A certificate of registry was required if a vessel engaged in foreign trade. Enrollments and licenses were required for vessels of 20-ton capacity and over that were in the coastal or fishing trades. Copies of licenses, renewed yearly, were filed in customhouses until 1906 when a single form for enrollment and license was issued. Vessels of 5 to 20 ton capacity in coastal or fishing trades received only licenses. A certificate was permanent or temporary...

Oak Bluffs was incorporated in 1880. The town was called Cottage City when it was incorporated. The name was changed to Oak Bluffs in 1907.