HOME MOVIES: 1928

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1928

Format: 16mm

Description: This extraordinary, silent 16mm home movie shows a trip by private yacht off Massachusetts, New York / Long Island, Rhode Island and Connecticut in 1928, and includes images of the Coast Guard gunboat No. 100, sailboat races, other vessels, and the crew of the yacht making the trip. At :49 the Norwalk Lighthouse is seen, most likely the Peck Ledge Light in Connecticut. At 1:18 Montauk Harbor, Long Island is seen. At 2:30 Block Island, Rhode Island and a sword-fishing boat is seen. At 4:00, Martha's Vineyard and Oak Bluffs is seen with "able seaman extraordinary" Gardner Pratt dropping the anchor. (We're not sure but this Gardner Pratt may be the one who was locally known as the "Mayor of Bridgeport" later in life for his affiliation with that town.) At 5:30, Nantucket is seen with the skipper taking a swim. At 6:30, the Rainbow Fleet of racing sailboats is seen. At 8:00, an airplane that flies between Nantucket to Boston is seen. The cost was apparently $50, roughly $700 in today's dollars. At 10:30 the yacht cruises off Wood's Hole. At 13:40, a "quarter of a million" yacht intended for use in the 1928 NYC Regatta is shown at Marblehead. At 14:00, the first USS Maury (DD-100) is seen. This was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I and the years following. She was named in honor of Matthew Fontaine Maury. Struck from the Naval Register 22 October, she was sold 17 January 1931 to Boston Iron & Metal Company, Baltimore, Maryland, and scrapped 1 May 1934. The yacht in the film belonged to Irving C. Jennings of the Nash Machine Pump Co. Jennings, who is seen around 25 seconds, graduated from New York University in 1906 and received a master's degree there the following year. He joined Nash in 1908 and was chief engineer, general manager and vice president before becoming president in 1923 and chairman in 1958. In 1955 Mr. Jennings received a centennial award from the N.Y.U. College of Engineering.

Complete Record: