 | |
| Locale | Fire Island, New York |
|---|---|
| Waterway | Great South Bay |
| Transit type | Passenger, Freight & Water Taxi |
| Operator | Fire Island Ferries, Inc. |
| Began operation | 1948 [1] |
| No. of lines | 8 |
| Hubs | Bay Shore, New York |
| Website | Fire Island Ferries |
Fire Island Ferries is a passenger and freight ferry service, serving the Western communities of Fire Island, New York. [2]
Edward J. Mooney, who joined the company in 1948, acquired Fire Island Ferries in 1972. After Mooney's death in December 2020, his casket was taken around Great South Bay for a memorial aboard one of the company's ferry boats. [3]
On September 20, 2009, at 10:10 eastern daylight time, the passenger ferry Fire Island Belle, with 100 passengers, the vessel master, and two deckhands on board, experienced an engine room fire in the Great South Bay between Long Island and Fire Island, New York. The vessel had departed Ocean Beach, Fire Island, 10 minutes earlier, and was approximately 300 yards (270 m) from the dock at Fair Harbor, Fire Island, when the fire broke out.
No passengers or crewmembers were injured, and no pollution resulted. The cost of repairing the vessel was $490,000. The U.S. Coast Guard was the lead investigative agency in the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) provided assistance with fire investigation and metallurgical analysis.
On July 26, 2020, while en route to Ocean Bay Park, the Fireball and her crew came to the rescue of a family of six whose boat had capsized in the Great South Bay. All six occupants onboard the boat survived with only minor injuries; The crew of the Fireball was later awarded Coast Guard Honors for their heroism. [4] [5]
As of May 2023, Fire Island Ferries, Inc. operates the following vessels:
| Vessel Name | Year Built |
|---|---|
| Fire Island Miss | 1976 |
| Fireball | 1981 |
| Firebird | 1984 |
| Stranger | 1985 |
| Voyager | 1990 |
| Explorer | 1991 |
| Fire Island Flyer | 2001 |
| Fire Island Belle | 2009 |
| Fire Island Queen | 2011 |
| Fire Islander | 2013 |
| Isle of Fire | 2019 |
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MV Queen of the North was a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ferry built by AG Weser of Germany and operated by BC Ferries, which ran along an 18-hour route along the British Columbia Coast of Canada between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a route also known as the Inside Passage. On March 22, 2006, with 101 people aboard, she failed to make a planned course change, ran aground and sank. Two passengers, whose bodies were never found, died in the incident. The ship had a gross register tonnage of 8,806, and an overall length of 125 metres (410 ft). She had a capacity of 700 passengers and 115 cars.
The MV George Prince ferry disaster was a nautical disaster that occurred in the Mississippi River in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the morning of October 20, 1976. The Luling–Destrehan Ferry George Prince was struck by the Norwegian tanker SS Frosta, which was traveling upriver. The collision occurred at mile post 120.8 above Head of Passes, less than three-quarters of a mile from the construction site of the Luling Bridge which would replace the ferry seven years later. The ferry was crossing from Destrehan, Louisiana on the East Bank to Luling, Louisiana on the West Bank. Ninety-six passengers and crew were aboard the ferry when it was struck, and seventy-eight perished. This accident is the deadliest ferry disaster in United States history. It is also the deadliest peacetime nautical disaster involving a non-submersible vessel in U.S. waters since the explosion of the SS Grandcamp in 1947, which killed 581 people. In addition, it is the deadliest accident involving a single vessel in U.S waters since a fire on board the SS Morro Castle in 1934, which killed 137 people.
The history of the United States Coast Guard goes back to the United States Revenue Cutter Service, which was founded on 4 August 1790 as part of the Department of the Treasury. The Revenue Cutter Service and the United States Life-Saving Service were merged to become the Coast Guard per 14 U.S.C. § 1 which states: "The Coast Guard as established January 28, 1915, shall be a military service and a branch of the armed forces of the United States at all times." In 1939 the United States Lighthouse Service was merged into the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard itself was moved to the Department of Transportation in 1967, and on 1 March 2003 it became part of the Department of Homeland Security. However, under 14 U.S.C. § 3 as amended by section 211 of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006, upon the declaration of war and when Congress so directs in the declaration, or when the president directs, the Coast Guard operates as a service in the Department of the Navy.
