- Boats, they've been around for thousands of years.

Essential for transportation, for commerce, for exploration today, primarily recreation.

Join us on a journey into what it takes to keep and maintain classic wooden boats.

We'll explore the craftsmanship, the history, and the stories from those who keep these vintage vessels on the water.

- Vintage vessels is made possible in part by -Kozmiuk wooden boats.

Custom wooden boat builder of ore sail and power boats traditionally built with old world craftsmanship.

Born from knowledge passed down through generations.

Custom built and restoration service at kozmiukwoodenboats.com The Grundy Insurance Classic Boat program was born from their family sailing tradition, offering vessels full agreed value coverage, protection from uninsured boaters, marine environmental damage, and search and rescue.

online@grundy.com Pettit Paint Captain's Varnish, available in pints, courts, gallons and aerosol.

This marine grade spray on varnish is made to protect wood from ultraviolet light drying to an amber color.

More information is available online at pettitpaint.com ACBS celebrating 50 years of vintage boating in 2025.

Chapter locations across North America can be found at acbs.org Closed captioning support is provided by Peter Henkel incorporated.

online at chris-craft-parts.com In today's episode, we visit the Peerless two, the last supply boat to sail the lakes of Muskoka Ontario.

Built in 1942.

The Peerless two has now been converted into a cruise ship.

We'll meet its captain and discover its history.

All right here on vintage vessels of the water.

- Good morning.

My name's Randy Potts, captain Randy Potts.

Here in beautiful downtown historic port curling.

We're standing in front of my ship, Peerless two, also historic Peerless two, built in 1946 as a supply boat.

It's the last supply boat to operate on the Muskoka Lakes.

And back in 1995, after 50 seasons, it was taken outta service.

I was offered the boat in 1995, but I passed on it.

It came my way again in 2003.

And the second time I didn't make the, the mistake of passing on it.

I kept it and restored it.

Most people would've given up on a big pile of rust.

I gave it a whole new lease on life.

Today it is 12 years into a second life as a supply ship, but also a passenger ship.

So it's a historical old ship.

A lot of families in Muskoka remember this ship coming to their dock back from 1946 until 1995.

So this ship was a gasoline and heating oil supply ship.

Muskoka has a reputation today as a cottage paradise, but in early days there was an awful lot of families living on the land, whether it was mainland or remote islands that needed lots of things, heating oil.

So people living on the land year round had large storage facilities for heating oil.

Gasoline was less of an essential, but certainly if you lived on one of these remote points of land and you had a motorboat, then of course you're gonna need some gas.

Muskoka freezes in the wintertime from mid-December till mid-April, early May.

So there's not a lot of boat traffic in those months, but certainly as a supply ship for some people in Muskoka, going back into the 1940s through to the, more so into the eighties, I suppose, that's when Muskoka really started to change from a location that people lived year round at to more of a summer cottage paradise.

So Peerless two was built first by and for the British American Oil Company, the BA symbols that are on the side of the ship and the name of the ship is their trademark name for their motor oil and their gasoline, Peerless motor oil.

And a British American was founded in 1907 by Canadian in Welland, Ontario.

Albert Leroy Ellsworth, Mr. Ellsworth had worked for the two years before 1907 for the standard oil company, came back into Canada and one one day said, you know, I think I can do this.

So he started the British American Oil Company on a shoestring budget with three or four friends.

It grew and continued to grow.

It became Canada's largest Canadian owned oil company and it operated as such until 1968.

From about the end of the second World War until 1968, the Gulf Oil Company of United States was slowly buying stock in this publicly traded company.

And by 1968 had purchased enough of the company and they assumed a hundred percent ownership of it.

And British American in Canada disappeared.

Most of the BA gas stations in that day and age became Gulf Stations, including Peerless two.

It was painted blue and white.

Instead of the green and red and white colors of ba, the ship sailed from 1969 until the end in 1995, painted blue and white In 1982, Canada as a country felt the need to have our own national oil company.

Petro Canada was created out of that arrangement.

Several oil companies, FINA and Gulf, and a few other smaller players left Canada.

The stations that had been originally BA that became Gulf and then as a result of Petro Canada being created, became Petro Canada dealers.

