Hy-Line Cruises

History

Current operations

Fleet

Related Research Articles

References

External links

Island ferry service

Sightseeing cruises

Fishing

Former fleet

Hyannis Harbor Tours, Inc.
Trade name	Hy-Line Cruises
Company type	Private
Industry	Ferries ; Sightseeing tours;
Founded	1962;62 years ago
Founders	Richard Scudder; Robert Scudder; E. Raymond Taylor;
Headquarters	Hyannis, Massachusetts
Key people	Frederic Scudder, II (President); Philip Scudder (Vice President); Richard Scudder, Jr. (Vice President);
Number of employees	100 (year-round),; 350 (summer)
Website	hylinecruises.com

Last updated June 21, 2024

Services

Hy-Line Cruises (colloquially referred to as Hy-Line, and legally Hyannis Harbor Tours Inc.) is an American family owned and operated Massachusetts ferry and cruise company.^[1] The company currently operates the second largest passenger ferry service between mainland Cape Cod and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket (after the Steamship Authority).^[2] The company also operates sightseeing cruises and fishing charters. The company's main office is located at 22 Channel Point Road in Hyannis.

Hy-Line Cruises began operations in 1962 as Hyannis Harbor Tours run by Richard Scudder and his brother Robert. Originally, the company focused on sightseeing harbor tours, which it still does today. The company added deep-sea fishing charters in 1966 and started running seasonal passenger-ferry services in 1970, first to Martha's Vineyard and then to Nantucket in 1972 when Hyannis Harbor Tours bought out The Nantucket Boat Company, which at that time was doing business as Hi-line. Hyannis Harbor Tours took this trade name and changed it to Hy-Line.^[3]

In 1995, Hy-Line Cruises started the first high-speed catamaran service to Nantucket; its original vessel was shortly replaced by a larger one in 1997, which in turn was replaced in 2003 by the Grey Lady.^[4] Hy-Line introduced high-speed service to Martha's Vineyard in 2005, using its 1997-built ferry Lady Martha .^[5] Another high-speed catamaran, Grey Lady IV, was delivered in 2016 to replace Hy-Line's monohull vessel, the Great Point on the Nantucket route.^[6]^[7]

Hy-Line Cruises operates high-speed catamaran ferry service between Hyannis and Nantucket (year-round) and Hyannis and Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard (seasonally). The journey time is approximately one hour. The company also operates seasonal inter-island trips between Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

All of Hy-Line Cruises ferry services are passenger only (although bicycles are carried for a small fee) due to the legal monopoly held on vehicle ferry service that is held by the Steamship Authority.^[8] Any new Hy-Line services must be approved by the authority, which serves as a regulatory body for service to and from the Islands.

Hy-Line Cruises also operates seasonal sightseeing cruises in and around Hyannis Harbor, and the Cape Cod Canal, (the latter sailing from the Wareham village of Onset).

Out of Hyannis, Hy-Line operates seasonal half-day deep sea fishing trips in Nantucket Sound. The fishing boats, Sea Queen II and Sea Swan, go out daily in the Spring and Summer to fish in Nantucket Sound. They offer bottom fishing trips for scup and black sea bass, along with Captain's Choice trips for whatever the captain thinks will be the best fishing.

Vessel	Service began^[9]	Route^[9]	Notes
MV Sea Queen II	1966^[10]		Aluminum monohull, rebuilt in 1977 by Breaux Baycraft and reintroduced to the fleet in 2000, used for deep-sea fishing trips^[9]
MV Viking	1973	Hyannis Harbor Cruise	Steel monohull, built in 1954 by Blount Marine^[9]
MV Grey Lady	2003	Hyannis–Nantucket	High speed catamaran, built by Gladding-Heam Shipbuilding^[9]
MV Lady Martha	2005	Hyannis–Martha's Vineyard	High speed catamaran, originally named Grey Lady II^[9] and served Hyannis–Nantucket route from 1997-2003
MV Vineyard Lady	2015	Hyannis–Martha's Vineyard	High speed catamaran, built in 2007 by Yank Marine^[9]
MV Grey Lady IV	2016	Hyannis–Nantucket	High speed catamaran, built by Gladding-Heam Shipbuilding^[9]
MV Monhegan	2023	Cape Cod Canal Cruises	Built in 1959 for the Maine State Ferry Co. as a car ferry.

