This summer, Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum brings to life the 1851 voyage of the passenger ship "British Queen," its demise, and how Nantucketers saved the lives of all on board.
In 2009 the Francis family donated a Congressional Silver Medal awarded for lifesaving to the Museum. Ten years later, we remember this thoughtful gift that shares Nantucket's legacy of valor.
As we focus on black history this month, specifically black history in Maritime Nantucket, we must ask, did our black Nantucketers of days past receive equal treatment when they were on the island?
On February 14, 1881, the "Hazard" ran aground on Old Man shoal off Nantucket. No two accounts of the events that took place are alike, adding to the mystery of this notable shipwreck.
Charles Allard, Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum Manager, grapples with issues of inclusion in Nantucket's lifesaving history, and remembers the heroic Pea Island surfmen and their remarkable rescue.
On February 4, 1871, the schooner, "Mary Anna," destined for Maine with a cargo of coal, wrecked on a shoal off Nantucket.
On January 21, 1892, Coskata Life-Saving Station keeper Walter Nelson Chase and his crew completed one of the most remarkable and heroic rescues in Nantucket history.
On Thursday, November 8, engineering professor Fred Looft and twenty-one students from Worchester Polytechnic Institute visited the Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum.
Visit the Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum to view the original 1857 Great Point lens, dismantled by the Coast Guard in 1971, and original 1818 roof cap.