This ship had been owned by BA and then Gulf, and then it was sold and became an independent and sold Ultramar gas.

So three different oil companies for 50 years.

We no longer deliver gas or heating oil, but lots of our customers, lots of our guests on Peerless two, our older families in the area that well remember this boat coming to their dock and delivering something for them.

Marinas hotels as well as private cottages and landowners took fuel of some form or another from Peerless two.

It was the second peerless.

The first peerless was put into service about 1937.

It was actually a retired steam yacht with the steam plant removed two 1000 gallon saddle tanks put in.

It carried one choice of cargo, 2000 gallons, and it was busy from 1937 until 1948.

This ship came online in 1946.

It carried 7,500 imperial gallons of cargo in six different compartments.

And at the end of 1948, after three seasons of the two ships running together, the decision was made to sell the first peerless off the lakes.

It made its way up to Temagami Ontario and finished up delivering gas for the Esso brand.

It closed up shop about 1960 up at Temagami So this ship is pretty historic.

After 2003, when I purchased the boat, I put plans in place to restore it and to give the public an opportunity to cruise on the last supply ship to operate in Muskoka Lakes.

The earliest supply ship going back into the 18, late 1880s or 1890s of course, were steam ships.

No motorboats in that day and age, only the very wealthy had private yachts.

The supply ships then were a necessary part of life in Muskoka.

So if you lived on an island, as some of the residents in Muskoka did year round, no roads in Muskoka, the super highways of the day were the waterways.

Having the ship come to you and deliver all of your essentials, floating general stores, hardware stores, food stores, all rolled into one.

So supply ships in the early days of Muskoka were definitely a part of life on the water.

So Peerless two initially built in Bronte, Ontario.

It was a 60 foot vessel, 12 foot beam single decker.

So the wheel host that we're looking at up on the upper deck was down on the lower deck.

There was 7,500 gallons of cargo capacity in the ship when I purchased the ship.

And to make it, to bring it up to current Transport Canada passenger vessel regulations.

The first thing we had to consider was if we're going to put passengers on the ship, we have to make the ship wider because you're putting a lot of weight up top instead of all of the cargo down in the hold.

So the first thing that happened, there's two foot spoons added on either side of the ship.

So we went from a 12 foot beam to a 16 foot beam, 60 feet, four years of restoration work to bring the boat up to code for transport Canada for them.

Essentially this is a brand new ship.

In reality, this is a very historic ship that an awful lot of families remembered.

There's miles of welding on this ship.

New welding.

We had basically four winters, four, six months stretches of essentially nonstop work on the boat.

The original Mac diesel engine was quite historic.

The original Mac diesel engine was built in 1945.

M built marine engines basically for the second World War effort.

A lot of the landing craft that landed during D-Day on the American beaches quite likely had Mack Marine engines in them.

This boat had a Mac Marine engine that was built in March of 1945.

The boat was put into commission July of 1946.

That marine engine lasted until just two years ago.

We now have a new marine engine in the vessel, but I certainly had a huge amount of respect for the Mack Marine Diesel that lasted 75 years.

Very, very solid marine engine.

It will end up in the Mack Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

As they suggested, they're only aware of one other Mack engine marine engine in the world.

Mine was running seven days a week, five months a year.

So they're pretty anxious to get their hands onto the old Mack Marine engine.

So the wheelhouse that I work in seven days a week is the original wheelhouse.

I still have the original steering wheel that I hang on to every day.

The entire middle section is new for passengers.

Two lovely washrooms, a dining area that since Covid doesn't get used very much, the ship's license for 45.

And we also have a bar snack bar area.

So the first thing we should look at is what the boat used to look like built in 1946.

Here's a picture of it in the lock chamber.

We're at port curling right now.

So here's a picture of the ship in its first version in the lock chamber of Port Carling.

Here's a picture of it.

Pretty heavily loaded.

7,500 gallons of cargo really sets the boat down on the water.

In the last year that it operated, not really planning any future ownership of the boat.

I sat on the dock opposite us and took this picture.

That photo was taken right where we're sitting right now.

So that was the last year, 1995.

As an independent, it's not showing anybody's brand of gas.

As I mentioned, Gulf wound the ship in the 1968 through 1982 era.

