Shelter Island ferries sailing along in the 21st century: Challenges, history, and commitment at the Reporter’s Forum

Big changes, some coming in waves. But always steady as she goes in service to Shelter Island.

That was the message delivered by leaders of the North and South ferry companies at the Reporter’s latest Community Forum held Thursday, April 10, at the Presbyterian Church’s Fellowship Hall.

Hosted by the Reporter, and sponsored by Dime Bank, Suffolk Security and North Ferry, the meeting was titled: “Shelter Island Ferries for the 21st Century,” and a good crowd was on hand for a lively and informative session.

Questions were aired about infrastructure to meet the demands of rising sea levels; the benefits of having privately owned ferries rather than owned and operated by municipalities; a new economic agreement between the companies and the State and Federal government; plus the history of the ferries.

Moderator Charity Robey, a long-time Reporter staffer, opened the Forum by noting, “One of the striking things I’ve heard in the many interviews I’ve done with Islanders is how central the ferries are to their experience of this place. Most people who came here as adults remember how they felt their first time on the ferry, that a hectic, busy world was receding, and a peaceful one lay ahead.  Many Islanders remember the time a ferry came for them or a loved one in the middle of the night, when they needed help.”

Later, the Forum was reminded of the ferry companies’ life-saving services with a gripping example of a rescue during Superstorm Sandy in October 2012.

“We respect and depend on the North and South ferries,” Ms. Robey said, “but the ferries, which are both privately held companies, also depend on us. The fares they charge to us when we cross, and to those who work for us and deliver things to us, such as food, shelter, and major appliances — these ferry companies have to cover the costs of doing business and make a reasonable profit. So, let’s hear from the people who know these companies best, who run the boats, and manage the business — Bridg Hunt, Cliff Clark, John Michalak, Bill Clark, and Town Engineer Joe Finora.”

A CULTURAL BENEFIT

First up for questioning by Ms. Robey was Mr. Hunt, who has served as the general manager of North Ferry since 2003, and worked as the company’s engineer for two years, and a captain for 11 years prior to that. 

North Ferry is owned by Shelter Island Heights Property Owners Corporation. The ferry service was established in 1883, and by 1893 had slips from the terminus of the Long Island Railroad and Main Street in Greenport to the Prospect Hotel and Manhanset Hotel on Shelter Island. North Ferry operates four active vessels, which transport 912,029 vehicles and 1,424,412 passengers between Third Street in Greenport and Summerfield Place on Shelter Island annually.

North Ferry is now in the process of seeking a rate increase.

Greeting Mr. Hunt, Ms. Robey began by noting that many year-round ferry companies in the United States are public or semi-public entities, since transportation is not generally a profitable business, especially in a place with great seasonal fluctuations in traffic. How, she asked does this special circumstance affect North Ferry operations, and does it complicate the rate adjustments? Why is it beneficial to the Island to have local ownership of these vital parts of our infrastructure?

“We bring a cultural benefit for the Island,” Mr. Hunt said. “We enhance the transition from somewhere else to here.  We’re in the hospitality business,” and added, “that everyone in this room has engaged personally” with ferry employees. “Our commitment to that is what makes me go. We’re not an anonymous group. We’re a community within a larger community.”

One enormous benefit to being privately-owned, Mr. Hunt said, is that the company can give discounts to Islanders using the ferry; if it were owned by a municipality, fares would be the same across the board. Steeper rates for non-residents subsidize fares for Islanders.

John Michalak, who became North Ferry Manager in 2020, addressed the issue every Islander has seen every day for the last several months — major infrastructure works at the Island and Greenport terminals.

In Greenport, Mr., Michalak said, there has been a partnership between the Village and North Ferry to ease traffic on the streets and make those lining up for a trip to the Island smoother. By widening the queue into a switchback formation, the ferry can now accommodate a line of 70 cars rather than 30.

Combating the inevitable is also on North Ferry’s agenda: “We raised both landings on Shelter Island 18 inches, and the landings in Greenport 18 and 24 inches,” Mr. Michalak said.  “We also extended all the ramps to 30 feet long from the previous 24 and 28 feet.”

Planning for the future is an essential component for the business to survive, he said, citing some startling statistics (confirmed by NASA data). Since 1880, sea levels have risen by about 8 to 9 inches. But over the last 30 years, the level has increased an additional 3 inches, bringing the total since 1880 to approximately 10 to 14 inches.

HISTORY LESSONS

Bill Clark III is an archivist of South Ferry, which his family has operated since the 1700s. He is also an accomplished painter. Ferry President and CEO Cliff Clark and Bill Clark represent the sixth and seventh generation of the Clark family to run South Ferry, and Bill gave the audience a brief history.

“The first record we have of what would become South Ferry is from the diary of Joshua Hempstead in 1716, about traveling from the North Fork to Bush’s Point, which is where Camp Quinipet is now,” Mr. Clark said. From there, a sailboat then took the diarist to North Haven.

“These ferries came up organically,” Mr. Clark said. “People wanted to go across. Then the State made resolutions at different times, saying in effect, ‘You better keep doing it.’ And we kept doing it.”

His great-great-grandfather, Samuel Clark, came from Connecticut in 1843 “and bought a 60-acre farm, which is where South Ferry is, all the way up to South Ferry Hills. Samuel mainly farmed, but he had a rowboat and sailboats to bring passengers across to North Haven.”

So began the Clark’s ownership of the company, which went from sailboats to engine-driven boats fueled by naphtha —a light petroleum distillate — to move barges of horses and carriages and goods back and forth.

