History Matters digs into the Delaware Historical Society’s archives each month to explore connections between key people, places, and events in history and present-day news.
"Ocean: A body of water occupying two-thirds of a world made for man — who has no gills." - Ambrose Bierce
Story: Pam George
Video: Ben Szmidt
It was a sunny Monday morning, and the Lewes terminal of the Cape May-Lewes Ferry was buzzing. Vehicles, including a motor coach and RV, waited in line for the next vessel, while a steady stream of foot passengers dodged a draped area near the front doors.
On Sunday, June 29, that shroud will come down to reveal a sidewalk made with “legacy” brick pavers, sold to commemorate the ferry’s 50th anniversary. The unveiling, which will also occur on the Cape May side, is part of a two-day celebration, June 28-29. (Cape May will mark the anniversary on June 28 and Lewes on June 29.)
The Cape May-Lewes Ferry, operated by the Delaware River & Bay Authority, has good reason to celebrate. Since the first official voyage on July 1, 1964, the service has carried more than 43 million passengers and 14 million vehicles across the 17-mile mouth of the bay.
The dream of businessmen and politicians, the ferry was once considered a necessity for travelers in the pre-I-95 era. But over the years, it’s been hit by rising fuel and operation costs, improved highways and a struggling economy. “We realize that we are discretionary,” said Nikky Fisher, manager of the Lewes terminal
Yet one thing is constant: “It’s a vital link between the communities,” said Capt. Stan Hansen, a 25-year veteran of the ferry service, who was at the helm of the MV Delaware on that Monday. “It brings a lot of people to the area who are going to spend money.”
It also remains convenient. “I love the ferry; I’ll go that route from visiting family in northern New Jersey rather than dealing with the turnpike,” said Susan Towers, who lives in Lewes.
Fits and Starts
Now a local icon, the ferry was more than 100 years in the making, said Mike DiPaolo, executive director of the Lewes Historical Society.
Certainly there was a need. Getting from one cape to the other required a lengthy, risky voyage across the bay or an arduous route up the Delaware coast, across the river, and down through New Jersey.
When Cape May became a burgeoning resort in the mid-19th century, the demand increased. A railway-steamship operation brought passengers from Queenstown, Md., through Delaware to New Jersey for a brief time before the service went bankrupt in 1904. Plans on paper, touted by the press, sputtered.
Up north, a service started between Wilmington and Pennsville, N.J., in 1913 and between New Castle and Pennsville in 1926. Traffic by the 1940s overwhelmed the New Castle service, prompting the need for a bridge.
“The Delaware Memorial Bridge had a huge impact on transportation between the two states,” said Fisher, who’s been with the ferry service for 25 years.
By 1960, the bridge’s sole span was carrying more than 15 million cars and trucks per year. Delaware officials lobbied for a second span. New Jersey legislators, however, wanted a ferry to continue the Garden State Parkway, which dead-ended in Cape May, leaving southbound travelers staring at the bay.
Negotiations resulted in the bi-state Delaware River and Bay Authority, activated in 1963 to manage the bridge and other transportation links between the two states. The DRBA’s creation meant that finding an entity to finance and manage a ferry were no longer an issue.
Things moved swiftly after that. The Kiptopeke-Cape Charles ferry, unable to handle driver demand, was giving way to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The DRBA purchased four of its vessels for $3.3 million, overhauled them and changed the names.
Setting Sail and Changing Course
Service started on July 1, 1964 at 6:47 a.m. from Cape May with eight vehicles and 15 passengers. Terminals and access roads were still in the planning stages. Since then, terminals have been built, expanded and renovated.
The first ferries, long since replaced, ran around the clock. The schedule was cut back in 175 to 16 hours a day. Still, the service was in demand. When Capt. Stan Hansen, formerly a commercial fisherman, started working with the ferry in 1988, cars lined up outside the gates and onto the grass, he recalled. It was first come, first served. Reservations helped manage the flow.
In 1995, when Capt. Pete Dudley started with the DRBA, the ferry service was “bigger and flashier,” he said. Indeed, service peaked in 1998 with 408,000 vehicles and 1.3 million passengers. Then it went into a decline. There was a 25 percent drop in ridership and revenue between 2002 and 2012, while expenses rose.
The DRBA sold the MV Cape May, purchased for $14.5 million in 1985 and remodeled in 1998 for $20 million, for $750,000 to Northstar Marine Services. The 320-foot MV Twin Capes is currently for sale. These vessels were the most costly to operate.
“We’re more downsized and we’re more efficient,” Dudley said. Schedules change monthly, with less travel on Mondays and Tuesdays. Even at peak times in the season, the last vessel leaves Lewes at 9:45 p.m.
There have been other changes. In Lewes, the ferry in 1964 was viewed as an economic driver to replace the menhaden fish factories, which were closing. “Original marketing materials promoted Lewes as a location for industry and commerce,” DiPaolo said.
The ferry has indeed brought dollars to the Delaware coast but not in the way early proponents imagined. As ridership patterns changed, the ferry became an attraction in itself. “I love the ferry,” Wilmington resident Sally Pollard said. “We do it every year as a destination.”
Tourism – bringing Cape May riders to Lewes attractions and Rehoboth outlets and Lewes riders to Cape May – has become a primary thrust. Shuttles run during the season to bring foot passengers into Lewes and Rehoboth.
Passengers often tap the crew for places to eat or stay on either side. “We feel like cruise directors,” Hansen joked. To entertain passengers during the trip, captains often point out wildlife, including dolphins, osprey and even the occasional humpback whale.
It’s all fun for ordinary seaman “Crabby Jack” Empson, a seasonal employee who started working in 1997 after retiring from crabbing. “I like meeting people,” he said. “We get people from around the world who come and sail with us.”
And there have been more this year. Fisher said ridership is slightly up over this time last year. In 2013, the service transported nearly 275,000 vehicles and nearly 1 million passengers.
For those traveling along the East Coast, the 85-minute one-way trip remains “a break from a long drive,” she said. “It’s very scenic.” Few drivers going up and down the East Coast would impulsively venture into Cape May or Lewes without it, Dudley said.
According to Scott Green, executive director of the DRBA, the service has a timeless appeal. “There is something about a ferry, the rumble of the engines, the sound of the ship’s horn, the smell of the sea air,” he said. “Our challenge is, and always has been, to get you on board. Once you experience it, you’ll be back, again and again, for another 50 years.”
History Matters: : Cape May-Lewes Ferry
Delaware Public Media takes a ride on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry to learn more about it's 50 years crossing the Delaware Bay.
Producer/Videographer/Editor: Ben Szmidt
[flashvideo file=http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/history-ferry.flv
image="http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/history-ferry.jpg"
video_image="http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/history-ferry.jpg" /]
This piece is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.