Dear Melvin & Patty:

Sorry to hear of your Dad's passing. I have many great memories of him. Captain Buck and so many more of his colleagues were great men - all of them were the truly great captains, who can never be replaced.

Please call on me at any time if ever there is anything I can do.

Melvin,

I was sorry to hear about your loss. My deepest sympathies to you and your family.

Michelle Penn-Marshall

Melvin and family,

Your father is with God now. May you be comforted in the knowledge that you were a good son.

C.P. Penn and family

Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this time. We are sure that he will be missed greatly.

Melvin and Patty:
Sorry to hear of your loss. You are in my prayers. Take care as best you can. With Deepest Sympathy,

I as well as hundreds have lost a piece of history and friendship that spanned many years. Many trips to the Drugstore after the last trip from Jamestown to get a ice cream cone, trips to Richmond for Buck to buy complete wardrobe, suspect that was about the time he was courting Virginia, goose hunting and on and on. There will never be another.

The following are just a few of the items I had discussed with Buck about 2 years ago, enjoy them as he did.

JAMESTOWN - SCOTLAND FERRIES

FOND MEMORIES

William Lucian (Bill) West, Jr.

Major (Retired), USAF Command Pilot

Part and full-time Deckhand and Engineer circa 1944 - 1950

On the Captain John Smith, Pocahontas and Miss Carolina

Recent accounts of the Ferries prompted me to review several items, with Captain Elbert Francis (Buck) Younglove, (Retired).

A "Fish Truck", from Gloucester was the, "Captain John Smith's", first mishap when it was lost overboard. According to his recollection, the river was a little choppy that day. In theory, apparently the truck began to rock back and forth and may have had the switch left on, allowing the engine to start or it simply kicked the chock out and rolled off the stern. One must wonder, if it simply rolled off, in that the chains were always up to prevent such an occurrence.
A "Lumber Truck" on the Jamestown side leaving the ferry. Its front wheels were on the Transfer Bridge and when additional power was added to go up the ramp, the trucks' inertia caused the ferry to move back from the bridge and the truck to drop into the water. Captain Edward Jester rescued Merle Addison (Merle had previous been crippled). Ed saw Merle's hair floating inside the truck cab and jumped onto the lumber, reached inside the truck, grabbed Merle by his hair and pulled him out and up.
Another episode occurred on the Jamestown side when an empty "Pulp Wood"" truck came on board the Pocahontas. Captain Ed Jester, Deckhand William L. West, Jr. and Engineer Chief Herbert Gilliam were the crew. In this instance the truck came on board as the first vehicle, there were three occupants, two of the occupants jumped out yelling, "He don't have no brakes". Captain Ed and the writer both threw "chocks" under the wheels, but the truck jumped them. The trucks front wheels went over the bow of the ferry, two fortunate things happened, the trucks speed was slowed by the chocks and the trucks frame hung on the bow. We immediately grabbed a line and secured the truck frame to the mooring cleats. We then attempted to get the driver, who was now looking down at nothing but water, to get out of the truck. He was frozen to his seat; Captain Ed gave him a small line, opened the door and got him out. We then backed a couple of cars off the boat and began a process of recovery with the Transfer Bridge. Captain Ed left the slip and returned bow first, with the trucks wheels hanging down. The transfer bridge was lowered and the boat nudged forward until the wheels were over the transfer bridge; we then lifted the transfer bridge until the truck was lifted up and the boat tied secure. I think this was the one and only time I ever saw Captain Ed mad (no not mad fuming angry). He told the truck driver "Don't you ever bring that piece of junk truck back on my boat, then continued I don't ever want to see you on my boat again, you jeopardized all of us." I don't ever remember seeing the driver or truck again.
A woman committed suicide by jumping overboard, the ferry was going from Jamestown to Scotland.
A woman being transferred from the Surry side to the Williamsburg mental facilities. She was left alone in the car, she got out and jumped overboard, committing suicide.
Captain Willie Marshall, with Engineer William L. West, Jr. and (Deckhand, name forgotten), backed the Pocahontas into the slip on the Jamestown side and felt a bump. It became obvious, by the transfer bridge chains being broken and its steel lip scrapped, that a car had gone into the River. The boat was then docked in the up-river slip, police were called and divers from Fort Eustis raised the car, which had two occupants. I remember the Divers stating they had to pry the driver's fingers from the steering wheel. (As a sidelight to this accident, some say the occupants were seen in Williamsburg the night before, consuming alcoholic beverages. The same people believed the occupants were going up route 5 to Charles City, which crossed the Chickahominy River. The bridge was constructed with wooded planking, as was the ferry dock; the night was foggy and the occupants would not have detected their mistake, at least by sound or appearance. As a sidelight, Mr. Cox, a Williamsburg building contractor had run off the same Chickahominy Bridge when the "Draw" was open, not too far back from this incident.)
Captain Harry Dixon was a seasoned Riverman who served as Supervisor of the ferries. "Cap'n Dick" was quite a character and we all loved to play jokes on him. His nickname was "Fried Meat", some say he acquired the name from what he always ate for lunch and I feel it was reinforced by this joke. It was a summer night with lots of small frogs on the dock; Chief Engineer Herbert Gilliam and the writer were working. Ed Jester and Captain Younglove and several others were there. Cap'n Dick smoked a corncob pipe ", with Half and Half tobacco and lit with "Kitchen Matches". When finished, he always knocked out the old ashes and put new tobacco in, he normally left the pipe in the Pilothouse, making it ready for the next light up. The writer feeling devilish stated "we ought to put one of these frogs in that pipe and let him fry it, of course there was an immediate egging on by all to do that. A frog was duly killed, and a sneak boarding made, with some tobacco being removed from the pipe and the frog being used as its replacement. I think half of those present rode over on that trip, the Pilothouse was full, and the writer was outside by the life rafts, leaning in the window. Cap'n Dick backed out of the slip and we headed for Buoy 55. Right on schedule Cap'n Dick reached for the pipe and his matches, he "LIT UP", we all held back the laughs, but he smoked the whole thing, knocked out the ashes, put in new tobacco and went about his business, as if nothing had ever happened. Some months later I asked him if he had ever notice anything about that tobacco, his reply was " Can't rightly say I have". Tough old bird.
Captain Younglove, upon reading 7 above, provided one of his earlier exploits:
He placed a small portion of "Horse Manure" in Cap'n Dick's pipe and Cap 'n Dick promptly used the contents. Several days later he asked Cap'n Dick if he noted anything wrong with his tobacco. Cap'n Dick replied "Can't rightly say I have". Captain Younlove told him he had placed some "Horse Manure" in his pipe. Cap'n Dick promptly replied "taste all right to me, put some more in there if you want.

(No wonder Buck was egging me on that night. "He had been there and done that.")

As a footnote, there are probably not over 10 people still living who worked for Captain Jester before VDOT purchased the Ferry System.

It is a tribute, to those past and present employees of the Ferry System, in these past 75 years:

NOT A SINGLE LIFE HAS BEEN LOST DUE TO FERRY OPERATIONS

2005

A footnote - My Dad while Sheriff had to arrest Buck. Seems Buck had been caught trapping on Jamestown Island and the National Park Service caught him and asked Daddy to pick him up and process him for them. This was in the early 1930s during the depression. Buck use to laugh right much about how many muskrats he caught before they caught him.