Joe Gelarden
Wed, 04/21/2021 - 7:00am
Like most launchings, it started with a groan as gravity, and a pull from a tug, began to pull the steel vessel from the shed where she was born. Slowly at first, then a bit quicker, she slid down the greased ways until her stern dunked into the Damariscotta River.
As the bulk of the 154 foot-long craft left the Washburn & Doughty Shipyard and took her first gentle roll, she became alive. Christened
Capt. Richard G. Spear, she became the latest to be crafted and launched from the shores of East Boothbay.
Your tax money paid $10.9 million to build the 465-ton ferry that will soon sail to Rockland, where she will carry up to 250 passengers and 23 vehicles to Vinalhaven.