Old Boats – SWEETWATERS

The boat builders

From the 1930s until the ’70s when I moved away from Georgian Bay, boats — especially wooden ones — have been one of my abiding interests. So it is reasonable that those built on the shores of Georgian Bay would top the list. There were many of those. Some were pleasure craft, some were commercialContinue reading “The boat builders”

The joys of small boats

The wonderful thing about small boats — 18′ or less — is that you can enjoy them in so many ways. And they are so economical compared to the shiny plastic brand name jobs in most marinas. Drop a 10 horsepower (or smaller) outboard motor on a 14′ aluminum boat, get youself a pleasure boatContinue reading “The joys of small boats”

Houseboats of old

Nowadays the term “houseboat” conjures an image of a set of pontoons with some sort of accommodation on them and pushed by an outboard motor. Over a century ago houseboats were what the name implies: places in which to live on the water. In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries on Georgian Bay, housesContinue reading “Houseboats of old”

The versatile canoe, and hats off to paddlers

Canoes, despite their fragility, were for centuries an essential and effective means of transportation for indigenous people throughout North America, including Georgian Bay. Before today’s pace of life with pressures and deadlines, travellers could simply pull into shore to shelter until bad weather let up. In the early 17th Century, Wendat (Huron) fishing parties wouldContinue reading “The versatile canoe, and hats off to paddlers”

The dinghy twins

Although I have always loved almost all boats, one thing I never became keen about was sailing. And that continues to puzzle and disappoint me because the concept of travelling on water using only what nature provides — wind, waves, current — meshes with my own philosophy. I think what might have turned me offContinue reading “The dinghy twins”

The iron canoe

Credit for this story goes to James P. Barry, author of Georgian Bay, The Sixth Great Lake (Clarke, Irwin & Co., 1968). The settlement at Penetanguishene developed after the British military moved their bases there from the mouth of the Nottawasaga River and later, after the War of 1812, from Drummond Island. Along with themContinue reading “The iron canoe”

The Egg

She was going to be burned. Lying on a heap of scrap piled during an end-of-season cleanup, she was one of several handy little “jolly boats”, as the navy called them, used on the waterfronts of Sea Cadet camps across Canada. This one was at Lake of Two Mountains, west of Montreal, where the commandingContinue reading “The Egg”

The dear old Blackduck

From early boyhood, I can remember being told the story of the family boat. She was built for a Midland doctor who died tragically before the boat was finished. Dr. W.S. McClinton had served overseas in World War 1 and had then taken over his father’s medical practice in Midland. In mid-autumn, Oct. 31, 1930,Continue reading “The dear old Blackduck”