Messenger - Vol. 2, No. 1, Page 9 Fall 1992 Gretchen Bittner '93; Captain of the 'Talbot' Like lots of kids, Gretchen Bittner, Delaware '93, and her brother, Robb, had a lemonade stand when they were growing up. It was a pretty typical kids' venture except for one thing-the Bittners' stand was on the family ferryboat. Now a senior at the University, Bittner pilots the ferryboat in the summer on its daily trips across the scenic Tred Avon River between the picturesque towns of Oxford and Bellevue, Md. Having passed rigorous Coast Guard tests two years ago when she was 19, she is a licensed Master Inland Captain for vessels up to 110 tons. Carrying up to nine cars at a time plus pedestrians and bicyclists, while navigating around recreational sailors is no small task. Bittner makes it look easy. Under her able hand, the ferry Talbot glides out of its slip on the Oxford side of the river, and in a mere seven minutes, with barely a bump, it is tied up on the Bellevue side. The foot passengers and vehicles disembark and then it's time to head back one nautical mile the other way. The ferry has two engines-one to push it across the river, the other to pull it back the other way. "It doesn't look hard, does it?" Bittner asks. "My friends from school come down and laugh at me. They say, 'Wow. What a challenge.' I think they really come for the seafood." It may look so easy because Bittner was practically reared on the ferry. She is the seventh generation of her family to captain a ferry and one of four members of her immediate family who captain the Talbot. Her father, David, and her mother, Valerie, are licensed captains. Her brother, a business major at the University of South Carolina, followed family tradition and got his license this year, too. "I've been on the ferry ever since I could walk," Bittner says, "but to get my captain's license, I had to accumulate time-the equivalent of a year." Bittner says taking the test for her license was a little like taking the SAT's all over again. She took a special course in Annapolis to study for it. The four-part exam includes lengthy questions that require detailed written answers and a part that is completed by using a navigational chart. CPR and first aid also are included in the test. "The questions about tidal changes were the worst," Bittner says. At the University, Bittner is majoring in English and minoring in Spanish. She plans to earn her bachelor's degree this winter and stay one more year to earn a master's in English or Spanish and a teaching certificate. A teaching career-with summers off-seems well-suited to someone whose first love is a ferryboat. "After all this time, I don't know if I could fit into a regular office job. I'd love to teach, maybe English as a second language, and have the summers off and stay involved with the ferry," she said. "I really love this area. I've visited friends in New Jersey, and it's just a different world. It's all rush, rush, rush. It's so peaceful and beautiful here. I grew up being able to ride my bike or use my roller skates in the middle of the street. A sailboat is practically mandatory for every kid, and everyone learns to catch seafood. My high school class (St. Michaels, a public school) only had 60 people." Bittner's father opens the ferry every morning and works the 7-9 a.m. shift. Bittner says she prefers the 9 a.m.-l p.m. shift, leaving her afternoons free for tennis and water sports. Tourists account for 90 percent of the ferry business, and increasingly, those people are arriving for the ride on bicycles. The flat, eight-mile bike route from Oxford to St. Michaels attracts more biking enthusiasts each year. In June, two of the bikers who boarded the ferry were John F. Kennedy Jr. and his girlfriend, reportedly looking at local real estate. Other celebrities to board the ferry include Oliver North, Tom Selleck and Frank Perdue. Former Presidential Press Secretary James Brady and his wife are frequent passengers, and Bittner and a deck hand are still debating whether or not a one-time passenger was actress Elizabeth Montgomery. The Oxford-Bellevue Ferry is thought to be the oldest privately operated ferry service in the country. It is first mentioned in the minutes of the Talbot County Commissioners on Nov. 20, 1683. The first ferryboat operator was a Richard Royston who was paid 2,500 pounds of tobacco, the equivalent of $25 a year for two years. Bittner's family, who ran ferries between Shelter Island and North Haven on Long Island for five generations, became involved in the Maryland ferry in 1974. That's when Bittner's grandfather, Capt. Gilbert C. Clark, bought the ferry line from on old friend. Clark moved to Maryland and brought a six-car ferry, The Southside, with him. In 1975, Bittner's parents joined Clark in the operation, and five years later, the three put The Talbot into service. Clark retired in l987, and The Southside was donated in 1991 to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, which sunk it in the Chesapeake Bay as a fishery. "I guess you could say that boat led a full life," Bittner says. The ferry is accessible from Maryland 333 in Oxford or Maryland 329 in Bellevue. Continuous crossings are made every 20 minutes from June 1 through Labor Day. The ferry is closed for maintenance from mid-December through February and is open other times from 7 a.m. to sunset on weekdays and 9 a.m. to sunset on weekends. -Beth Thomas