William Pitt (Canada)

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William Pitt of the Kingston Peninsula, New Brunswick, Canada, was the inventor of the first underwater cable ferry in the early 1900s. It was placed at Gondola point on the Kennebecasis River.

Pitt believed that the cable required for the ferry was too heavy and bulky to lay out using a boat, an obstacle which prevented others from making such a ferry. He overcame this, however, by laying the cable on the frozen surface of the river at winter, and waiting for the ice to melt.

Ironically, he later died from very serious injuries obtained by falling into the machinery of the ferry. One of the two cable ferries currently operating at Gondola point is named the "William Pitt II" in his honor.