In 1912 the boats you see now were introduced, but on a much smaller scale, and in 1923, the ‘double-enders” driven by gasoline engines made their debut. By the late 1950s, steel vessels were in place.

EMERGENCY SERVICE

Ms. Robey introduced Cliff Clark, who has led South Ferry since the 1970s. The company operates five active vessels that transport approximately 750,000 vehicles and 1,250,000 passengers annually between North Haven/ Sag Harbor and Shelter Island. Mr. Clark said that, above everything else, “South Ferry is people,” and the company has made employment on the boats in the office and maintenance barn not just a job, but a career.

He turned to the vital role the ferry services play in keeping Islanders safe and in some cases alive, specifically as a means of transport off the Island for emergency medical assistance. Presenting an enlarged photo that was on a Reporter’s front page more than a decade ago, Mr. Clark said it illustrated two vital issues for the Island: an example of the danger of rising sea levels, and the ferry services’ indispensable role in emergency management and life-saving duties.

The photo captures one of the most legendary rescue operations in Island history from October 2012, when Superstorm Sandy, a wide-ranging and deadly nor’easter struck the Island with full force.

At the height of the storm, in the early afternoon, all Island first responders —ambulance EMTs, Fire and Police department personnel — came to the aid of Virginia Jernick, 93. She was at home in the Center experiencing respiratory distress that rapidly escalated into a life-threatening situation. After police, EMTs, Ms. Jernick and her family had all conferred, they agreed to take her from her home by ambulance to Southampton Hospital.

There was just one hitch. Firefighters, responding to South Ferry to help with the emergency, could see that the road in front of the ferry slips was flooded to a height of three feet. Another problem was the loading ramp, which was pitched at a 45-degree angle up to the boat deck because of the storm tide. It was clear the ambulance couldn’t get through the water or, even if it could, drive onto the deck without getting hung up.

First responders noticed David Lingwood, an employee at Coecles Harbor Marina at the time, waiting to board the ferry in his four-wheel-drive diesel Ford pickup, who readily agreed to help. The decision was made to transfer the elderly patient from the town ambulance to the bed of the Good Samaritan’s high-riding vehicle for the ferry crossing.

Weight would be important for ballast to keep the truck from slipping off course in the wind and tide, but a solution was soon reached. Firefighters and EMS personnel — including 90-year-old Ben Jones — got in the back with the patient, adding over 1,000 pounds for ballast. The elderly woman was carried under a tarp and transferred to Mr. Lingwood’s vehicle.

Ready to cross, the situation was treacherous, with shrieking winds gusting more than 90 mph and water so high the pilings of the bulkhead were nearly crested. Mr. Clark said he’d never seen water so high. South Ferry Captain John Westervelt was steady and sure handed, working a perfect crossing — aided by Chief Engineer Phil Dunne, Foreman Joey Clark — and docking at North Haven. A Sag Harbor ambulance met the ferry at North Haven and the woman and family members were taken without incident to Southampton.

PARTNERSHIPS

Shelter Island Town Engineer Joe Finora used the rescue story as an example of how a municipality, which normally stays out of the way of giving grants to private businesses, can make an exception when it comes to the Island’s ferry companies.

Mr. Finora grew up on Long Island, and lives in Southold with his family. He attended Mattituck High School, studied engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology and has been Shelter Island’s Town Engineer since 2020.

Ms. Robey posed the question: How do you work with the ferry companies on the issue of rising sea levels? “The ferries are both an economic link between the North and South forks, but they’re also the emergency service link,” Mr. Finora said. “These are services we demand of the ferries and we rely on them.”

Recently, he added, the Town has participated with the ferries on an opportunity for a  $200,000 grant administered through FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security and New York State, to study both ferry companies and the ferry landings on the Island and Greenport. “The purpose is to study the entire operations to understand what the limits and vulnerabilities are for rising sea levels.” The grant is geared toward emergency management and access of emergency services for Shelter Islanders.

Mr. Finora added, “This project we’re working on now is the biggest commitment we’ve made to help improve the infrastructure situation at the locations. The report is nearly complete, so it will be part of the public discussion in the coming weeks.”

Mr. Finora noted that the photo of the storm rescue from October 2012 was included in the Town’s grant application to study the emergency management role of the ferries. “So,” the engineer said, “if a picture is worth 1,000 words, this one might be worth $200,000.”

NEW SAFETY CONCERNS

Another challenge to the ferry companies brought on by modern times was referenced in a question from the audience concerning the dangers inherent with electric vehicles on ferry boats. Mr. Hunt and Mr. Clark spoke about the February 2023 deadly head-on collision between two vehicles in East Marion. One of the vehicles was a Tesla equipped with a lithium-ion battery. Two passengers in each car died. Because of the Tesla’s lithium battery, first responders had a difficult time putting out the fire, which burned for two hours and produced heavy smoke.

The ferry managers admitted they didn’t know yet what course to take on electric vehicles catching fire, but will seek counsel from fire departments and the County.

They have seen a surge of e-vehicles on the boats, but there have been no incidents, the managers said. But both voiced real concerns of the dangers imposed by a long-lasting and toxic fire when the boats are docked or underway.

The Forum ended on lighter notes, with some members recalling humorous anecdotes. Mr. Hunt remembered how he often liked to engage with passengers, chatting with them during the crossings. One day he noticed a car with Vancouver, Canada plates. Addressing the driver, he said, “Well, you’re a long way from Vancouver.”

Without missing a beat, the man responded, “Well, you are, too.”