Bowsprite’s rendering of the orange aka ġeolurēad Staten Island ferry John F. Kennedy feels like a sip of warm cider on a cold autumn evening.   The Staten Island ferry adopted this color–clever . . .  they picked a color that both promoted visibility/safety and nodded to heritage–in 1926.  Before that, the color was basic white.    So here’s my question:  are there large ferries elsewhere that are not mostly white?  And this takes me way out on a limb, but can anything be read into the fact that a national eating/drinking establishment uses a similar orange color?

Cross Sound Ferry’s Cape Henlopen is mostly

a color that would blend into snow and fog.  That’s Joan Turecamo in the background, off New London.

The same is true also of Susan Anne, here off Plum Island.

Yes, that’s Manhattan in the background.  Can you guess this ferry white vessel?

It’s Twin Capes . . . a Delaware River and Bay Authority vessel, on a special mission in the sixth boro.  DRBA has its own vessel named Cape Henlopen, a geographic feature located in Delaware.

My other ferry experience this year introduced me to the Washington State Ferry system, with green trim, but otherwise

mostly the color of snow and fog.

Here is a Tugster post on Champlain ferries.

All fotos here by Will Van Dorp.

Please send fotos of non-white ferries . . . or non-sixth boro orange ones or banana yellow or plum . . . . two-tone green?

So it doesn’t take long:  Capt. Bill Miller sent this undated foto (late 1940s?) of what could be the green CNJRR ferry Cranford (launched 1905 from Wilmington), which ran in the harbor from Jersey City.  Cranford has served as a reef since 1982.  A slightly older vessel formerly known as Lakewood (1901) served as the last CNJRR ferry until 1967; then renamed Second Sun it served as education center for the Salem nuclear power plant until 1992, when it  had a third life as a fancy Philly waterfront eatery called Elizabeth, which transitioned into a Hooters venue until 2002.    Today, the vessel is probably the only Hooters-logoed reef in the universe.  How can I nominate ferry Elizabeth for induction into the Hooters Hall o Fame . . .

Related:  The Washington State Ferry system uses 22 vessels to move 23 million passengers per year;  the Staten Island Ferry uses 10 vessels to move 20 million passengers per year.  Hmmm!

Unrelated:  a stealth sub losing its stealth on a Scottish mudbank.