A BC Ferry geek roaming the MASS. Ferries

[Ferryman]

Greetings from Massachussettes once again..!

Today was part one of possibly three Ferry adventures out here for me. I was out on the MV Island Home, which is similar in so many ways to our C-Class ferries, or most of Washington States fleet. The Island Home was put into service in March of this year, so she is still brand new. She runs between Woods Hole on Cape Cod, to Vineyard Haven on Marthas Vineyard. She replaces the older, and similar MV Islander, which was retired and moved to New York (?) once the Island Home entered service. There are three Ferries that run to Marthas Vineyard, which is the MV Katama (Kah-tame-ah), and the MV Nantucket. The Katama is a Freight Ferry, which allows trucks to drive on forwards, but drive off backwards, due to its open car deck configuration. The MV Nantucket is the other Ferry that offers service for passengers with their vehicles, yet it goes to another part of the Island, called Oak Bluffs. This would be like having the Queen of Oak Bay going from Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay, and then having the Queen of New Westminster going from Horseshoe Bay to Duke Point, because it takes the same length of time to go across, but they operate on opposite ends of the route.

The crew of the MV Island Home are absolutely wonderful. I was very impressed with how nice they were. I was able to get a tour of the bridges, and engine room. I even got to be standing in the bridge as they were docking the vessel at Woods Hole and Marthas Vineyard. But I had to do a little bit of arm twisting with the deckhands, to call up to the wheelhouse if I could come up. They were certain they would say no, but sure enough I was escorted up there anyway after I got the go ahead. The deckhand punched in his code to the keypad to open the door that leads to the wheelhouse, where I would then hike up a set of stairs. I spent the rest of the voyage up there, and had great discussions with the crew up there. I was naming off all of the stats on our C-Class and Coastal Class Ferries to them, after they had told me the info on their boat. By the end of it all, they knew that I had already knew quite a bit, and was able to keep up to them with their bridge lingo, and were amazed to try and picture our Queen of Oak Bay up against the Island Home.

On the trip back to Cape Cod a few hours, the quarter master I had become "friends" with, had welcomed me to come back up to the bridge, so he could take me down to the engine room. When I got back onboard, he was standing at the end of the ramp waiting for me, and was in the guts of the boat, and was given a set of hearing protection within seconds. I got to watch the propellar shaft speed up as we left the dock as well, which was pretty neat to see. Anyways, I'll cut the crap, and here's some pics!!

Coming into Woods Hole





Onboard











Car Deck (Picture the layout as MV Tenaka Style, with a bit of a V-Class, when really its like a C-Class......Saddle lounges on the sides, with platform decks )







View from the bridge





Coming into Vineyard Haven







Stay tuned for MV Governor pics

[Ferryman]

Almost forgot to mention....

Mechanical Notes on the MV Island Home:

-Fixed pitch propellars (one on each end)

-One bow thruster at each end

-Bridge controls such as the throttle, wheel, and "whistle" are electric

-3000 hp on one engine, totalling 6000 hp

-14 knot service speed

-2 Cat Deisel generators

-When they come out of the dock, they use the bow propellar to pull the Ferry, and once they a few meters out, they will kick the stern propellar ahead

-Security cams are everywhere

-Keypad locks on doors which require a code, on doors that lead to crew areas

-The Ferry runs in mode 2 when it is travelling at service speed (bow propellar in reverse, while stern propellar is ahead...I asked if this was causing any resistance, and the captain reassured me that no it doesn't, because they have the bow propellar operating at a lower RPM than the stern)

-Plenty of seating everywhere onboard

-Cheesy high pitched sounding electric horn.....which can be operated by a button near the throttles in the bridge, or by a pullcord from the ceiling in the bridge

-Runs extremely smooth, the only vibrations you feel is when the engines are working to get the vessel up to speed, once up to speed you don't even know the engines are running.

-Has throttle controls on the bridge wings, which weren't used when I was up there (bridge layout similar to the Northern Adventure, but with no captains quarters)

[Retrovision]

Great account and photos, Chris. Thanks for taking the time to document ferries on your trip back east, especially considering the similarities to our coast's major double enders.

Just a technicality, but unfortunately I've had to move the location of this thread to better fit the category, but it is really only a technicality and I as I'm sure many look forward to more, especially sight of the former WSF ex-Kulshan.

[Ferryman]

Ummm..ook....I thought "Ferry Photos" was good enough.....

