The ferry Woods Hole was pulled from service late Thursday because of mechanical problems, the Steamship Authority announced, adding to a series of issues with the boat line’s ferries. On Wednesday the ferry Martha’s Vineyard, the other main passenger vessel to the Vineyard, was pulled from service after problems with the ship’s back-up generators.

Both vessels are now at the Steamship Authority’s Fairhaven maintenance facility for repairs.

The Sankaty has been put into service in place of the ferry Martha’s Vineyard, and on Friday morning the SeaStreak ferry was brought in to provide passenger-only service, beginning with the 6 a.m. trip to Vineyard Haven.

SeaStreak rides to the rescue, taking passengers only on Friday morning. — Mark Alan Lovewell

The line of cars stretched to Five Corners on Friday morning as passengers and crew tried to figure out what to do.

“I’m thinking of swimming over,” said Krista Barnett, who had arrived at the terminal at 8:45 a.m. for her 9:30 a.m. ferry reservation. At that time the website listed all the ferries as running on time.

The Steamship Authority website urges passengers to call the reservations office to find out if a trip has been cancelled: “Due to the staging area constraints at the terminals, we will only be able to accommodate vehicles with reservations that have not been canceled. There will also be no vehicle standby travel today, except for medical emergencies.”

In a press release, Robert Davis, Steamship Authority general manager, said an indicator light went off on the console of the Woods Hole as the vessel was loading for the 5 p.m. trip from Vineyard Haven to Woods Hole. Passengers and vehicles were transferred to the freight ferry Katama for the trip to Woods Hole.

“We deeply regret the inconvenience this may cause, and will provide an update as we get more information,” Mr. Davis said.

The Woods Hole, the newest vessel in the Steamship fleet at about two years old, was out of service for about two days last weekend because of problems with the onboard system. Mr. Davis told the Gazette Thursday that the ferry was running while the boat line waited for the results of diagnostic tests.

Suzanne Reppert, also in line Friday morning, tried to put a positive spin on the situation.

“No icebergs yet,” she said.