Hy-Line also acquired two vessels upon purchasing the Nantucket Boat Company in 1972.^[10]

Vessel	Service began	Service ended	Notes
Prudence^[10]	1962
MV Sea Swan II^[10]	1966		Used for deep-sea fishing trips^[10]
MV East Chop ^[10]	1971	after 2012	Built in 1971^[10]
MV Brant Point^[10]	1972		sold to Boston Harbor Cruises
MV Cross Rip	1976		Twin screw vessel, operated inter-island service Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard
MV Great Point^[10]	1988	2016	"First-class" vessel serving Nantucket,^[10] replaced by Grey Lady IV
MV Grey Lady^[10]	1996		First high-speed catamaran service to serve Nantucket^[10]

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Cod</span> Peninsula in Massachusetts, United States

Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The name Cape Cod, coined in 1602 by Bartholomew Gosnold, is the ninth oldest English place-name in the U.S.

Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwestern corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at the 2010 census.

Falmouth is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 32,517 at the 2020 census, making Falmouth the second-largest municipality on Cape Cod after Barnstable. The terminal for the Steamship Authority ferries to Martha's Vineyard is located in the village of Woods Hole in Falmouth. Woods Hole also contains several scientific organizations such as the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), the Woodwell Climate Research Center, NOAA's Woods Hole Science Aquarium, and the scientific institutions' various museums.

Hyannis is the largest of the seven villages in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area at the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer to Hyannis as the "Capital of the Cape". It contains a majority of the Barnstable Town offices and two important shopping districts: the historic downtown Main Street and the Route 132 Commercial District, including Cape Cod Mall and Independence Park, headquarters of Cape Cod Potato Chips. Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis is the largest on Cape Cod.

Nantucket Sound is a roughly triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean offshore from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is 30 miles (48 km) long and 25 miles (40 km) wide, and is enclosed by Cape Cod on the north, Nantucket on the south, and Martha's Vineyard on the west. Between Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard it is connected to the Vineyard Sound. Ports on Nantucket Sound include Nantucket and Hyannis, Massachusetts.

The Cape Cod Railroad is a railroad in southeastern Massachusetts, running from Pilgrim Junction in Middleborough across the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge, where it splits towards Hyannis in one direction and Falmouth in the other. It was incorporated in 1846 as the Cape Cod Branch Railroad to provide a rail link from the Fall River Railroad line in Middleborough to Cape Cod.

The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority, doing business as The Steamship Authority (SSA), is the statutory regulatory body for all ferry operations between mainland Massachusetts and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, as well an operator of ferry services between the mainland and the islands. It is the only ferry operator to carry automobiles to and from the islands. The Authority also operates several freight vessels, thus serving as the main link for shipping any commercial goods that are not transported using the airports on Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard.

Seastreak is a private ferry company operating in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in New England. It provides high-speed commuter service between points on the Raritan Bayshore in Monmouth County, New Jersey and in Manhattan in New York City as well as special event and sightseeing excursions in the harbor and seasonal service to the New England coast.

Sandwich station is a railway station in Sandwich, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. It is currently only used by the Cape Cod Central Railroad as a whistle stop for its seasonal excursion trains.

The Hyannis Transportation Center (HTC) is an intermodal transportation center in Hyannis, Massachusetts, operated by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA). It is the terminus for several CCRTA bus lines and its CapeFLYER passenger train that operates on summer weekends between Boston South Station and Hyannis. It is also used by the Plymouth and Brockton Street Railway, Peter Pan Bus Lines, and Greyhound via CapeBus intercity bus services. The Cape Cod Central Railroad uses a separate station building across the tracks for its excursion services. A rail yard used by the Cape Cod Central is located north of the station, along with a former roundhouse.

