Claiborne-Annapolis Ferry Company

The Claiborne-Annapolis Ferry Company ran both passenger and automobile ferry service across the Chesapeake Bay from 1919 to 1952. The initial service was between Annapolis, Maryland on the western shore and Claiborne, Maryland on the eastern shore. In July 1930, a second shorter route was added between Annapolis, Maryland and Matapeake on Kent Island, Maryland. Business increased so rapidly at that point that another ferryboat was added. In May, 1938 the Claiborne route was changed to run from Claiborne to Romancoke, Maryland on the lower end of Kent Island, from which passengers could then connect to the Matapeake to Annapolis run. In 1943, the Annapolis United States Naval Academy absorbed the property where the ferry terminal had been, so service was switched from Annapolis to a new terminal at Sandy Point on the western shore. By May 1951, the ferries were handling 1 million vehicles and 2 million passengers annually. Ferry service stopped running in 1952 when the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was completed.

History

The first Claiborne-Annapolis run was June 19, 1919, with the sidewheeler Gov. Emerson C. Harrington, named for the 48th Governor of Maryland and later President of the Claiborne-Annapolis Ferry Company. As governor, Harrington had been instrumental in getting the ferry started. In 1915, the State Roads Commission had appropriated $50,000 to establish a state-owned ferry. With the beginning of World War I, planning was put on hold until 1919. At that time a group of businessmen headed by J. P. Mehaham, of St. Louis, and Frank McNamee, of Albany, and at the urging of Gov. Harrington, formed a private company named the Claiborne-Annapolis Ferry, Inc. The state funds were instead diverted toward subsidizing the new private company. The "Old Harrington", as the boat became known, made two round trips daily, crossing the Chesapeake Bay in 1 hour 20 minutes.

In 1921, the company was in bankruptcy, but Gov. Harrington, his term as Governor over, became President of the company and instituted reforms to make it more profitable. Not until 1924 did the company begin to see receipts exceed expenses. In 1921, a bus route was added to carry passengers to Easton, Hurlock, and Cambridge. In 1928 the company was reorganized and renamed the Claiborne-Annapolis Ferry Company.

The Gov. Emerson C. Harrington was retired in 1937 and replaced by the Gov. Harry W. Nice, a double-ender which could hold up to 68 cars. Other boats were to include the General Lincoln, Majestic, Albert C. Ritchie, John M. Dennis, Gov. Harry W. Nice, Gov. Emerson C. Harrington II, Governor Herbert R. O'Conor, and the B. Frank Sherman, the last named for the company's General Manager from 1924-1952.

Serious discussion about building a bridge across the Chesapeake Bay had been around since at least 1907, but did not take hold until the 1930's. Since the bridge would put the ferry out of business, the State decided it had an obligation to the ferry owners to purchase the company. In 1941, the company was purchased for $1,023,000 by the Maryland State Roads Commission (now the Maryland State Highway Administration), and was renamed the Chesapeake Bay Ferry System.

At the time the company was purchased by the State Roads Commission, it had approximately 120 employees.

Service on the ferry was continued across the Chesapeake Bay until July 30, 1952, the same day the new Chesapeake Bay Bridge was opened. During a final run by the John M. Dennis a few weeks before the bridge opening, it "accidentally" rammed the new bridge [Variations on the cause of the "accident" can be found between newspaper accounts and recollections by family members of the ship's Captain Edward C. Higgins]. The last run from Claiborne to Romancoke was on December 31, 1952 by the Gov. Emerson C. Harrington II.

