Nantucket's surfmen exuded the demanding informal motto of the U.S. Lifesaving Service and Coast Guard, “You have to go out, but you don’t have to come back.” All the Quarterboards in the Museum are either from Nantucket ships or those that fell prey to the dangers of the sea in surrounding waters. The oldest Quarterboard in the collection (pictured) is from the 113-ton brig Mariner built in 1809, at Newbury, Massachusetts. The first owner, David Coffin, had her fitted out as a coastal merchant vessel.
The Mariner's end would come in mid-October 1845, when under the command of Captain Staples, the brig loaded with lumber left Bangor, ME, bound for Providence, RI. The vessel called on Cape Cod, and as the brig left on Tuesday the 14th it was observed that the Mariner leaked seriously and was water-logged. While sailing up the Sound on Wednesday night a strong Nor’easter arose and the brig struck Tuckernuck Shoal and became stranded on the bar. Ten men and two captains from the Massachusetts Humane Society set out in lifeboats to brave the dangers of a winter’s storm risking their lives to save the crew of the Mariner from watery graves. After five cold and windy hours tied to the rigging of the ill-fated brig, the six-man crew of the Mariner was rescued by Nantucket volunteer lifesavers.
For their valor and selfless acts, the Massachusetts Humane Society awarded the lifesaving crew silver medals and the captains gold medals. Sadly, one of the crew, a veteran pilot, Meltiah Fisher, was not there to receive his medal having perished at sea some ten days after the Mariner rescue while sailing alone to aid a schooner some six miles north of the Bar. His five orphaned children accepted the medal on behalf of their father.