When a shortage of Newfoundland ferries led to long lineups of cars
Tourists without reservations for ferry from North Sydney, N.S., had to wait their turn in 1970
If you wanted to get from North Sydney, N.S., to Newfoundland by ferry in 1970, there was an important thing to remember: make a reservation.
"The problem can be stated simply," said CBC reporter Bill Curtis in anews item that aired on July 29, 1970. "More and more tourists want to go to Newfoundland, and there's not quite as much room for them on the ferries."
Traffic was up by about 10 per cent at the ferry docks in North Sydney, N.S., said Curtis. A sign indicated the ferries had destinations of Port aux Basques and Argentia, N.L.
"People arriving at the terminals without reservations are due for a long, anxious, and sometimes futile wait," he added.
The camera showed long lines of waiting cars and vans with licence plates from as far away as Illinois and Nevada.
Hoping for no-shows
Many were waiting for "no-shows," or people who had made reservations but hadn't made it to the docks in time to keep them.
Up to 30 per cent of reservations turned out to be no-shows, and most of the waiting list typically got on board, said Curtis.
"But at weekends the pace gets frantic," he added. "As many as 200 passengers without reservations have been left behind."
The ferry service was short a boat, since the MV Patrick Morris had sunk while rescuing a fishing boat three months earlier.
Canadian National, which operated the ferry service, had chartered another boat, the Cerdic Ferry, from England. But it was used mainly for freight, not tourists, and as such didn't help with the backlog.
'A lot of waiting'
"Last weekend ... we had 202 automobiles and over 700 passengers showed up without reservations," said a spokesman for CN. "We got them on by Tuesday, and of course this meant a lot of waiting."
He didn't believe there was any reason anyone would lack for a reservation.
"They can get them at almost any point in North America."
Curtis said some tourists were giving up on Newfoundland altogether, given the "jam-up" at the dock in North Sydney.
"Officials agree that if the present increase in traffic keeps up, matters could only get more hectic in the future," he summed up.