Here's some MV Governor (EX WSF MV Kulshan) pics









Tomorrow morning I'll be out on the MV Nantucket, going to Marthas Vineyard yet again. This time I'll be going over on the Mail Truck (family connection). It will be on the 7:00am sailing going over, and then coming back on the 9:30am.

[Northern Exploration]

Great pics Chris and wow great access. So it is official if I win the lotto and take the QM2 you have an invite for you and a friend to come along providing you function as the "chief talker-iner for special behind the scenes tours."

[Curtis]

Great Photos, of the Island Home and Governor Chris!

A Vessel like the MV Island Home, Would be a great ship to have out here in BC. It would be nice if BCFS built a ship like it maybe to replace the "B" Class Ships.

[Retrovision]

ferryman said:

Ummm..ook....I thought "Ferry Photos" was good enough.....

This is actually being discussed among staff. I was going by what I thought was a longstanding rule for the Ferry Photos area requiring threads to deal with BC Ferries, actually thinking that I remember that it used to be in a BC Ferries specific category before recent reorganizations, as well as going by where these European ferry photos were recently moved to...

ferriesbc.proboards20.com/index.cgi?board=otherna&action=display&thread=1150491405&page=1#1189987971

...But of course this is a dynamic and fluid forum, changing with the times and the membership's wishes, so we'll come to a conclusion, ever-changing as it is, that best suits these needs. I'm now wondering myself what my memory of the Ferry Photos area being BC only was based on, maybe nothing solid; can any of you think of what I might be basing this thinking on? I only ask as I've always taken it as given and would like to change that notion of mine if it wasn't ever the case.

-

Great photos, Chris, btw. It's neat to see the old ex-Kulshan on the last leg of her triangle of home ports around the US, Southern California to Washington and now, at her second posting in the area, in the north of the US Eastern Seaboard. Keep the great pics coming, thanks.

[Mirrlees]

Great photos of M/V Island Home and M/V Governor, Chris. I see that they shop in the same place for flooring that BCFS does..

[Ferryman]

pnwtraveler said:

Great pics Chris and wow great access. So it is official if I win the lotto and take the QM2 you have an invite for you and a friend to come along providing you function as the "chief talker-iner for special behind the scenes tours."

Heh, fair deal!!! ;D

mirrlees60 said:

Great photos of M/V Island Home and M/V Governor, Chris. I see that they shop in the same place for flooring that BCFS does..

Funny that you mention the floors. A crew member told me that the ship will be pulled out of service in a week or so, and have all of the floors ripped out and re-done. They used the wrong type of glue (water based), and then when they would get wet (ie; someone spilling a drink on the floor of the cafeteria), liquid would get under the linoleum, and create a bubble.

I'll be posting another batch of photos tonight, because I was out on the Ferries once again, bright and early this morning. I was up and going by 4:30am this morning (1:30am pacific time....yeah I'm still feeling that time difference) so I could ride with the mail truck over to Marthas Vineyard. So I got to be the mail man, while having a wander through the mail sorting plants at 5:30am. We arrived at 6:30am to ride the MV Nantucket over to the Vineyard. What a different ship this was!!!! She was built in 1974, yet it felt like she was built in 1874! I managed to get up on to the bridge of this one as well. The crew wasn't as pleasant as the one on the MV Island Home, but it was still neat to be up there. They were running the Ferry at full speed, which was a whopping 13.7 knots. We ended up coming into Vineyard Haven Harbour 15 mins early (45 min crossing), and ended up having to sit outside the bay, to wait for a slip to be open for us. MV Katama (Kah-tame-ah) and MV Ivanough were in port. This caused us to sit around for that 15 mins.

After unloading the mail, we took a side trip over to Oak Bluffs to see the other terminal owned by the company. This is the terminal the MV Nantucket or MV Marthas Vineyard normally go to, but the first round trip of the day for the MV Nantucket was to go to Vineyard Haven instead. At 9:00am, we were boarding the MV Island Home once again, where I was greeted by the same crew that was aboard yesterday. They all seem to like me on that ship, so I was given a Steamship Authority hat, that most of the crew wears.

Pics from bright and early this morning will appear on here tonight, after I do more exploring around here for the afternoon.

[Retrovision]

It feels like we're riding along with you, Chris, thanks for your efforts; I doubt I'd have the guts to even attempt to get all tours and to the places that you've managed to, especially south of the border, good on you. I'm looking forward to the next set of photos.

