Eastbayri.com

Never mind Cup yachts, mansions and Vanderbilts. The best yarn the Aquidneck Ferry’s hired storyteller could tell will be right beneath his feet.

Except who, other than perhaps the owner of any big half-century-old wooden boat, would believe him?

He could tell of the time the ferry crashed headlong into a Providence pier in full view of the Coast Guardsmen who had come to inspect her (gear shift couldn’t engage reverse). The mishap smashed the ferry’s massive oak bow.

He could tell of not one blown engine but two — and a generator to boot.

He could describe near sinkings, cutthroat struggles to gain a toehold in the closed-shop Newport waterfront and a bundle spent on lumber and long-lost parts.

But best of all, he could tell of the Portsmouth man who devoted two years and a small fortune on his dream of ferrying passengers around Newport Harbor aboard a pretty vintage packet boat.

At long last, Aquidneck Ferry has left Tiverton Basin, where Mr. Closson and crew have long labored on the 65-foot, 70-ton vessel, and is sitting at a Newport Dock near Bowen’s Wharf.

And just when most boats have left the harbor for the season, owner Addison Closson has permits and Coast Guard inspection certificates in hand, a captain in place (George York) and is finally ready to welcome passengers aboard.

“I should have learned my lesson about predicting start dates but this time we really are ready to go,” Mr. Closson said last week.

He’s planning harbor story tours through the winter, weather permitting.

Some might see this as “less than ideal timing — initiating a new service at the start of the winter in the midst of a state-wide recession,” he said. Nonetheless, he thinks passengers are in for a treat.

“People will get to see the sights from inside a big, comfortable, stable, warm boat,” he said. “It’s actually a beautiful time of year here in Newport that few people get to appreciate.”

The travails that accompanied this project since the boat formerly known as Captain Lucky first arrived in the bay had dogged Mr. Closson right through this summer and fall.

The most recent of his predictions gone awry was that Aquidneck Ferry would start its rounds last summer. He’d installed a replacement engine for one of his two that was beyond hope and set out for a test spin.

“We hadn’t even gotten from Tiverton to the Mt. Hope Bridge when the other engine, the good one, gave up the ghost.” There was no choice but to shell out more money for a rebuilt replacement.

Now with two fully rebuilt Detroit Diesel 671 engines (introduced during World War II, these most reliable of engines enjoyed a good 60-year production run), “I figured we were finally good to go.”

Except that then the generator failed.

Engines and generator fixed, he finally set out for Newport a few weeks ago.

“It was blowing 25 to 30 out of the southwest but the boat took the waves with ease. It was a most comfortable ride to Newport.”

He decided to take a well-earned break and fly down to Washington, D.C. to join his wife for Thanksgiving. There his phone started ringing.

His ferry is sinking, the callers said. Attempts to get the pumps pumping had failed and water was nearly up to the engine. But calamity was averted when someone came up with the right replacement fuse.

To the oft-asked question “What were you thinking,” Mr. Closson can now point to a fully restored boat that fairly gleams inside and out.

The 58-year-old former Gulf shrimper/Philadelphia tour boat has a rebuilt interior within which passengers can sit at tables and chairs and watch the scenery through big windows. In good weather the top deck offers even better views. And he says this is the only boat in the mix that offers full wheelchair-friendly boarding, cabin and restrooom.

Through the winter they plan hourly trips from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays from their dock at the Newport Harbor Hotel & Marina, complete with storytelling and refreshments catered by Cornucopia. They will also offer evening entertainment cruises and charters.

It has been an ordeal, Mr. Closson said, “but there is a silver lining — several silver linings in fact.”

For one, he notes that his “hop-on, hop off” all-day pass business model must be a good one since Oldport Marine, one of the harbor firms that has opposed the Aquidneck Ferry every step of the way, has followed suit.

“And we’re here in time for an especially busy summer — America’s Cup trials, tall ships.”

For much more on offerings, schedules and fares, visit www.aquidferry.com.