So there's the ship painted blue and white with the golf symbol on the side of the cabin.

So two, sometimes three men worked on the boat Monday through Friday.

There were sleeping accommodations, there was a washroom, there was a small galley, a small office.

Every now and again, people bring me little souvenirs from the BA era.

So there's a plastic ba outward motor oil container and there's a metal ba that would be white gas, which would've been used in early Coleman, cook stoves and things like that.

So little ba trinkets here and there.

We don't feature the Gulf era so much.

It's Gulf is still an ongoing company in the United States.

BA is more collectible in Canada.

So I kept as much of the original boat as possible.

So the, the whole Stern guard area is original.

In 1945, regulations were considerably different.

1946 show.

So when a work boat, you only had two foot guard area rails.

Modern standards were nearly, were about 39 40 inches on the height for passenger safety.

So this is the top deck of the old boat and it's the the most popular deck of the new boat.

This is an awning that protects you from the sun, not so much from the rain.

This is the most popular boat on the boat.

People love being on this deck.

The ship travels at a relatively sedate speed, about six or seven miles an hour, the extra height.

A lot of people comment about how different the view is at this slightly raised height than being in a small boat.

We get closer to shore.

I'm a Muskoka boy, been here all my life.

We are closer to shore and people can see lots of detail that they can't see out of their own small motorboat and lots of commentary.

I share an awful lot of information with people.

So this is the wall of the first cabin.

It extended straight back the full length of the boat.

That's where the washroom was, where the sleeping arrangements were, the galley.

And they had a small office area.

So the original wheelhouse now is much shorter than the whole cabin that was on the ship from 1946.

So this is my office.

I tell everybody this is my corner office.

I have beautiful 180 degree view of of things around us.

The original wheel from 1946.

So I kept the original mac dash and we have a Mac bulldog for a hood ornament.

Even though the Mack engine isn't in the boat now for two years, it is just a, a comfortable feeling looking at the old Mack dash and thinking 77 years or 75 years, the ship's 77 years old.

Just a warm fuzzy feeling that none of us think we can live forever.

But I'll keep going until I can't drive the boat anymore.

And then perhaps I'll just sit there and put a young person at the wheel and tell them what to do.

That's a captain thing.

As mentioned, BA was in business from 1907 until 1968.

Over the course of those years, they had several different corporate insignias In the very early days, it actually was called auto lean gas and it was a lifesaver which featured some of their products.

In the 1920s, they switched and worked what now called a bow tie symbol.

The bow tie insignia lasted until 1947, 48.

And at that point in time, then they went to the round.

It's called a round L, the round BA symbol.

That's actually on the side of the, the wheelhouse, the round symbol that is, here's a one raid here for you.

So this would be the 1948 through 19.

In the 1960s when golf was slowly acquiring enough stock in the company, the red and green of British America, and slowly gave way to blue and orange of Gulf colors.

It was their way of making Canadian customers start to be more comfortable with the American Gulf acquisition.

And then in 19 68, 69, Gulf changed all of the BA symbols to the traditional Gulf blue and white symbol that is still in their, in their world today.

So on the ship there's two or three different locations that feature the the rectangular bow tie.

When the ship was first put in service, it it was 1946.

So the rectangular bow tie is part of it.

And then after 1948, the round version, there was so many deckels.

So the original rectangular was here and then subsequent round several.

So the red and green BA was on top of the rectangular and then the blue and orange BA was over top of the red and green.

And then after that was just a straight golf symbol.

So there was three or four or five stickers that had been painted over a new sticker just put put on top of it.

So that was an interesting little bit of history when I cut this cabin down to create what we're looking at here just right now in the restoration work more, more stickers here that were painted over.

So this is, this is the original wheelhouse still from 1946.

Many stickers painted over there.

Right here.

All you see right now is a little bit of rust pitting.

So on any commercial vessel you have to have four federal regulations.

The official number of the ship, it's tonnage when it was measured as a new vessel, the horsepower of the engine and the registry office that it was registered in.

So we're in Ontario.

The nearest registry office for an awful lot of small shipyards back in the day would've been Toronto.

So covered with many, many coats of paint was a little brass tag right here that said Peerless 2 1946.

