This black & white, silent home movie — with wonderful title cards — was filmed in the late 1920s or early 1930 off of Boston, Massachusetts. It shows a cruise past U.S. Navy vessels, the Gloucester fishing fleet, Boston Lightship, and more. We don’t know who shot it, whoever it was — loved the water.

Opening title card: A Coast Guard vessel no. 100, destroyer type on the water (:25). This appears to be the Wickes-class destroyer USS Maury (DD-100), which was decommissioned in 1930. Another vessel, apparently the Clemson-class USS McFarland (DD-237/AVD-14) is visible in the background. Bluejackets from the “237” get shore leave in a boat; the “237” ship on the water (:57). Joe cleans the ship (1:39). Men swim in the buff in the warm Atlantic Ocean (2:14). A two stack passenger steamer on the water (2:32). The rear of a ship marked Oglala (2:45). This is apparently USS Oglala (ID-1255/CM-4/ARG-1), a minelayer originally commissioned as Massachusetts and later sunk at Pearl Harbor. Sailors leave the ship and get on a small boat to head to Gloucester for shore leave (3:00). Fishing fleet of Gloucester (3:30) including Gortons (3:37). Waters off Gloucester (4:02). Marblehead Light (4:21). A man sets his lobster traps in the ocean (4:40). Lobsters on the boat (4:52). Twelve meter boats in a race off the Boston Lightship; numerous boats in the race (5:06). Destroyer is “dressed up” with flags for the regatta (6:19). Seaplane flies over the boats on the sea (6:24). Sailors jump into the Atlantic and swim (6:58). Vanitie and Resolute are shown in the regatta (7:19). Vanitie was a yacht owned by Alexander Smith Cochran that was selected to take part in selection trials for the America’s Cup in 1914 against Sir Thomas Lipton’s yacht Shamrock IV. Resolute was a yacht designed and built by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff for a syndicate of New York Yacht Club members headed by Henry Walters to contend the 1914 America’s Cup. Boats with huge sails on the water; ferry boat shown at anchor (7:37). Regatta continues as boats race (8:35). U.S. Navy battleship, appears to be Texas class, comes into view (10:06). The Resolute at anchor (10:45). At 11:16 a new roll of film begins, showing a trip on a yacht through what appears to be the Cape Cod Canal past the Sagamore Bridge. The Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts connecting Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south, and is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. A woman on the boat (11:25). One of the boat’s shipmates smokes as the boat rocks (11:42). Boats move near the shore (11:55). A large passenger ship goes under the raised drawbridge (12:27). Boats on the water; ocean water is choppy (12:58). Boat bounces on the water (13:04). Choppy water (13:40).The steamer SS New Bedford on the water (14:08), part of the Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard Steamboat Line. Boats in the harbor (14:27).

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com