1925)
• USA Rockland, Maine (1925–1931)
• USA Bridgeport, Connecticut (1931–1940)
• Canada Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (1947–1964) |route= |ordered= |builder= Fore River Works, Quincy |original_cost= |yard_number=192 |way_number= |laid_down= |launched=February 2, 1911 |completed=April 1911 |christened= |acquired= |maiden_voyage= |in_service= |out_of_service=1964 |struck= |identification= |fate=Sunk in 1964 |notes=

|section3={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header=title |flag= |country=Canada |name=Sankaty |acquired=1940 |commissioned=September 24, 1940 |decommissioned= August 18, 1945 |identification= |fate=Returned to commercial service 1945 |notes=

|section4={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption=as built |tonnage= |displacement= |length= 195 ft |beam=* 32 ft (at waterline)

• 36 ft (on deck) |height= |draught=9.6 ft |draft= |depth=13 ft |decks= |deck_clearance= |ramps= |ice_class= |power=Triple expansion engine |propulsion=2 propellers |speed=16 mph |capacity= |crew= |notes=

Sankaty (a.k.a. 'HMCS Sankaty*, a.k.a. ***Charles A. Dunning''''') was a propeller-driven steamer that served as a ferry to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket in Massachusetts; in Rockland, Maine; Stamford, Connecticut and Oyster Bay, Long Island in the United States from 1911 to 1940. During World War II, the ship was requisitioned by the Royal Canadian Navy for service as a minelayer and maintenance vessel along the Canadian Atlantic coast. Following the war the ship returned to a ferry, working the Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island and Caribou, Nova Scotia route in Canada from 1947 until 1964. While being towed to the breaker's yard, the ship sank off the coast of Nova Scotia on October 27, 1964.

Description

Sankaty was designed by Chauncey G. Whiton.{{citation | chapter-url = http://sdr.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mdp/pt?seq=102&view=image&size=100&id=mdp.39015020219674&u=1&num=245 | title = Steamboat Days | first1 = Fred Erving | last1 = Dayton | chapter = Nantucket Sound | publisher = Frederick A. Stokes company | pages = 245–46 | year = 1925

The ship was powered by a triple expansion engine fed by steam from four Almy water-tube boilers turning the two propellers. The ship had a maximum speed of 16 mph. In Canadian naval service, the ship had standard displacement of 459 LT, a complement of 3 officers and 39 ratings and the vessel was armed with one .303 machine gun.

Career

Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Ferry

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Hsl-Sankaty-neg.jpg" caption="The steamer ''Sankaty''"] ::

Sankaty built by the Fore River Works in Quincy, Massachusetts with the yard number 192. The ship was launched on 2 February 1911 and completed in April. From her construction in 1911 until 1924, Sankaty operated as a ferry for the New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket Steamboat Company, serving the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. While not the first propeller-driven steamer to serve these islands (which was Helen Augusta which substituted for during the American Civil War) it marked the end of the paddlewheel steamer era for the Cape and Islands.

On February 20, 1917, she went ashore on Wilburs Point at Sconticut Neck near New Bedford, Massachusetts. The vessel was refloated, repaired and returned to service.

1924 fire, Maine and New York Ferry Service

On the night of June 30, 1924, Sankaty caught fire and burned down to her steel hull while tied up overnight in New Bedford harbor.

Sankaty was raised, sold and rebuilt with an open deck for use as a car ferry in Rockland, Maine.

Canadian service and fate

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/HMCS_Sankaty.jpg" caption="Sailors with a mine aboard HMCS ''Sankaty'' off Halifax, Nova Scotia, March 1941"] ::

In 1940 Sankaty was purchased by Northumberland Ferries of Prince Edward Island, Canada, but before she began service she was requisitioned by the Royal Canadian Navy that year to serve in World War II as a minelayer, HMCS Sankaty. The ship was commissioned on 24 September 1940 at Halifax, Nova Scotia and was also used as a maintenance vessel. With the end of the war, the ship was paid off on 18 August 1945. Never entirely suitable for job as a minelayer, the ship was replaced in Canadian service by .

After the war she was renamed Charles A. Dunning, and served from 1946 until 1964 in the waters between Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island and Caribou, Nova Scotia. During this period her capacity was twenty-three cars and four trucks. She was sold for scrap in 1964, but sank en route to Sydney, Nova Scotia on October 27, 1964.

The new ''Sankaty''

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/MV_Sankaty.jpg" caption="The new MV ''Sankaty'' at the wharf in [[Woods Hole"] ::

In 1994, The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority began service of a new freight vessel Sankaty, named after this steamer.

Notes

References

1. ''The Dukes County Intelligencer''. Vol. 7, No. 4. May 1966
2. Douglas-Lithgow, Robert Alexander. ''Nantucket, A History'' G. P. Putnam, 1914.
3. {{csr|register=MSI|id=2208399|shipname=Sankaty |accessdate=6 May 2018}}
4. (2002). "The Ships of Canada's Naval Forces 1910–2002". Vanwell Publishing.
5. (January 1911). "Steamer Tested by Naval Architects". MIT Alumni Association.
6. ''The Dukes County Intelligencer''. Vol. 24, No. 4. May 1983
7. (20 May 2016). "Records of the T.A. Scott Company, Inc.". Mystic Seaport Museum Collections & Research.
8. (November 1982). "Sea Breezes". Pacific Steam Navigation Company.
9. Morley, Christopher. ''Streamlines''. Doubleday, Doran & Co, 1936.
10. Tucker, Gilbert Norman. (1952). "The Naval Service of Canada, Its Official History – Volume 2: Activities on Shore During the Second World War". King's Printer.
11. (June 16, 2016). "P.E.I.'s Coastal Vessels and Ferries".
12. "Vessels".

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