Ferry Timeline of Events

Home / Timelines / Ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

Timeline of Events

1811

10.11.1811

Inventor John Stevens' boat, the ''Juliana'', begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey).

1959

9.23.1959

The MS Princess of Tasmania, Australia’s first passenger roll-on/roll-off diesel ferry, makes her maiden voyage across Bass Strait.

1968

4.10.1968

Shipwreck of the New Zealand inter-island ferry TEV ''Wahine'' outside Wellington harbour.

1976

10.20.1976

The ferry ''George Prince'' is struck by a ship while crossing the Mississippi River between Destrehan and Luling, Louisiana. Seventy-eight passengers and crew die and only 18 people aboard the ferry survive.

2002

9.26.2002

The overcrowded Senegalese ferry ''MV Joola'' capsizes off the coast of Gambia killing more than 1,000.