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Advocate Archives
Tower Camouflaged, Sub Tested, Merry-Go-Round Nayed
April 28, 1932
NEW STANDPIPE TO BE CAMOUFLAGED
Work has been started on the painting of the new standpipe situated behind Town Hall.
Instead of ordinary black paint, however, the pipe will be artistically decorated. It is to be camouflaged.
The word camouflage is borrowed from the French word camoufler, meaning to disguise, and came into frequent use in the late war. Battleships at that time were so painted that their bulk would melt into the atmosphere, and they were thus enabled to near the enemy without being noticed.
The new water tank will be so adorned. The top of it will be painted blue to melt into the sky and the lower part is to be so decorated as to resemble surrounding dunes. Then when the visitors arrive by train or boat their first glimpse of the perfect Provincetown skyline, so regally topped by the Pilgrim’s monument, will not be marred by the ungainly tank.
It is expected that the work will take about six weeks. All leaks had to be stopped and tested before the sand blasting could be started.
The sand blasting method is done by filling an especially designed machine with sand, then putting on a 110-pound air pressure. The force of sand hitting the steel pipe tears away all the rust and leaves the original gray steely surface. The sand blasting method is particularly convenient in a place where much sand is.
After the sand blasting has been completed the lead base paint is applied. Five or six different colors will be blended.
This new water tank holds a generous amount of water in comparison with the old pipe. It contains approximately 1,900,000 gallons, while the old one held about 600,000 gallons.
April 27, 1939
SUB IS ORDERED HERE FOR TRIALS
The submarine Sculpin, No. 191, has been ordered to Provincetown for the Navy’s final acceptance trials scheduled for next week.
Naval officers of Washington, D.C., and the Navy Yard at Portsmouth, N.H., will arrive Tuesday to serve on the trial board. The members of the board will live at the home of Mrs. Amelia Davis during their stay in Provincetown.
The Sculpin anchored in the harbor for three days a fortnight ago with her sister ship, the Spearfish, but did not complete her final acceptance trials at that time. She was built at Portsmouth Navy Yard and is one of the largest submarines ever to be constructed for the U.S. Navy.
April 28, 1962
OPPOSITION RAISED TO POSSIBILITY OF CAROUSEL ON COMMERCIAL STREET
More than 50 opponents, reinforced with a petition signed by more than 65 voters, registered their opposition Monday night to work under way on the premises at 234 Commercial Street, adjacent to the Universalist Church, which the petitioners said “appears to be a carousel.”
The opposition was raised at the regular meeting of the Selectmen, at which Town Manager Robert Hancock and Building Inspector Fernando Gonsalves were present. Asked by Mr. Hancock if the owner of the property, Hallet L. Tobin, had applied for a building permit, Mr. Gonsalves answered that he had not. Whereupon Mr. Hancock announced that Town Counsel would be consulted to determine if the work at the Commercial Street premises was in violation of the law and if so an injunction would be sought to stop it.
Since then The Advocate talked with Mr. Tobin. Mr. Tobin said “no construction of a building was going on” on his premises requiring a building permit but agreed there was “work” under way.
“I’m painting something in my back yard,” Mr. Tobin said, “the way you’d paint a boat or a car. I’m restoring something in my backyard.”
Mr. Tobin last year had applied for permission to operate a carousel — a merry-go-round — on the premises, and with considerable public opposition also raised at the time, the application was denied.
The Advocate asked Mr. Tobin if he now contemplated a carousel on his premises provided permission were granted him. Mr. Tobin said he did.
Besides the petition the Selectmen also received a number of letters from local residents protesting any proposed carousel at the Commercial Street premises. Particular opposition was registered in a letter from Ina S. Snow, clerk of trustees for the Universalist Church, speaking “for the church.” Other letters protested location of a carousel in the virtual “center” of the town and declared that the “noise” and confusion would be “obnoxious.”
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Apr 27th, 2006