Chesapeake Bay Ferries

[FNS]

Here is a new book for ferry fans. This book is about transportation on Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.



The OLYMPIC and RHODODENDRON (in their original Maryland appearance) are represented by one photo each and you can see them on pages 83 and 84.



There's not too much written about the OLY and RHODY. This book, nevertheless, has some good information on the history of the services in general.

I got my copy from Amazon.

[fargowolf]

Was playing around online and found the following story on the famous bridge/tunnel that crosses the bay today. One of the pics is of particular interest, as the ferry pictured, bears a very strong resemblence to the Tswassen and Sidney in their original form.

www.cbbt.com/history.html

[lmtengs]

The ferry in question is the SS Pocahontas.
www.cbbt.com/images/ferry.jpg

I believe that her resemblance to the Queen of Tsawwassen and Queen of Sidney is an illusion due to the angle from which the image was taken, and the ships similar paint scheme.

Here are more pictures of her:
www.esva.net/~rwest/pocohontas.GIF
www.cardcow.com/images/set2/card03040_fr.jpg
www.vbgov.com/sites/libraries/history/archivesnew/12-a07.jpg

The S.S. Pocahontas was built in 1941 for the Virginia Ferry Corporation. As built, she was 282 feet long, but she was later cut in half and had an additional hull section added to which lengthened her to 358 Feet. The Pocahontas was powered by two steam engines and served on the Chesapeake Bay crossing until 1964 when she was sold to Delaware for service between Cape May, N.J. and Lewis, Del. The Pocahontas carried 1,200 passengers and 120 vehicles.

I couldn't find if she still exists or not.

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

A wiki link about the Chesapeake ferry service.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Creek-Cape_Charles_Ferry

The SS Pocahontas was renamed the SS Delaware when taken over by the DRBA in 1963 for the Cape May-Lewes route. I'm assuming she was replaced by the new-builds in 1972, and it looks like she was scrapped in 1977. Info about scrapping found here (see hull number 442/1074).

[fargowolf]

Jan 3, 2011 19:20:18 GMT -8 @lmtengs said:

The ferry in question is the SS Pocahontas.


I believe that her resemblance to the Queen of Tsawwassen and Queen of Sidney is an illusion due to the angle from which the image was taken, and the ships similar paint scheme.

www.cbbt.com/images/ferry.jpg

www.vbgov.com/sites/libraries/history/archivesnew/12-a07.jpg

I was going primarily by the first pic, as that was the best one I could find. Also, it might be the Princess Anne, which I think also operated that route.

Image of the Princess Anne's bow:
www.digark.com/imageserver/SSHSA/EOC_SL/015/web_wm/SSHSA_EOC_SL_13297.jpg

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

Jan 4, 2011 8:52:43 GMT -8 fargowolf said:

Jan 3, 2011 19:20:18 GMT -8 @lmtengs said:

The ferry in question is the SS Pocahontas.


I believe that her resemblance to the Queen of Tsawwassen and Queen of Sidney is an illusion due to the angle from which the image was taken, and the ships similar paint scheme.

www.cbbt.com/images/ferry.jpg

www.vbgov.com/sites/libraries/history/archivesnew/12-a07.jpg

I was going primarily by the first pic, as that was the best one I could find. Also, it might be the Princess Anne, which I think also operated that route.

Image of the Princess Anne's bow:
www.digark.com/imageserver/SSHSA/EOC_SL/015/web_wm/SSHSA_EOC_SL_13297.jpg

It's definitely the Pocahontas as the Princess Anne didn't have the downward swoop at the bow (though the photo of the bow could mislead you as the doors being open sort of gives an illusion that she had one, too).

Being that these ferries had been in service for 20 plus years before Spaulding designed the Sidney & Tsawwassen, he may have incorporated some of their lines into his new designs...we're speculating anyways, so...