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The Marblehead Harbors and Waters Board agreed to form a small subcommittee to determine the name of the town’s new harbormaster vessel during a meeting that highlighted tensions between preserving maritime tradition and modernizing naming conventions.
The decision came after debate over whether to continue naming the new 31-foot Munson Marine Packcat rescue vessel Stacey H. Clark, honoring a former harbormaster who served from the 1920s until 1945, or selecting a new name for the $589,000 boat scheduled to arrive at Marblehead Harbor sometime this year. The vessel’s arrival had been slated for November but has been delayed due to a parts shortage.
Harbormaster Mark Souza said there had been public questions about the naming and that the discussion was intended to gather input rather than make an immediate decision.
“I don’t believe it should be up to me as the harbormaster to make a decision on the name of a boat with someone that I don’t have any ties to,” Souza said. “I don’t think the board has the ultimate decision. I think it has to be a conglomerate, people coming together, making the decision on what we want to do.”
Board member John Doub suggested considering a name tied to the town’s 250th anniversary in 2026, noting that the vessel would be commissioned during that milestone year. He mentioned General John Glover or references to Glover’s regiment as potential options.
Board member Clark Smith said he believed most mooring holders would not know who Stacey Clark was and argued for modernizing the naming convention. He said the tradition of naming vessels after the same person should have included numerical designations like “Stacey Clark II” or “Stacey Clark III” if the practice was going to continue.
Bill Conly, a Marblehead resident and author of “Marblehead’s Waterfront: The Marblehead Transportation Company, Ferries, Police Boats, Harbormasters,” urged the board to preserve the existing name. He described Stacey H. Clark as a modest, hardworking harbormaster who worked during an era when harbor operations relied on manual labor rather than modern equipment.
“I just think we don’t want to lose as much history as we can,” Conly said. “And we’re losing it all the time.”
Conly said his book documented the history of Marblehead harbormasters using town records and suggested the board consider creating a plaque at State Street Landing to memorialize former harbormasters rather than relying solely on vessel names for historical recognition.
One board member cautioned against soliciting broad public input, warning that an open process could produce unwanted results.
“You’re opening up a can of worms if you bring it outside of your command,” the board member said.
The subcommittee will generate name options with historical context and present the board with a limited number of choices before the vessel is commissioned. Smith volunteered to serve on the subcommittee as a representative of the harbormaster crew.
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The new vessel will replace the aging Stacey H. Clark and serve as the primary year-round patrol boat. The aluminum tri-hull was built in Burlington, Washington to harbormaster specifications and funded through a $387,000 Port Security Grant with the balance covered by local matching funds.
The vessel features twin Honda 350-horsepower engines, an 11-foot beam, full firefighting capabilities, an internal gas-powered dewatering pump, shore landing capabilities and state-of-the-art communications equipment including radar, sonar, GPS and thermal imaging systems.
The board also reviewed warrant article language that would increase mooring permit fees from $10 to $12 per foot in Marblehead Main Harbor, Little Harbor and Dolibers Cove. All other Marblehead anchorage locations would increase from $9 to $11 per foot, while working commercial fishermen would see their abated rate rise from $5 to $7 per foot. The mooring permit fee for floats would also increase to $12 per lineal foot.
Souza said the article language mirrored regulations approved during the last fee increase and had been formatted for town warrant purposes in consultation with town staff. The board did not vote on the article during the meeting, treating the discussion as informational rather than requiring formal approval.
