Ten million dollars seems a pretty steep price to pay for three parking spaces, especially for ones that just float across Penobscot Bay. But this April 20, the Maine State Ferry Service christened the Captain E. Frank Thompson, a $10.3 million ferry that will replace the aging Governor Curtis for service to Vinalhaven. Though word amongst the crowd during the ceremony would have led one to believe that the Thompson was going to carry 22 vehicles, over the Govern Curtis’s 17, the official specifications state only 20, a discrepancy possibly attributable to mistaken press reports earlier in the month. The new ferry is a grand vessel, coming in at a hair over 150 feet long, and capable of carrying 250 passengers, but there were a few bumps along the road to completion. Oversights in the design, which account for $700,000 of the purchase price, led to setbacks in the manufacturing process, and there have been concerns about the number of crew members required to operate the new ferry, as well as issues with the sheer size of it.
The Maine State Ferry Service (MSFS) received a call from the builders, C & G Boat Works Inc., late in the construction process about a mishap in the design, leading to issues of width limitations in those very expensive parking spaces. Stanchions had to be relocated to allow for an eight-foot width along the side aisles, requiring islanders with larger vehicles to fold in their mirrors, lest they lose them while backing into those spaces. The center aisle, as a consequence, had to be narrowed to 127 inches, which will again require careful maneuvering by any tractor trailers boarding the ferry. The evidence is permanent and visible; the stanchions are welded onto i-beams extended off of the ferry’s superstructure—the passenger cabins and wheelhouse—which had already been constructed by the time the mistake was discovered, limiting the choices of how to solve these issues. Most other concerns have been put to rest: though the boat was originally required to have a crew of six, new stipulations allow for a crew of five during most of the year, and though there is only overnight housing on Vinalhaven for four crew members, two live on the island.
Some credible new technologies did come with the purchase price. Though the large cabins block sight lines for the wheelhouse, requiring a camera and monitor to see the stern, the propulsion systems on the new boat will help immensely with the issues of handling a larger vessel. Though considerably larger in all other dimensions, the E. Frank Thompson has the same draft as the Governor Curtis, and bow thrusters on the new boat will help the new boat “turn on a dime”, claims Kevin Hopkins, grandson of Frank Thompson, who piloted the boat for its honorary maiden voyage to Vinalhaven. Hopkins showed off a bit for the crowds—with more than a little bravado—he put fears to rest about the maneuverability of the large vessel by spinning in perfectly stationary circles in Hurricane Sound during the trip to Vinalhaven.
“She’s certainly got more sail area than the other vessels, which are a lot lower to the water and don’t have the high cabins, so it’s going to take a lot of getting used to for the crews,” Hopkins allowed during an interview. Windage will certainly prove to be a challenge for the crews—during the return voyage to Rockland, the boat was required to wait a few minutes for the North Haven ferry to leave, and the boat was quickly pushed out of the shipping lane by a nine knot wind—no harm done, though it will undoubtedly cause the crew a little worry in heavy winds. Again, the new technology in the design allows for greater maneuverability, ending most discussions about the boat’s safety.
Friday morning at the Rockland ferry terminal was an event, replete with dignitaries, youngsters in the Vinalhaven school band playing the national anthem, and almost an hour of speeches by Representative Chellie Pingree, former Maine Senator Dennis Damon, MSFS Captain Jim Macleod, and others. Mrs. Than Hopkins, Frank Thompson’s daughter, broke the honorary bottle across the bow as the crowd cheered her on. On the other end of the journey, however, Vinalhaven celebrated the event in true island fashion: two fire trucks and an ambulance lit up the arrival, 40 or so islanders came to have a look, and after about 15 minutes of talking it over and deciding the new boat was a good thing, everyone returned to work.