Ferry service stopped running in 1952 when the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was completed.
At that time a group of businessmen headed by Hampden D. Mepham, originally from St. Louis but then living in New York City, and Frank McNamee, of Albany, and at the urging of Gov.
The "Old Harrington", as the boat became known, made two round trips daily, crossing the Chesapeake Bay in 1 hour 20 minutes.
Harrington, his term as Governor over, became President of the company and instituted reforms to make it more profitable.
Emerson C. Harrington II, a double-ender with a coal-fired steam engine, until it was converted to diesel power in 1944/45.
Herbert R. O'Conor (1948-1952), and the B. Frank Sherman (1949-1952), the last named for the company's General Manager from 1924-1952.
At the time the company was purchased by the State Roads Commission, it had approximately 120 employees.
During a final run by the John M. Dennis a few weeks before the bridge opening, it "accidentally" rammed the new bridge [Variations on the cause of the "accident" can be found between newspaper accounts and recollections by family members of the ship's Captain Edward C. Higgins].
Sold in 1938 to C. K. Duncan, who brought the vessel to Pocomoke City, Maryland, and made it into a floating restaurant, nightclub and hotel.
Photo link: At dock in Claiborne alongside the Cambridge owned by the competing Baltimore, Chesapeake, and Atlantic railway) As a restaurant in Pocomoke Capacity: 13 vehicles Bought in 1920 and placed in service on 20 Jul 1920, under Capt.
Photo LInk:[permanent dead link] John M. Dennis breaking her way through ice on the bay in the 1930s.
Nothing came of the idea and the boat was turned over to Seattle's Pacific Marine Foundation who sold it to a private owner in 2009/2010.
She was sold to the Tocony-Palmyra Ferry Company of Philadelphia and put into service on the Delaware River under the new name "Mount Holly".
The company failed in 1936 and she was purchased by the Claiborne-Annapolis Ferry Co. on May 5, 1938, at which time major rebuilding was done of the superstructure.
As of 1999, it was the oldest double-ended ferry still in service in North America, and will celebrate its 100th anniversary on January 15, 2013.
Sold to the Washington State Ferries in 1954, for use on Puget Sound, and renamed Rhododendron.