Provincetown lost a significant landmark when the 65-foot, wood-hulled, “eastern rigged” dragger Terra Nova steamed away. Built in 1965 as Little Infant, at the Newbert & Wallace yard in Maine, she had been owned for many years by Gerald Costa. Capt. Peter Cabral bought her in 2002. Within a decade, and after at least one interim owner, the boat was derelict. A new owner, David Oakes of South Thomaston, Me., was taking her home in 2013 with his son-in-law, Jason Randall. Terra Nova was three miles off Rockport, Mass., when she began to take on water. As she sank, Randall slipped. Oakes grabbed him and pushed him overboard to clear the vessel. “That was the last time I saw him,” Randall told The Bangor Daily News. “His last act was to save my life.”
More than 2,000 buildings and vessels are searchable on buildingprovincetown.com. The Building Provincetown book is available for purchase ($20) at Town Hall, Office of the Town Clerk, 260 Commercial Street, Provincetown 02657.