NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario — A captain who is retiring after 36 years of maneuvering boats through the magnificent yet dangerous Niagara Falls says he only had one close call: When a telephone pole suddenly shot out of the water just off the bow. “It looked like a missile launched off a submarine,” said Senior Capt. Malcolm Bunting. “It was so close.”
But most of his 110,000 or so trips have gone off without a hitch. He has never heard a complaint from the estimated 16 million passengers he has carried on his ship.
“It goes against all your common sense and seamanship,” Bunting said before getting behind the wheel of the Maid of the Mist tour boat last week, ready to nose it through swirling whitewater to within 300 feet of Niagara Falls.
“I can remember my first trip, thinking, ‘What am I doing coming up this close?’ ”
At 63, he’s retiring, ready to spend his days on solid ground, riding his motorcycle.
