Ferry tale: How cable ferries became a way of life in southern N.B.
Tens of thousands of people take them every day. Most seldom think about how they work
Ferries are "a part of our way of life in southern New Brunswick," according to captain Shawn Merritt.
On the bridge of the Henry Nase, Merritt uses a directional stick to guide the ferry across the 0.7-kilometre stretch of the St. John River between Grand Bay-Westfield and Hardings Point.
Merritt has spent his whole life around boats. He grew up on the Kingston Peninsula, connected to Grand Bay-Westfield, Saint John and Quispamsis by three river ferries. He started working on the boats eight years ago, as his father did for 28 years before him.
Even though he crosses the river dozens of times a day — it never gets old.
"We see all kinds of things: bald eagles, beautiful sunsets and sunrises. Good weather, bad weather," he said. "It's a beautiful office with a beautiful view."
Hundreds of thousands of New Brunswickers also travel daily on the province's eight free river crossings: Belleisle, Evandale, Gagetown, Millidgeville, Kennebecasis Island, Westfield and Gondola Point.
Love them or hate them — ferries dictate the pace of life.
Yet few people know much about how the ferries came to be, or how they work.
Made-in-New Brunswick invention
The underwater cable ferry is a local New Brunswick invention.
In 1903, Captain William Abraham Pitt of Reed's Point realized there were improvements to be made in the small scow he used to carry passengers from the Kingston Peninsula to the Kennebecasis Valley.
He developed a blueprint for a ferry guided from one shore to another with a heavy cable.
He ingeniously installed the cable by laying it over the river ice in the winter, then waiting for the ice to melt and sink it in the spring.
The cable ferry proved safer — and faster — and the concept took off in other river communities in the south.
Pitt died in 1909 of injuries suffered when he fell into the machinery of his ferry.
One of the two ferries at Gondola Point, the William Pitt II, is named in his honour.
In 2023, all of the province's river ferries run on cables — except the self-propelled Peninsula Princess in Millidgeville, also the longest crossing at 1.9 km.
How the cable works
Despite more than a century of ferry operations in New Brunswick, few people know how the boats work.
"A lot of people have no idea what's below deck," according to Mark Jones, ferry maintenance superintendent for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure for nearly 40 years.
One end of the ferry cable is embedded in concrete on each shore, Jones explained.
"A diesel engine powers the ferry to pull itself along the cable "just like you were pulling on a rope: you pull on it one way, and it drops the slack in the river behind you."
The cable runs through a long, narrow cable pipe, and gets looped into a watertight compartment containing the two large wheels that drive the ferry.
They look something like an old film projector: there's the drive wheel, and the idler wheel, which "changes the direction so that it doesn't rub and goes out the other end," Jones said.
Down below the deck also contains the fuel tank, fire pump, fresh water, bilge pump, sewage system and other machinery, designed "so that if any one of the spaces gets ruptured, the ferry will still float," Jones said.
Safety first
To the layperson, it might look easy to captain a boat attached to a cable. How hard could it be?
But when you're crossing the river every five to seven minutes, there's always a chance something unexpected will happen.
"You could be looking at the river to make sure that there's no boat traffic, then turn your head and there's a car coming down on your ramp," Merritt said.
"This job, you have to keep your head on a swivel at all times."
People have driven off the ferry by accident, leading to increased safety measures. Tragically, "we have had people jump," said Jones.
"Used to be one, maybe a year on average, but that's gone down."
Captain Glen Seely of the Peninsula Princess has also seen his share of rescues.
"Those days sort of stay in your mind," he said.
An ounce of prevention
Especially in the spring when the ice is running, cables can snag and break.
"If a big cake of ice comes and catches the ferry, it puts that much more strain on the cable and it just won't handle it," said Jones.
If the cable breaks, the ferry drops anchor and another boat is dispatched to come haul it back. Jones said he's seen it happen "20, 25 times" in his 40 years.
All of the ferries — whether the five-year-old Peninsula Princess or the 60-year-old Evandale Ferry — go for a full refit every five years or so.
In late September, crews were readying the Belleisle Belle to be towed through Reversing Falls, out of the harbour and across the Bay of Fundy to Nova Scotia, where it will be taken to Port Hawkesbury for maintenance.
Another boat will cover the Belle's run while it's away.
"It's going for two months," Jones said. "Our schedule right now is the first week of December, it's coming back.
"Hopefully, the Belleisle Bay won't be frozen up by then."
Gotta live here to get it
If you've used ferries your whole life, driving on to one is as routine as finding a parking space.
But for some tourists and the province's booming population of new residents there can be a learning curve.
"The vacationers, you have to hold their hand for sure," Merritt said.
"Sometimes cars don't pull up. Or they'll park right in the middle of an empty ferry and they're, like, 'Do I go straight?'"
"A lot of times they'll ask if they have to pay for the ferry," said Seely. "No charge here. Never."
The main advice, Seely said, is "you really have to follow the direction of the deckhand."
"They have a system there to get so many cars in each lane," he said.
"They have to get them so they fit in there properly, like little blocks.'
Songs, signs and marketing slogans
Ferries inspire a range of strong emotions — positive and negative.
In 2020, Queens County residents succeeded in getting seasonal ferry service reinstated between Gagetown and Lower Jemseg after an impassioned lawn sign and letter-writing campaign.
The New Brunswick ferry experience has even been immortalized in songs like the popular Evandale Ferry Two-Step by Saint John musician Brent Mason, the chorus of which goes:
"Take your car, take your bike, take your half-ton truck/ It's the last thing left that don't cost a buck/ The very best things in life are free/ So take a ride, ride, ride on the Evandale Ferry."
Tourism New Brunswick has made the cable ferries part of its marketing campaigns, with #ExploreNB emblazoned on the ramps, and the slogan "The journey is the destination."
It's a slogan that doesn't always float with ferry-dependent locals inconvenienced by delays.
But most of the time, "the people on the boat are good," said Seely.
Ferry delays are part of the price you pay for living in one of the most beautiful parts of the province.
"You're bound by the ferry. If the ferry's down, you gotta drive around," Merritt said. "It's accepted.
"It's who we are in southern New Brunswick."
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