Woods Hole station was a station on the Old Colony Railroad located in the village of Woods Hole in the town of Falmouth, Massachusetts. It served as the terminus for the railroad's branch line to Woods Hole and offered ferry connections to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

The CapeFlyer is a passenger rail service in Massachusetts between Boston and Cape Cod that began in 2013. It is operated by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA) in collaboration with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The service runs on the weekends, beginning Friday evenings and including holidays, between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend.

MV Iyanough is a high-speed ferry that operates for the Steamship Authority on a route between Hyannis and Nantucket, Massachusetts.

MV Gran Cacique IV is a high speed passenger ferry that is operated in Venezuela by Gran Cacique II. She originally operated for the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority as Flying Cloud.

MV Grey Lady IV is a high-speed catamaran ferry operated by Hy-Line Cruises that runs on a route between Hyannis and Nantucket, Massachusetts.

SS Martha's Vineyard was a ferry that operated in New England for much of the 20th century.

MV Grey Lady is a high speed catamaran ferry operated by Hy-Line Cruises that travels on a route between Hyannis and Nantucket.

MV Lady Martha is a high speed catamaran ferry operated by Hy-Line Cruises out of Hyannis, Massachusetts.

The Cape Codder was a pair of day and night passenger trains run by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NH) from the latter 1920s to the mid 1960s, with some brief interruptions. Its distinction was the longest tenure of direct summertime New York City to Cape Cod trains. With the improvement of highways in southeastern Massachusetts, passenger rail traffic diminished, and the Cape Codder service ended with the New Haven Railroad's discontinuing of passenger rail service to Cape Cod.

↑ "Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce Hy-Line Cruises". Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2008-01-07.
↑ MassDOT Office of Transportation Planning (October 2012). Passenger Ferry Transportation in Massachusetts (PDF). Retrieved March 16, 2013.
↑ "Hy-Line Cruises - About Us web page". Hy-Line Cruises. Archived from the original on March 16, 2013. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
↑ "Scudder family stays the course". Cape Cod Times. June 29, 2003. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
↑ "Hy-Line suspends Vineyard fast ferry service for season". Cape Cod Today. October 13, 2008. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
↑ "Hy-Line to Go High-Speed Only on Routes to Nantucket". CapeCod.com. 24 June 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
↑ "Gladding-Hearn delivers new Nantucket ferry to Hy-Line Cruises". Workboat. September 15, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
↑ "About the Steamship Authority". The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Fleet". Hy-Line Cruises. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "History". Hy-Line Cruises. Retrieved March 27, 2020.

Oak Bluffs

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41°38′53.2″N70°16′45.2″W / 41.648111°N 70.279222°W / 41.648111; -70.279222

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[1] "Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce Hy-Line Cruises". Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2008-01-07.

[2] MassDOT Office of Transportation Planning (October 2012). Passenger Ferry Transportation in Massachusetts (PDF). Retrieved March 16, 2013.

[3] "Hy-Line Cruises - About Us web page". Hy-Line Cruises. Archived from the original on March 16, 2013. Retrieved March 16, 2013.

[cct-4] "Scudder family stays the course". Cape Cod Times. June 29, 2003. Retrieved January 6, 2017.

[5] "Hy-Line suspends Vineyard fast ferry service for season". Cape Cod Today. October 13, 2008. Retrieved January 6, 2017.

[6] "Hy-Line to Go High-Speed Only on Routes to Nantucket". CapeCod.com. 24 June 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.

[7] "Gladding-Hearn delivers new Nantucket ferry to Hy-Line Cruises". Workboat. September 15, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2017.

[8] "About the Steamship Authority". The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority. Retrieved March 16, 2013.

[vessels-9] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Fleet". Hy-Line Cruises. Retrieved March 27, 2020.

[history-10] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "History". Hy-Line Cruises. Retrieved March 27, 2020.

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