Working Waterfront

Strained relations with the ferry service

On a late spring morning in 1920, the steamboat Governor Bodwell was docked at Tillson’s Wharf in Rockland and preparing to depart for Vinalhaven. Shoveling coal below decks was my grandfather, Edwin Maddox. His eleventh great grandparents, William and Mary Brewster, had arrived on the Mayflower 300 years earlier. Unbeknownst to him, he… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lubec, Campobello suffer from border closure

Six months of very limited access to and from Campobello Island in New Brunswick and Lubec in Maine are having real impacts on real people on both sides of the FDR Bridge. “In the beginning, it was really hard for me emotionally, and I was really depressed. Not going crazy,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Stonington small business ramps up ‘Owl’ production

In 2009, Stonington fine furniture maker Geoffrey Warner began carving a comfortable wooden stool for himself. It had two prominent holes that looked like eyes, making the seat look like an owl head. Warner called it the Owl Stool and commissioned a 2013 analysis by U.S. Ergonomics, which showed that… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Leadership means having the seat with the view

The Passamaquoddy word for leadership is nihkanke. The literal translation of that word is “the one who paddles in the front of the canoe.” I clearly remember when I first heard this word and learned its cultural context. I was at a leadership seminar for island leaders, sponsored by the Island Institute. Linda Cross Godfrey, founder… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Kevin Waters, beloved pilot, dies suddenly

When ferries and private boats fail to deliver, islanders turned to Kevin Waters and his company Penobscot Island Air to get to the mainland or back home. And after Waters’ untimely death of a heart attack at age 62 on July 5, islanders turned to each other to share their… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lobster industry is in ‘the fight of its life’

The outlook for Maine’s lobster industry for 2020, and likely beyond, is murky at best. That was the assessment by industry leaders during a panel discussion hosted June 24 by the Island Institute. See video of discussion here. Called “Let's Talk Lobster: Challenges and Opportunities of a Core Maine Industry,” the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Small business survival means building lifeboats

As a small business owner, particularly one whose business resides on an island overlooking the great Atlantic Ocean, thoughts about sinking ships are probably unavoidable just now. I find myself often comparing my efforts to keep New Era Gallery here on Vinalhaven open to those of the musicians on the Titanic—doing… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

They name their boats after their daughters

By Tom Valleau No one can doubt that our commercial fishing industry is now suffering from a variety of problems, some long in the making and others quite recent. With each new development, Maine’s fishing prospects have grown smaller, going back to the establishment in 1984 of the Hague Line,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Casco Bay Lines board votes on new diesel/electric Peaks boat

It’s bit more complicated than putting pontoons on a Prius, but hybrid diesel/electric ferries are on the horizon for both the Maine State Ferry Service and the Casco Bay Island Transit Authority, which operates Casco Bay Lines. The board of directors of the Casco Bay Island Transit District voted June… SEE MORE

A hybrid diesel-electric ferry prepared for launch to serve isalnds in British Columbia.

Working Waterfront

Casco Bay Lines board votes on new diesel/electric Peaks boat

By Tom Walsh The board of the Casco Bay Island Transit Authority, which operates Casco Bay Lines, voted 7-5 on June 25 to proceed with detail design for a new car ferry to service Peaks Island for the next 30 years. That new vessel will be equipped with a diesel/electric hybrid propulsion… SEE MORE