For reference with pictures to match the details of the accounts of Chris about ships not pictured, check out this page...
web1.steamshipauthority.com/ssa/ferries.cfm

[Northern Exploration]

Now you are in with the posties. Good thing no one decided to go postal while you were there pheeew. Now don't defect on us now that you are so buddy buddy with the Mass Ferries folk and get a job with them.

[Ferryman]

OK, quick upload, more commentary to follow either later tonight or tomorrow. Not sure if I'll feel like doing this later, as the effects of waking up really early in another time zone are starting to drag me down...

So here's the pics!

[Ferryman]

Ok, so here's a bit of a summary of the MV Nantucket, with a bit more info with the Steamship Authority, and of course a couple of more pics to have a look at.

One thing I've noticed with the Steamship Authority, is that they don't have the propellars turning, to keep the vessel well pushed up against the dolpins. They have two winches (similar to what one would put on the front of a pickup truck) on either side of the ramp. At the end of the line attached to the winch is a loop, which gets hooked on to hooks that are sticking out of the rubbing strake near the bow. Once these lines are hooked on, the tighten up all of the slack, and this is what keeps the vessel tight up against the wingwalls. That way the engine can stay running at a low RPM, and save fuel(?).



Alright, MV Nantucket!

As old as she may seem, she was built in 1974, to run to her namesake Island, Nantucket Island. The Steamship Authoritys Website says this is one of the first vessels they had purchased when they were switching to Steampowered Vessels, to Diesel engine powered ships. Her car deck layout is similar to the MV Island Home, yet she is a little smaller. She has the two saddle lounges on either side of the car deck, along with a small deck up above for galley and table seating. The only thing is, she has no platform decks. She's a single ender, with twin screws coming out of the stern below the waterline. She also has one powerful bow thruster. When her engines rev up to start moving the vessel, the amount of vibrations can be a little bit alarming at first. But once she gets up to the desired speed, she calms right down, and the engines and vibrations are hardly noticed. As most Steamship Authority ships, they have a pursors desk, similar to a cheif stewards office on the BC Ferries. The crews are generally very nice, and are easy to strike up a conversation with. As I said before, I was able to get up on to the bridge. An interesting side note, while talking with one of the crew members on the bridge, was that the company had sent out a crew of people to scope out our Pacificat Ferries when they were up for sale. I of course filled them in on the rest of that story. One last detail on the ship, is that she is most similar to the MV Marthas Vineyard, which the company purchased in 1993.

I was told that next month, MV Nantucket will go into the shipyard to be given a "Mid Life Upgrade" (We all know that term!!...yes they called it this). Of course this means an all new interior.

In conclusion, I found this ship to have alot of great character. I can imagine that the rest of the older boats have this same character and look.



PS: Here's the terminal the MV Nantucket has been running to during the summer schedule while she fills in for the MV Marthas Vineyard, which is out for refit. This is Oak Bluffs terminal, almost literally a stones throw away from the main terminal on the Island, Vineyard Haven. This terminal is closed off during the winter (October 17th is its last day of operation until next year), due to its exposure to the seas.





Bonus shots

MV Island Home, seen from the opposite end of Vineyard Haven.



MV Island Home Model

[Ferryman]

Freighter Ferries!

The Steamship Authority has 4 Freighter Ferries. These boats carry mostly semi trucks, or with pick up any slack with busy traffic at the terminals. These Ferries are: MV Katama (Kah-tame-ah), MV Gay Head, MV Sankaty (standby vessel), and MV Governor (standby vessel, but is going to be mothballed for the winter).

MV Katama runs between Marthas Vineyard and Woods Hole on a regular basis. She had 50 foot mid section inserted.



MV Gay Head, runs between Hyannis and Nantucket Island on a regular basis. This one had a 50 foot mid section inserted as well.



MV Sankaty sits in Hyannis Harbour on standby. She didn't require the 50 foot mid section, because she was built at this length.



These types of ships can be neat to watch, as they always have to reverse into the dock. They seem to be fairly quick at doing these maneuvers as well.




For more info: (as Retro has already posted the link to...thanks Retro!)

web1.steamshipauthority.com/ssa/ferries.cfm

[Low Light Mike]

ferryman said:

OK, quick upload, more commentary to follow either later tonight or tomorrow. Not sure if I'll feel like doing this later, as the effects of waking up really early in another time zone are starting to drag me down...