Ferries

Ferry	Notes	Photos
Gov. Emerson C. Harrington	Built in 1901. 201-foot. sidewheeler. Originally named the Thomas Patten and in service in New York Harbor. Capacity: 42 vehicles. 1000 passengers. Bought in 1919, renamed the Gov. Emerson C. Harrington and placed in service on 19 Jun 1919, under Capt. Thomas Mann. Sold in 1938 to C. K. Duncan, who brought the vessel to Pocomoke City, Maryland and made it into a floating restaurant, nightclub and hotel. In 1949, the superstructure was stripped off and her furnishings purchased by the VFW for their new post home. The vessel was brought to a Baltimore scrap yard.	Photo link: At dock in Claiborne alongside the Cambridge owned by the competing Baltimore, Chesapeake, and Atlantic railway) As a restaurant in Pocomoke
General Lincoln	Built in 1878. 161 feet. Originally named the Nahant. Capacity: 13 vehicles Bought in 1920 and renamed General Lincoln. Placed in service on 20 Jul 1920, under Capt. Thomas Woolford. Sold in 1923-1924, and renamed the Indian Head.
Majestic	Built in 1903. 201 feet. 717 gross ton. Side-wheeler. Originally named the Happy Day. Bought in 1923 and had its superstructure altered to accommodate more vehicles. Capacity: 35 vehicles Scheduled for sale in 1927 but sunk in Baltimore harbor in the Summer of 1927. Later raised and converted into a barge.	Photo link
Albert C. Ritchie	Built in 1883/1884. 194 feet. Originally named the Newburgh and built for the West Shore and Ontario Terminal Company (later acquired by the New York Central System and reincorporated as the West Shore Railroad Company). Taken out of service in 1911, it was later purchased in 1916 by Erie's Pavonia Ferry Company and renamed the Passaic*, then sold again in 1924 and renamed the Albert C. Ritchie. Wooden hulled. Modified as a double-ender which could also accommodate cars. Six lanes across. Capacity: 75-80 vehicles and 1200 passengers. Placed in service on July 22 1926. Sold sometime around 1944. There may be some confusion between the Pavonia Ferry's Passaic and this boat. The Passaic owned by the Pavonia Ferry appears to have been built at least 20 years earlier.	Photo link
John M. Dennis	Built in 1929 by Spear Engineers, Inc. of Portsmouth, VA. 215 feet. Six lanes across. Diesel. Capacity: 65 vehicles; 880 passengers. Placed in service on June 13, 1929.	Photo LInk: John M. Dennis breaking her way through ice on the bay in the 1930s.
Gov. Harry W. Nice	Built in 1936 by the Maryland Drydock Co. 198 feet. Six lanes across. Diesel. Capacity: 68 vehicles; 792 passengers. Placed in service on May 4 1938, under Capt. Thomas Woolford. Purchased by Washington State Ferries in 1951, for use on Puget Sound, and renamed the Olympic. Sold in 1997 to a private owner with the idea of turning it into a sightseeing vessel and museum. Nothing came of the idea and the boat was turned over to Seattle’s Pacific Marine Foundation who sold it to a private owner in 2009/2010. It is currently moored at Ketron Island in Washington State.	photo of the Olympic Photo link
Gov. Emerson C. Harrington II	Built in 1913 at the Merrill-Stevens shipyard in Jacksonville, Florida. 130 feet. Double-ender powered by a coal-fired steam engine. Built as the South Jacksonville in 1913 at the Merrill-Stevens shipyard in Jacksonville Florida for the Jacksonville Ferry and Land Company. The double-ended ferryboat had a 40-foot beam. She was put into service on the Saint Johns River between downtown Jacksonville and South Jacksonville. A bridge (a ferryboats worst enemy) was built in 1921 and the boat was no longer needed. She was sold to the Tocony-Palmyra Ferry Company of Philadelphia and put into service on the Delaware River under the new name “Mount Holly”. In 1927 the “Mount Holly” went to New York Harbor. Her new owners, the 34th Street Vehicular Ferry Company kept the name “Mount Holly” and put her into service on the East River between Long Island City and the foot of East 34th Street in Manhattan. The company failed in 1936 and she was purchased by the Claiborne-Annapolis Ferry Co. on May 5, 1938, at which time major rebuilding was done of the superstructure. Capacity: 32 vehicles; 256 passengers. In 1945, the original steam and coal-fired boilers were replaced with a pair of 6-cylinder diesel engines. In 1954 it was sold for service on Lake Champlain, run by the Lake Champlain Transportation Company and rechristened the Adirondack, to run between Burlington and Port Kent. As of 1999, it was the oldest double-ended ferry still in service in North America, and will celebrate its 100th anniversary on January 15, 1913.	Links to photos of the Adirondack: [1] [2] [3] see "Adirondack" [4]
Gov. Herbert R. O'Conor	Built in 1946 at the Maryland Drydock Co. as a steel double-ender. 218 feet. Diesel. Capacity: 75 vehicles; 894 passengers. Placed in service on February 22, 1947. Sold to the Washington State Ferries in 1951, for use on Puget Sound, and renamed Rhododendron. The boat is still in active service.	Photo links: [5] [6] [7]
Eastern Bay/B. Frank Sherman	Built 1926. 146 feet. Originally named the Frederick Peirce for Electric Ferries, Inc. Electric diesel. Capacity: 33 vehicles; 495 passengers. It was later sold to the US Government and renamed the Westchester (1931), then to the Port Richmond Ferry Co. and renamed the North Jersey (1947), to the Claiborne-Annapolis Ferry Co. as the Eastern Bay (1949), then renamed the B. Frank Sherman (1951), then sold and renamed the Chesapeake (1955), and finally scrapped in 1979.

Other miscellaneous photographs [8]

References

• "Denton Journal", 4 Mar 1916
• "Denton Journal", 10 May 1919. article: "Ferry opened Thursday"
• "Denton Journal", 21 Jun 1919. article: "The Claiborne-Annapolis ferry is in operation"
• "Denton Journal", 11 Jul 1952. article: "Ferry Rams Bridge Pier; Boat Damaged"
• "The Sunday Sun", 27 Jul 1952. article: "The First Ferry On The Bay"
• "Evening Star", 28 Jul 1952. article: "Chesapeake Ferry Boatmen Sadly Face Uncertain Future"
• "Easton Star-Democrat", 9 Jan 1953. article: "Rainy, Cold New Year's Eve Is Setting For Farewell Trip"
• "Easton Star-Democrat", 13 Nov 1953. article: "Two Bay Ferries Head For Seattle"
• "Steamboat Bill", Sept 1942. "The Chesapeake Bay Ferry System", by H. Graham Wood
• Notes of B. Frank Sherman. On file at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, Library. St. Michaels, MD.
• Railroad ferries of the Hudson: and stories of a deckhand, by Raymond J. Baxter, Arthur G. Adams