The United States Coast Guard is the coastal defense, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement branch of the United States Armed Forces and is one of the country's eight uniformed services. It carries out three basic roles, which are further subdivided into eleven statutory missions. The three roles are:
Marine safety is one of the eleven missions of the United States Coast Guard.
MV Queen of Oak Bay is a double-ended C-class roll-on/roll-off ferry in the BC Ferries fleet, launched in 1981 at Victoria, British Columbia. The 139.29-metre (457 ft) long, 6,969-ton vessel has a capacity for 362 cars and over 1,500 passengers and crew. She normally operates on BC Ferries' Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay (Nanaimo) route, part of the Trans-Canada Highway. She is named for the district of Oak Bay.
Spirit of Vancouver Island is an S-class ferry, part of the BC Ferries fleet. Along with MV Spirit of British Columbia, it is the largest in the BC Ferries fleet. The ship was completed in 1994 and serves the Swartz Bay – Tsawwassen route. In 2018, Spirit of Vancouver Island began a mid-life refit in Poland, where it was converted to a dual-fuel system to allow liquefied natural gas propulsion. The vessel returned to service in 2019.
FV Pelican was a party boat, or head boat, operating out of Montauk, New York, which capsized on September 1, 1951, killing 45 passengers and crew, including the captain Eddie Carroll.
SuperFerry 9 was a ferry owned by the Philippines-based carrier Aboitiz Transport System Corp (ATSC) and operated by their SuperFerry division. About 9 a.m. Sunday, September 6, 2009, she sank off the south-west coast of Zamboanga Peninsula with a total of 971 passengers and crew aboard.
USCGC Anacapa (WPB-1335) is a decommissioned Island-class cutter of the United States Coast Guard. She was based at Petersburg, Alaska and Port Angeles, Washington and was responsible for law enforcement, search and rescue, and maritime defense.
USCGC Liberty (WPB-1334) is an Island-class cutter of the United States Coast Guard. She spent her first 33 years of service homeported in Juneau, Alaska where she patrolled territorial waters, including the Inside Passage. In 2016 she won the Hopley Yeaton Cutter Excellence Award for outstanding operational and humanitarian achievements. In 2022 she was reassigned to Valdez, Alaska.
MV Samish is the second vessel of the Olympic-class auto ferries built by Vigor Industrial for the Washington State Ferries system. The vessel started service with her maiden voyage to Friday Harbor as the #3 Boat in the San Juans on June 14, 2015.
MV Lestari Maju was a modified 749 tonnes cargo ship that operated domestic passenger service from Bulukumba Regency to Selayar Islands in South Sulawesi. At noon on 3 July 2018, the ship was deliberately grounded off the Selayar Islands. The ferry had reportedly suffered a leak on the port side of the lower deck. As the ferry began to sink, the captain decided to ground the ferry to stop the sinking and ease the rescue effort. The incident killed 35 people; 155 people survived the accident.
The sinking of MV Acita 03 occurred on the night of 18 October 2007 when a ferry carrying 174 passengers and crews accidentally capsized during its docking in Baubau, Southeast Sulawesi. 134 passengers and crews survived the disaster while 30 passengers and 1 crew member lost their lives. 9 people were listed as missing and presumed dead.
The sinking of MV Conception occurred on September 2, 2019, when the 75-foot (23 m) dive boat caught fire and eventually sank off the coast of Santa Cruz Island, California, United States. The boat was anchored overnight at Platts Harbor, a small undeveloped bay on the island's north shore, with 33 passengers and 1 crew member asleep below decks when a fire broke out shortly after 3 a.m. Five crew members, whose sleeping quarters were on the top deck, survived while everyone else on board died. The crew members were forced by the fire to jump overboard but not before placing an initial mayday call to the Coast Guard and attempting to alert the passengers. The crew retrieved the Conception's skiff and motored to a nearby boat where a second radio dispatch was made. The rescue and recovery operations were coordinated by the United States Coast Guard.
Following the September 11 attacks in New York City, many people were unable to leave Lower Manhattan due to the closure of bridges and tunnels and mass transportation. Within minutes of the first plane hitting the first tower, multiple fireboats from the New York City Fire Department rushed to the scene. The United States Coast Guard coordinated a large convoy of merchant ships, tugboats, and ferries to evacuate the stranded and injured victims.
MV Spirit of Norfolk was an American passenger ship which operated as a tour boat out of Norfolk, Virginia, until destroyed by fire in June 2022.
This article incorporates public domain material from Marine Accident Brief MAB-10-02 (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board.