The rough, icy waters and wind proved to be too much for the Hingham, Massachusetts, to Boston commuter ferry Friday morning as it made an attempt to get service back to normal after the difficult month of snow storms and frigid weather we've had.
Some of the trouble the ferry ran into can be seen in photos from a commuter on board.
"This is the first trip from Hingham this week, so the ice is very thick, the stars are aligned to be terrible conditions, cold, ice, snow, a little wind," said Massachusetts Bay Lines General Manager Jay Spence.
Spence says ice breakers from the U.S. Coast Guard made three passes breaking up ice along the route before the boat left the dock.
He says while the ice certainly complicated the journey, it was really the wind that was the problem.
"We had to turn to port, return to left to get out of the river and the wind was westerly which was keeping our bow from turning, so we just had to make a 90 degree turn which they helped us do and then we just continued getting the tow until we got to clear water," said Spence.
Coast Guard crews who have been breaking up ice in the harbor and surrounding area were already following along with the ferry so it went fairly quickly.
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"We had more than a hundred people on this vessel so our number one thing was are you guys okay, are you in distress and how can we help out," said U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson Karen Kutkiewicz.
The ferry eventually made it to Boston, a little later than planned. But all other Hingham to Boston ferries had to be canceled for the rest of the day.