.....but your camera is still in the Pacific Time Zone...or at least it's "clock setting" is.

That 7:13am sunrise shows as 4:13am.....it had me thinking for a few seconds...... ;D

[Retrovision]

If there's one thing I like seeing as much as our character fleet here at home it's a character fleet so far away. This has been fun to experience along with you, Chris, thanks to the power of the internet. Great photography, btw, even under extremely challenging lighting conditions. Thanks again.

[Mill Bay]

Chris, these are all perfect, perfect images of these old ferries...

Too bad the Islander is gone though, that would have been an interesting comparison to the Island Home.

Thanks, and it's a good thing you're a great conversationalist who can strike up a conversation with the crew and get a tour of a ferry anywhere you go.

Thanks for the great posts.

I was really looking forward to this because the recent threads on the Governor and Island Home I was participating in really piqued my interest here, and I was especially looking for some good pictures of the Nantucket, which you did absolute justice to.

Is there any chance you might get to see the Eagle as well...?

Mill Bay

[FNS]

FANTASTIC PHOTOS OF YOUR TRIP!

So good you are enjoying yourself there.

The photos of the MV ISLAND HOME, MV NANTUCKET, MV GOVERNOR, and others are great.

KEEP UP THE GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY!

Oh, yes! The ISLAND HOME is a C-Class ferry, in a way. "C" as she is a "cute" miniature replica of the "Mighty C's" we have here out west!! ;D

[Ferryman]

Thanks for the comments, guys. I'm glad you're enjoying the ride so far. It's been tough to try and take pictures of things, and take note of what's going on around me. The interior pics would be taken usually as I was about to head down to the vehicle to offload, and the lighting is sometimes poor. I of course have more pics to post, but I think I'll save them for when I decide to make some photo galleries of the ships, once I arrive home.

flugelhorn said:

.....but your camera is still in the Pacific Time Zone...or at least it's "clock setting" is.

That 7:13am sunrise shows as 4:13am.....it had me thinking for a few seconds...... ;D

Heh, yeah I felt as if there wasn't much point in adjusting the time on the photo, to let you guys know what time it was out west, while I was out here bright and early as it was.

millbay said:

Chris, these are all perfect, perfect images of these old ferries...

Too bad the Islander is gone though, that would have been an interesting comparison to the Island Home.

Thanks, and it's a good thing you're a great conversationalist who can strike up a conversation with the crew and get a tour of a ferry anywhere you go.

Thanks for the great posts.

I was really looking forward to this because the recent threads on the Governor and Island Home I was participating in really piqued my interest here, and I was especially looking for some good pictures of the Nantucket, which you did absolute justice to.

Is there any chance you might get to see the Eagle as well...?

Mill Bay

Yes, it is indeed too bad that the MV Islander is gone. But she's not entirely gone yet. She's running on some sort of Ferry route down in New York at the moment.

There is a chance I will see the MV Eagle, I hope. I've been searching for info on the Steamship Authoritys website, for when she's running. From what I can see, she finnishs off her refit today, and will go into service between Hyannis and Nantucket Island. This will be good, because Hyannis is only 5 mins away, compared to half an hour away from Woods Hole. But today I will be leaving Cape Cod for a day, and drive to Portland, Mayne, 2 states away. I will be back on the Cape tomorrow though.

I haven't decided if I'll do the trip to Nantucket Island yet though. A one way trip out there is 2 hours and 15 mins, and would end up taking half a day to do. But I could also just see if I can get photos and videos of it arriving/departing Hyannis instead. I'll decide tomorrow night if I'll go....

[Curtis]

Great Photos, Chris. They're all Good Pics of a nice yet older Ferry Fleet.

[FNS]

ferryman said:

But today I will be leaving Cape Cod for a day, and drive to Portland, Mayne, 2 states away. I will be back on the Cape tomorrow though.

I think you meant Portland, "Maine". We here are so used to the spelling of that busy little island hub out here! ;D

I have just returned from Portland, Oregon, myself! I went south on the Coast Starlight from Seattle Wednesday. Took out a stateroom, which entitles me to the use of the Pacific Parlor car. Went to see a favorite Pops conductor celebrate his 90th birthday by doing what he loves best, conduct his big band orchestra with singers and dancers. His name is Norman Leyden, who started our Seattle Symphony Pops series as well as Portland and San Diego. Then, on Thursday morning, I learned of a massive freight train wreck at Steilacoom with twisted tracks. I think the trips by the MV ISLAND HOME's smaller same designer cousins MV STEILACOOM II and MV CHRISTINE ANDERSON were affected. My northbound train was replaced by bus service. Nice ride on a VanHool bus.

