A reader of this seacoast history column found this unpublished photograph while going through her late father’s papers in Lansing, Michigan. It was apparently taken around 1935 by Robert Jenkins, a UNH student.
The photo shows Prudence Crandall banding birds for the Audubon Society at the Isles of Shoals. Prudy’s father, a Unitarian minister, purchased Lunging Island at the Shoals in 1926. Prudy, a poet and a tomboy, served as a “pelican” or “pel” at the Oceanic Hotel owned by the Star Island Corporation.
She married Robert Randall at the Gosport Chapel and became Prudence Crandall Randall. They summered at “Honeymoon Cottage”, built by Oscar Laighton (Celia Thaxter’s brother), and the only house on the privately owned Lunging Island. Prudy was a well-known figure at the Isles of Shoals until her death at age 90.
Based on a story told at her father’s knee, Prudy was convinced that the pirate Blackbeard had buried his treasure on her island. This writer joined a crew from the History Channel in an effort to locate the imaginary booty in the waning days of the 10th century. Lunging Island (originally Londoner’s Island) was nearly purchased by Greek shipping tycoon aristotle Onassis in an effort to create an offloading site for oil tankers. The plot was discovered and quashed in 1974 and the island remains privately owned by the Randall family.
Copyright SeacoastHistory.com (Photograph courtesy of Sandra Moore)
Beneath the Wentworth Dome