PORTLAND, Maine — A group of hoteliers and a ship captain on Friday launched a new ferry service in Casco Bay, planning trips between islands and tours of the bay’s military history.
The new company, Portland Harbor Fleet, on Friday christened the 50-foot vessel Joseph S. Kennedy, or UB-85, that will serve as a charter between Peaks and Great Diamond islands and provide tours of former military sites in Casco Bay.
“There’s so much history here that’s been lost,” said David Bateman, a former U.S. Coast Guard gunner and the owner of Great Diamond Island’s Fort McKinley, which he’s been redeveloping for decades.
Bateman said his Inn at Diamond Cove is set to open in July. The new charter boat venture, he said, could eventually incorporate other boats into the fleet, depending on how the service goes.
The ship is a decommissioned U.S. Navy vessel, built in 1985 for the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, that previously belonged to a company providing tours of Boston Harbor.
The partners in the boat business include the owners of the Portland Harbor Hotel, the Diamond’s Edge Restaurant and Eugene Willard, who is the senior captain of Casco Bay Lines, which provides ferry service between Portland and the islands. He also is the owner of the Portland Express Water Taxi.
Willard said the new service will not compete with existing ferry services, adding a new line between Peaks and Great Diamond.
Bateman said that connection was of interest to Shipyard Brewery, whose founder also owns the Inn on Peaks Island. That line would provide a connection to additional lodging on Great Diamond, Bateman said.
Tim Gover, former owner of the boat, was a passenger on the first voyage of its new mission.
“I used to be in the Coast Guard,” Gover said. “UB stands for utility boat. It would run about 100 troops and materials back and forth. I got the boat in Wiscasset in the first place and you wouldn’t recognize it if you saw it back then.”
Other participants in the launch celebration were the Rev. Patrick Irwin, a retired priest who blessed the boat; bagpiper Kate Savidge; and Fred Forsley, president of Shipyard Brewing, which created a special brew to mark the occasion.
During a news conference Friday afternoon, Mayor Michael Brennan said he sees the service as a way to teach some of the approximately 8.5 million tourists to Portland more about the area and Casco Bay.
BDN intern Francis Flisiuk contributed to this report.