An earlier post here showed the launching of the “Evelyn and Ralph,” a reminder that shipbuilding was once common on Rockport’s Bearskin Neck. Another postcard showed a ship under construction on the Neck. This postcard, by the Rockport Photo Bureau, shows the scene in the harbor just after a newly constructed ship was launched. The hull, not yet fitted with masts and gear, is in the center of the picture. From this and other postcards, it is clear that these launchings were popular events, with onlookers lining the piers and watching from boats.

I do not know whether the vessel launched here was the Evelyn and Ralph. In the earlier post, I had estimated the Evelyn and Ralph to have been launched around 1923. I have since found a reference to it sailing into Boston harbor in 1921, so I would say it was more likely to have been launched around 1920.

As I noted in the earlier post, the Evelyn and Ralph was wrecked off the coast of Nantucket on Dec. 6, 1924. The Boston Daily Globe of Dec. 11, 1924, reports:

The Evelyn and Ralph was speeding home to Nantucket with a good catch of fish from Georges Bank, when she ran into a heavy sea and fog, and was driven ashore three miles from Tom Nevers Head. The craft was in command of Capt. Matthew Richards who had a crew of six men. When the boat struck the crew were thrown into the surf and nearly drowned before they were able to swim or crawl ashore. The stove in the forecastle was tipped over and the forward part of the boat burned.

Another news report said that a companion fishing vessel, the sloop Inez, part of the same fleet, also ran aground at about the same time and place as the Evelyn and Ralph. Both ships were abandoned as total losses, the report said.

To the right in this postcard is the Ervin J. Luce, a two-masted schooner owned by the Rockport Granite Company. She was built in 1892 in New London, Conn., and was used for many years to transport granite. A 1924 news report tells of her running ashore in a fog at Hyannis, loaded with tons of curb stone. Subsequent reports of her arrivals and departures suggest she survived this incident.

Artist Bill Hubbard, a Gloucester native now in Florida, depicts the Ervin J. Luce in several of his paintings. A recent post at Good Morning Gloucester shows another granite-hauling schooner, the Flora Condon.