The Prince of Fundy: Maine to Nova Scotia

A distinct childhood memory when I was ten years old was when my Dad, Jack Siulinski, invited me to tag along with him on a work assignment. Jack was a commercial photographer who provided film for mostly local commercials and advertisements. More on the experience of being on the job with my Dad below.

Portland Headlight in the foreground

The Prince of Fundy was a 387 foot car, truck and passenger “cruise ferry”. It made daily trips from Portland, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The ship was operated by Lion Ferry AB of Halmstad, Sweden, and it’s crew and captains were mostly of Swedish origin. Lion Ferry operated similar cruise lines in Germany and Scandinavia. The tagline from a brochure from my Dad’s personal collection gives a compelling description: “The ocean ferry offering the excitement, luxury, and continental flare of an international cruise ship." The image to the left is from the personal collection of Jack Siulinski.

Photo advertisement

Life onboard included dining (including the staple Swedish Smorgasbord), dancing, shopping in the tax-free gift shop, and low stakes gambling (roulette, blackjack and slot machines). The round trip price was just $25 for an adult and $12.50 for a child. The charge for a vehicle was $32. One driver (passenger) was included in the vehicle charge. The saving of driving miles from Portland to Yarmouth was 858 miles. Passengers saved on time also; the one way voyage was ten hours. Today, the roundtrip cost of a car ferry from Bar Harbor, Maine to Yarmouth, NS is $210.

Back to my childhood experience on the job with my Dad: The assignment was for my Dad and I to board a small sport aircraft (a 4-seater similar to the image shown here) so that Dad could film the Prince of Fundy as it cruised out of Portland harbor into the Casco Bay Islands before heading out to the great Atlantic. This all sounded very exciting to a young child. Having never flown below, I was anxious what the experience would be like but I did not feel unsafe because I was with my Dad. 

Image Source: Pixabay

Once in flight the pilot putted along more or less in a straight-forward trajectory and soon were were several miles away from the coast. The view was spectacular but once we caught up with the Prince, the pilot started making these continuous swirling motions as the ship cruised along at full speed. I did not expect to experience a constant feeling of merry-go-round. With every turn, I began to feel dizzy. At first I kept the feeling to myself but when the dizziness turned to nausea, I told my Dad I was feeling sick. My suffering did not last too much longer as my Dad got the pictures he needed and we headed back to the landing strip. Was I happy to be on the ground! I remember telling my Dad that when I got off the plane, I felt like I was walking on the moon.

Fishing Boats in Yarmouth

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia is a port town located on the Bay of Fundy in south-western Nova Scotia, Canada. It lies at the Atlantic entrance to the Bay of Fundy, 210 miles by road west of Halifax. The site may well have been visited by Leif Eriksson the Lucky and his Norsemen around 1000 AD. The town of Yarmouth developed with the fishing industry and has a gorgeous heritage district filled with charming ex-sea captains' mansions with elaborately painted wood features, widow's walks and glass-walled turrets. 

During the heyday of the Prince of Fundy's operation, the service provided a boon to tourism in Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces. Today, there is no longer a ferry servicing Portland to Yarmouth but there is a high speed car ferry service from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth.

Referenced material and source citations: 

1. New York Times,  A New Car Ferry with a Difference, August 30, 1970: https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/30/archives/a-new-car-ferry-with-a-difference.html
2. Source of Fishing Boats image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotia_Prince_Cruises
3. Press Release by Torben K. Anderson, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Lion Ferry
4. Brochures and photographs from personal collection of Jack Siulinski
5. Source of paragraph about Yarmouth: https://tinyurl.com/y3zzvsaj

Yearbooks during War Time

Among the personal effects of my Dad is his 1943 yearbook from Deering High School in Portland, Maine.  He was a freshman that year. Of course, this was the time of World War II. Besides studying the yearbook for its usual features and looking for references to my Dad, I was intrigued to find that the book that year was dedicated to the “Fighting Men” and its stated theme was “Portland at War”.

It is ironic that the name of Deering's yearbook is Amethyst as the spiritual meaning of the word is grounded-ness and tranquility when the world in 1943 was anything but calm.

“Suddenly in spring, 1940, war came to Portland, unofficially. We called it “National Defense” and prepared for the coming conflict. With the collapse of French resistance, all America awoke, and Portland stirred from sleep. In a few short months Portland built shipyards, machine shops, and dockyards. Thousands migrated from the farms, and the city swelled to bursting with defense workers.”

As you turn the pages, the story is told is small chapters carefully arranged between the individual and group photos. There are the Pathfinder mothers who meet to hear topics such as “Nursing as a Profession” or “Wartime and Education in a Word at War”. Many mothers are involved in Red Cross volunteer work and Civilian Defense activities. Many teachers entered the various branches of the Armed Forces.

On the field of friendly strife are sown the seeds that are on other fields and on other days will bring forth victory. 

                                        - General Douglas MacArthur 

Something that I did not realize about the nearest city to my birth, American destroyers, based in Portland, had been “waging war on U boats for many months before Pearl Harbor". I am amazed to be learning this information from a high school yearbook.

"Portland is doing its part in winning the war. On our streets we brush shoulders with the soldiers and sailors of all the United Nations. War-workers, fatigued, dinner pails under the arms, crowd the buses. Grim naval ships anchor among our fog shrouded islands."

And more thoughts expressed on the dedication page illicit grim images: “the sharp sophomore with the jazzy suspenders and bow tie who wrote you notes in study period is now on submarine patrol in the Atlantic. The shy senior who escorted you to your first junior prom was killed in action in Tunisia last month. Last year’s star basketball player is learning to dismantle a machine gun and use a bayonet at Parris Island.”

The stark reality of Deering's youth in 1943 was: Everywhere we turn we find Portland at war.

Source of the definition of Amethyst: https://meanings.crystalsandjewelry.com/amethyst/

Source of the American poster: https://unsplash.com/photos/o_ez64ErEbQ

Source: Deering High School. Amethyst, 1943. William Dodge, Ed.