Whatever
Happened To...
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Ferries that served
Ford Island were retired
and put up for saleQuestion: What ever happened to the ferries that ran between Ford Island and Kamehameha Highway?
Answer: Before there was a bridge between Ford Island and Kamehameha Highway, the dozens of naval families who lived and the thousands of employees who worked on the 450-acre spit of land in the middle of Pearl Harbor depended on a 15-minute ferry service to get them to and from the island.
After the bridge was finished in April 1998, the two ferries that had served as a lifeline between Oahu and Ford Island for 37 years were retired, docked next to the USS Missouri and readied for sale.
One was sold last year for $17,000 to a company in New Orleans.
The other is available for sale to government agencies and is expected to be put on the open market by next year, said Navy Region Hawaii spokeswoman Agnes Tauyan.
Their crews have long since gone to other assignments in the Navy, she said.
Jim Taylor, an assistant officer in charge at the island's Navy brig, said the ferry service's demise meant the end of his close-knit "Ford Island ferry family" -- a group of his colleagues and friends whose schedules meant they rode the ferry with him almost daily.
They spent the travel time chatting, catching up on family news and enjoying spectacular views of the Arizona Memorial and the harbor, he said.
"I definitely do miss the camaraderie. We were very, very close to each other," Taylor said. The ferry ride "gave you time to reflect. It was just a real nice, peaceful ride."
Taylor has worked on the island since 1991.
He said in the five years since the bridge was opened, many have forgotten the famed ferry service, and newcomers to the island are astonished to hear that "you had to go by water to work," he said.
The ferry service would run 22 hours a day, carting not only passengers and their cars between the island and Oahu, but crucial supplies.
With the opening of the $78 million Adm. Bernard "Chick" Clarey Bridge, workers on the islands gained some noticeable luxuries, like being able to have lunch off-island, Taylor said.
"We have more freedom," he said. And, he added with a laugh, "we even have traffic jams" now.
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