The Uncatena was a sidewheel steamer

Paddle steamer

A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...

 operating as a ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 serving the island of Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....

 during the beginning of the twentieth century.

The Uncatena was built in Wilmington, DE in 1902, and named after Uncatena Island

Uncatena Island

Uncatena Island is one of the Elizabeth Islands of Dukes County, Massachusetts, USA. It is the most northerly of the Elizabeth Islands and lies just northeast of the largest island, Naushon Island. Uncatena has a land area of 0.492 km² , and was uninhabited as of the 2000 census....

, one of the Elizabeth Islands

Elizabeth Islands

The Elizabeth Islands are a chain of small islands extending southwest from the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the United States. They are located at the outer edge of Buzzards Bay, north of Martha's Vineyard from which they are separated by Vineyard Sound, and constitute the town of...

. It was 652 tons. It started service immediately to Martha's Vineyard for the New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Co. It was the first steamer serving the island built with a steel hull, and the first with a propellor. The paddles were housed in the superstructure, and an outline of the paddlebox appeared on its sides.

The Vineyard Gazette wrote in June 1961:

"The Uncatena, built in 1902, was 187 feet long, and had a 31-foot beam. An innovation in her construction was the placing of her shaft low enough so that passengers, boarding the boat by way of the freight deck as was often necessary, walked over it on an incline. On the older boats they had to duck their heads and pass under the shaft. She had a guaranteed speed of 15 miles an hour, and she often showed her heels to other boats of the line. The Uncatena was the only sidewheeler of the Island line to have a poem, written to her and about her by the Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 poet, Robert Hillyer

Robert Hillyer

Robert Silliman Hillyer was an American poet.-Life:He was born in East Orange, New Jersey. He attended Kent School in Kent, Connecticut and graduated from Harvard in 1917, after which he went to France and volunteered with the S.S.U. 60 of the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps serving the Allied...

, in 1948. The title of this nostalgic poem was In Memoriam Sidewheeler Uncatena, and it was aboard the Uncatena that Mr. Hillyer, lifelong lover of the Island, first came to the Vineyard in the early years of this century."

Capt. Marshall (evidently Francis J. Marshall (1857–1933) of Edgartown) and Capt. Sylvia were both masters of the Uncatena

The Uncatena was retired from service in 1928, after 26 years of operation.