Back to the topicness of this thread, hope you continue to have great fun over there in the great northeast!

[Ferryman]

Sounds like an interesting train! Someday I'll have take the train(s) to Portland, Oregon. Travelling the I-5 for 6 hours, makes it a fast trip, but really it's quite boring, as with most freeways.

As you can see, I'm now back from the State of Maine. When coming through Boston, you have to get a quick glimpse of the City landscape, before you head through the tunnel, which completely bypasses the City. On the other end of the tunnel, is a bridge that reminds me of the bridge the Skytrains use over the Fraser River. Going through the tunnel was a neat experience for me, as I can remember watching part of it being constructed back in the late 90's, when I saw an episode of the show "Popular Mechanics For Kids", when I was about 10. The second we passed through the border into New Hampshire, was a toll booth, awaiting us to pay the toll of the Freeway. "$1.00 please". It was evident that the toll was well worth it, because the Freeway has been well maintained, and a large section of it had been repaved. But once we arrived in the State of Maine, 30 mins later, we had to pay another toll for that section of Freeway. 5 mins after that, we exited off to find another toll booth, which was only 60 cents. I was hoping to see "THE CAT" Ferry, which runs to Nova Scotia, and is similar to our "Fat Cat" Ferries. No dice though, but I was able to pick up a pamphlet with info of the ship and routes.

Todays my last day on Cape Cod, so we're driving to the Norternmost tip of the Cape, to a town called "Provincetown". "P-Town" is what the locals call it. I fly to Portland, Oregon tomorrow afternoon out of Bostons Logan Airport at 4:30pm, and arriving in Portland at 7:30pm (remember there's a time change in there). Sunday I'll drive up the West come home, and arrive just in time for me to return to work on Monday.

[Mill Bay]

Chris, that tunnel and bridge really are unique feats of engineering.

The tunnel is also called the 'BIG Dig'. It has been the most most expensive highway project in the U.S. history costing over $14.6 billion in federal and state highway funds, when it had originally been estimated at $2.8 billion, but that was done in 1985 and they used 1982 dollars.

They planned for it for more than twenty years before construction and it took over ten years to build after construction started in 1991.

The bridge is the Leonard P. Zakim-Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge carrying eight lanes of the Interstate 93 and U.S. Route 1 together, as well as a two lane access ramp. It is the world's widest cable-stayed bridge. It is also unique for having the additional two lanes counter balanced off one side of the bridge, outside the cable supports.

Must have been interesting to go under and over them.

www.leonardpzakimbunkerhillbridge.org/

[Ferryman]

Thanks for the background info on the Bridge and Tunnel in Boston, Mill Bay. It's very much appreciated.

This morning, it was pelting down with rain, which was the only rain we've recieved the whole time I've been out here. So we decided to cruise around the area we're staying at. We took one last quick spin past Woods Hole, where I caught a glimpse of the MV Marthas Vineyard sitting in the slip that the MV Governor was sitting at, earlier in the week.



After this, we drove out to Nobska Light, which was along the Marthas Vineyard Ferry route. Here is where I caught a glimpse of the Coast Guard performing either a rescue or drill not far from the shore with a boat and helicopter. In the background was the MV Island Home, and a Cruise ship. The MV Nantucket also passed by fairly close, with the wind at its side.




Also, one more pic from Tuesday morning of the MV Nantucket at Woods Hole. This is a clearer version of the one I posted above (this is the one I meant to post...)



PS: Here's a Tim Hortans I found in Portland, Maine. This was certainly a treat after having Dunkin Donuts coffee and donuts for the past few days (nowhere near as good as Timmy's, sorry to say)



This Timmys just happened to be almost right beside a Dunkin Donuts (look close at the building in the background.

[FNS]

Chris, you did it again! More great photos!!

I was looking at the MV Times webcam this morning. I see the same things you saw. The MV NANTUCKET and a cruise ship at a distance through the masts of sailing vessels.


MV Times webcam capture

I wish you a great flight home tomorrow. If it's Alaska Airlines, the flight leaves at 1615 EDT. Be there at KBOS on time (early, that is)!

Best wishes, always! Thanks for your great photography.