Hard orange sphere seen over Deleware Bay winter of '89. The sphere dropped down to both sides of the ferry then departed.

Winter evening,winter of '89/90.
Three merchant marine officers were on the bridge of one of the Cape May, NJ - Lewes, MD ferry ( Two of the officers were the Captian and the Pilot.  The other was a pilot trainee, me.  All of us were ex- military, all had high Merchant Marine Licenses and two of us had a/c pilot licenses.
Just prior to leaving the pier a large, hard edged, orange colored sphere descended down to eye level on the starboard side of the bridge, hovered there for a couple of minutes.  It then proceded straight up for a short distance, went horizantal to the other side of the ship (port side) then came straight (vertically) down and again stopped just outside the bridge railing at eye level.  After a very short period of time , maybe one minute, the sphere then departed straight up a very high rate of speed then headed southward at an approximate 45 degree angle until it was out of sight.
Date of event is approximate.  We will invite the witness to consult his officer's logs, in order to confirm the date of the incident.  PD