Steamship to Sell M/V Governor Ferry

The oldest ferry in the Steamship Authority fleet, M/V Governor, is set to go on the market this fall after spending one last summer as a backup boat on the Woods Hole-Vineyard Haven route.

The authority’s governing board voted unanimously May 19 to sell off the 72-year-old double-ender, which the boat line purchased for $1 in 1997.

“Fully depreciated,” joked longtime Barnstable board member Robert Jones.

A preliminary report from the Steamship Authority earlier this year put the Governor’s potential resale value at $325,000, although Mr. Jones cautioned that she may go for far less.

“Don’t get enthusiastic about thinking you’re going to get a lot of money for this,” he said.

The ferry was scheduled for dry dock in 2027.

While the Governor remains in the Steamship Authority fleet for now, she is only called into service when another boat has broken down, seeing about 90 days of work a year.

The vintage ferry has inspired widespread affection among Islanders and other travelers who hail her speed and simplicity, but board member Ted Gavin said the Governor also has many limitations.

“It is of limited utility, and only runs from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven, and only in calm seas and good weather, and only takes five trucks,” said Mr. Gavin, who represents Martha’s Vineyard on the governing board.

The boat line contemplated retiring the Governor once before, after a breakdown in 2011 that left her out of service for much of the year while her engines were replaced.

After studying options that included scrapping the Governor and installing her engines in another freight ferry, the Steamship Authority wound up keeping her in the fleet.

With the recent purchase and conversion of three 21st-century oil field vessels into the freight ferries M/V Barnstable, M/V Aquinnah and M/V Monomoy, the authority currently has five freighters, posing extra maintenance and docking costs.

General manager Alex Kryska said staff would begin this summer compiling the materials needed to market the Governor, which will need to be declared surplus property by the Steamship Authority board before she can be put up for sale.

This article appears in June 5, 2026.