European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Tintypes one loves to drive ferry Apt. Billy Phillips As Safar i trs say. Is keeping an Eye aft. Reefs of Progress threaten again. Capt. Phillips pilots a ferryboat 16 Miles across Delaware Bay be i tween Cape May n.j., and Lewes Del. In the Spring Sunshine or under the stars it is a glorious trip an hour and a Quarter of sea coast s the rub. A Bridge could shorten the trip to five minutes by car. Bridge builders Sank capt. Phillips once before. He recognizes the warning sounds As clearly As the bellowing of foghorn in the night. They Are phrases like feasibility study. Practical phrases Are coming from the Jersey Shore. The Jersey Shore is where Casino gambling was recently approved. I Don t really know what i la do this time if they build a the Captain said. He peered through the Broad wind shield of the Pilot House at the approaching red buoy marking Crow Shoal and did not mask his sarcasm. I guess i d gel a Job on the Billy Phillips was born in red Bank on Virginia s Eastern Peninsula and for All nil 42 years has known Only the sea. At 17 he took a Job As an Ordinary Seaman on the ferry that ran from Kioto Peke va., across the Mouth of Chesapeake Bay to utile Creek near Norfolk. Before Long he worked his Way through the ranks to Captain. That was a Fine ferry crossing. The boats handled nicely. The water was Safe. I enjoyed it Down there. Of course it was in 1984 the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel a True Marvel of engineering linked the Eastern Peninsula to the Virginia Mainland at Norfolk. Travel time was slashed. So was the ferry. The three superfluous ferry boats steamed North and the new Jersey Dela Ware service started. The new place was t Home but capt. Phillips found it a Fine ferry crossing too especially when the old Chesapeake boats were replaced with three Brand new Are commodious boats 320-fcct Long 65-feet wide. The townspeople at Lewes and Cape May go Down to the ferry slip just to watch them Dock. The scene has something of the excitement of a Mississippi Landing in Mark Twain s Steamboat Era. Passengers waiting to Cross with their automobiles get in line Early. On a Busy Day latecomers can be crowded off left behind and made to wait for the next would never happen with an efficient , they Park on a spacious Black top lot marked with while lines in numbered lanes and get out of their cars and stretch and coolers Are lifted from car trunks. Youngsters toss Frisbie. Some travellers sit alone with their car doors open and read the paper. Some stroll to the terminal building and buy Saltwater Taffy and Post cards and plastic ferryboat models for the kids. With a whistle Mast the ferry rumbling it eases up to the slip. The heavy pilings groan against its a Chain link Fence at the Harbor the its Load of Caw. Then slowly backs out. From the Wing of is excuse the expression Bridge capt. Billy Phulps deftly works the levers and wheels that turn the boat around in the Foamy water. It backs into the Tulp and takes on its new cargo Stern first. Aboard and parked passengers Rush to the upper deck to find a place at the the boat pulls away they Call and wave to the people on Shore. The people on shortwave to the people aboard. Strangers wave. Squadrons of gulls Fly a Farewell the Pilot House capt. Phillips draws a Mug of Coffee from a stainless steel checks a Bank of dials scans the sea for traffic. It s a Busy Bay. Sometimes pleas ure Craft can become a he lights a pipe and the first mate takes the wheel. Below passengers queue up at the snack bar and then head for outdoor benches with plates of Fried shrimp and glasses of Beer. Children pose before lifeboats. Cam eras Click. At the Lee rail a Young Man s shoulder edges toward a Young woman s shoulder. Shoulders touch. They smile. A round trip costs Lor a walk on passenger Capi. Phillips said. You d be surprised now Many come along just for the ride on a Nice summer night. It s Cool out on the Bay and always smells Salt and but a Bridge could get you across quicker. At least that s what a feasibility study shows. It was sponsored by a dozen new Jersey municipalities and it shows that for somewhere Between a Quarter and half Bil lion dollars a Bridge could get you across quicker. And Steamboat Bill is marking time in Iowa of much doubt who to the widest read historian to Low. Ii is William better known As Steamboat Bulj he s the one who wrote All those Roadside historical who has seen an Iowa Marker knows it in t the usual Quick statement of dust dry fact caught on the Fly. Iowa s markers like their author have a Tat More vigor and color than most. Historic Davenport for example to where i the Iron horse of Mhz Rock Bra jew is a thirst in the cold Waters of the i Storte Dubuque is a City of Iowa firsts first ensures nest murder first Public ,.,nothing Duff about these signs or cryptic. They re 6 feet Talland 4 feet wide and when you wish Talan fee we an we Side you walk around and read �uj3elmessage becomes nearly half As Long As this article. And they re All Over not hot where seme Stolon the intent no there s Marker. Steam a to Baric about very nearly any place. One reason is that for All his 76 years he has been a compulsive collector not just of historical lore but of historical keepsakes. These often turn out to be of More than nostalgic Worth. As a boy for instance he collected cigarette Pic Tures those Little scenes of indians lighthouses Ani Mals and such that smokers got with their Sweet Cap orals and turkish trophies and other Lum of the Century brands. Eventually he accumulated about 3.000 pictures several Complete series a collection equal to the one in the smithsonian institution which was donated by another historian of note Carl Sandburg. When i saw who the donor was Petersen said i was less embarrassed about my boyhood Petersen is not at All embarrassed la tact i duly proud of another of his collection labor of 40 years. Sheet music. A Story goes with it. William Petersen was bom on the Mississippi River Bank at Dubuque. His father a sail maker in his native Germany was the Dubuque agent for the Diamond to Steamboat lines one of the most celebrated on the River. 177 i was Able to witness the end of that romantic Era Petersen said. I can recall my father hitch ing up his horse and Carriage and heading for the Dock when we heard the Steamboat whistle. I Rode on the steamboats and got to know the Petersen went off to College then to graduate school and was planning a doctoral dissertation on George Canning and the Oregon Boundary when he mentioned his background to his history prof. His name was or. Louis Pelzer. I can remember his words Petersen stood up in a heroic pose. He said Petersen i personally will pull the rope that hangs you to yonder tree if you Don t Start working on the history of steam boating on the upper Mississippi the Young scholar packed a bag. He hitched rides on steamboats autos trucks. In his meticulous Way he noted the names of every person he met distance travelled expenses. He knows he travelled 3,000 Miles by water and 17,000 by land and that the whole adventure Cost him 184. In the course of his research he Laboured through stacks of flies and documents. "1 love to dig dig,dig." digging thereof a Musty documents la Louis be made pm Rosly ignore ondi Pilot s License no. A dated april i us issued to Mark Twita. It is Bow in a museum. Petenes s love of the Mississippi led to several books dozens of articles and thousands of picture Sand artefacts concerning the River. Once i was in Chicago browsing in a music store. I decided right then to collect the original music of every song inspired by the Mississippi. It turns out there Are More than 200."one thing led to another. My Sheet music collection now numbers about 400pieces."for an authority on the Mississippi River a re tired professor a retired superintendent and editor of the Iowa historical society journal there would seem to be a few accomplishments left for William was one. Three years ago William Petersen studied up Sadid others before him such As Mark Twain and took the exam for a Mississippi River Pilot s License. He Page 15 Nice going Steamboat Bill. The stars and stripes
