The Grounding of Etrusco Change was All Around
In 1956 America was under going a transformation. In every facet of life habits of many generations were being set aside for new manners, new mores, and new facts of life. This was no less true of Scituate when Etrusco grounded on Cedar Point.
1956 was a time of immense change in the United States and all over the world. As we fill in the details of the Etrusco story, we will add in the bigger context.
A quick example: On February 23, 1956 Martin Luther King Jr. was indicted for his participation in the Montgomery Bus boycott, then entering its third moth. He presented himself at the county courthouse and was released on bond.
The basic facts of the grounding are simple; a ship in ballast is turned away from Boston, attempts to push out to sea fail, the ship finds itself tossed ashore. Townspeople and authorities behave brilliantly to rescue the crew. The salvage operation brings amazing crowds and nothing is ever the same in Scituate again.
Lets let crew member Giovanni Belfiore tell it.
This shipwreck was not the first time this had happened at Scituate Light. Going all the way back to the 1850’s we know that the ship Elisabeth washed up precisely where Etrusco did. In 1886 we have the rescue of eight men; in a time when there was no keeper on station. Jump up to the Portland Gale and we find the pilot boat Columbia wrecked nearby. Coming forward in time, there was the wreck of the lumber schooner, Kenwood in 1926. I even had one on my watch in 2011.
Some of the Ribs from the Elizabeth were found during the salvage of Etrusco
In this article from 1886 it notes that the abandonment of Scitute Light for Minot’s was in “no way reasonable.”
The grounding was covered all over the United States. It is indicative of how much smaller the world was becoming that a story from a town of less than 8000 could be read in so many places. From Ottawa Canada On March 23 from Lewiston Maine
Spokane Washington This headline and article from Daytona Florida got a awful lot wrong.
The problems posed by Etrusco were complicated by a significant storm less than a week later.
Coast Guardsman Mike Hamer was there. He gracious shared a scrapbook with the Historical Society last fall. Here are some images from that scrapbook.
In this image we see a great deal of the gear and the difficult conditions the Coast Guard was faced with during the rescue of the crew.
Kevin Walsh, assistant to Brockton Enterprise photographer Stanley Bauman, also shared some great photos of the rescue.
It was during the review of these headlines and this scrapbook that I found myself considering the other issues that were competing for column space in the papers of the day. The tales of Etrusco were found along side a story of a second revolution of sorts in Russia. In the same Milwaukee newspaper referenced earlier, was this headline.
On February 25, 1956 Nikita Khrushchev had denounced the tactics used by Josef Stalin during his time as Chairman of the Soviet Politburo. It set off a reverberation around the world. The Cold War would not end but it would enter into a new phase. It can be argued that the internal enemies made by Khrushchev with this denunciation would contribute to his later decisions to engage the United States in Berlin and in Cuba. The world got a little safer and a little more dangerous as Etrusco was up in Scituate.
On a much more positive note, only four days prior to the grounding of Etrusco, a young musician released his first album. Two days later, March 15, 1956, an entertainment legend was born when a My Fair Lady debuted on Broadway with Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. On Stage March 17, 1956 Dorsey Brothers Stage Show
On television two staples of the daytime schedule debuted in early April.
Three days after the wedding of Princess Grace of Monaco, The King would go to Number 1 with this classic. This mix of Black Rhythm and Blues with a White Gospel sound would prove mesmerizing and transformative. I don’t think it is unreasonable to imagine car after car driving down Lighthouse Road with this song playing all that summer.
Seen as a metaphor for change, Elvis is very much like Scituate. Prior to Etrusco, Scituate was much more like this very popular song from the same year. It is more likely that Lena Russo was listening to Doris Day than likely she was listening to Elvis.
Change was pressed down on Scituate. By 1956, the Scituate School Department had been asking for a new high school for 18 years. After Etrusco comes aground, it is only 5 years until the new one opens. The growth of the town was so profound, it could no longer be put off.
When David Ball and I were preparing for the talk on World War Two last year we had the occasion to pass some time with Beryl Denker whose father, Arthur Sylvester, “Buster” was on the radio all night that night coordinating the efforts of Jim Howard, Wayne Kestila, Robert Gammons, Fletcher Bates and others. Mike Hamer’s Scrapbook tells the rest.
See what you can find with a little digging. She cleaned up at graduation that year.
Scituate Civil Defense Radio Operator Jim Howard in Mrs. Russo’s Kitchen March 16, 1956
Giovanni Belfiore in 2004
Mrs. Russo celebrated by the Coast Guard for her help in the rescue of the crew from Etrusco. Thanks again to Kevin Walsh for the photograph
Also seen in this photograph of the same event is a flag that flew in that gale on Etrusco. It was presented to CWO William Miller, at the Scituate Coast Guard Base. It has been donated to the Scituate Historical Society and is on display at the Maritime and Mossing museum.