The official number of the ship 1 7 7 6, 3 6 and Toronto is the port of registry.

It had been covered with so many coats of paint.

It really didn't even stand out like there was something there.

It wasn't until we started to remove paint that this little brass tag came up.

So that was kind of a neat find.

I still have it.

It's up in the wheelhouse.

The new ship is considerably a different tonnage than the original tanker version.

So - The - Couple of the little BA trinkets we're, we're kind of proud of Down on the lower level here, this was given to me a few years ago.

It's a top rated service award.

This would've been given to probably somebody that had a gas station, but dealer sales and service club member.

And it's the BA before golf ownership of it.

That's kind of a nice thing.

So on TripAdvisor, we have a a very high rating.

So I like to think that this is in a way similar to that very high quality award for a very high quality ship.

One of my crew back in the first year, who's also quite a history buff, Larry Wright, he's one of our captains over the course of time, was poking through a antique shop.

I came up with this print ad from 1959.

It was in one of the local newspapers, peer two open seasons for delivery of quality VA products.

A familiar site.

This cottage still exists, the boat still exists in a different version and from one of the local papers.

That was pretty cool for him to find that.

And he gave it to us.

We've got it framed on the wall, of course.

So all the years that I worked in on the steamships, I recognized that on these lakes there is a market for that.

Not every area has that as a potential, but certainly the Muskoka Lakes is where you have already existing the the steamship Segwun and the Wanda three antique boats for sure.

Very old boats that sort of set us up already for success to a degree by having a similar antique classic boat that offered a high degree of quality service and a lot of the same amenities that were available on those vessels.

There are other boats you can go for a ride on in Muskoka, but there are nowhere near as as high a quality.

And frankly, you know, certainly no history to them.

Offer cruisers on all three Muskoka Lakes.

We're sitting right now at Port Carling, which is known as the hub of the lakes.

We're sitting specifically right this minute on a bay that's attached to Lake Rosseau The other end of the lock chamber, right straight down through there is the north end of Lake Muskoka.

The hub of the lakes then is the log chamber.

We're able to cruise on all three lakes.

So we would set off on an evening cruise for dinner, a two and a half, three hour event.

Leave the dock here, make our way out through the short harbor, short stretch of river and cruise around Lake Rosseau, beautiful lake.

They're all beautiful.

I'm often asked which one's my favorite.

I'm more partial probably to Lake Rosseau Lots of history, lots of different ways I can go when I leave the mouth of the river.

Three, four or five different routes easily.

And I also try to take into account people's comfort.

Some days are windy, so if the wind is up from a certain direction and there's waves, I'll try and mitigate some of the wave action.

The boat doesn't move around much.

It's a pretty heavy boat.

It's 60 times.

It's a very heavy boat for its size, but just the same, making things as comfortable as possible for our guests.

So we'd cruise around and I often try then to set up, we are called sunset cruises.

Peerless too.

Try to set up on the west shore for a sunset on the west shore.

And then we'd slowly head east so that the sun would be setting at the stern of the ship.

Lots of family photographs that way.

Lots of memories created by having the sun go down behind them.

- We're getting - Ready for our 12 noon cruise.

We do a two and a half hour cruise today.

This is called the Royal Muskoka Tour.

Historically, Muskoka had upwards of a hundred different hotels long before all the beautiful summer homes.

Today you could call the summer homes hotels 'cause they're massive.

But so the most luxurious state-of-the-Art Hotel in 1902 was called the Royal Muskoka.

It lasted 50 years before it was destroyed by fire.

So the Royal Muskoka tour today, two and a half hour cruise around Lake Rosseau showing former hotel sites and history related to them.

A handful of hotels still stand showing them, giving the history of them and speaking to the, the early hotel industry in Muskoka.

It's another version of history that we can share.

Yesterday we did a two and a half hour cruise down through Millionaires Row, which is generally regarded as a very historic area for the most part.

Beautiful old summer homes, 120 30, possibly 140 years of age.

Initially built by Pittsburgh steel money.

So we offer a lot of variety of cruises and an awful lot of history with the various cruises.

Sometimes we just do plain old fashioned sight seeing cruises and bring your camera and take lots of photos.

But there's often an awful lot of historic commentary on some of our feature cruises.

So today,is the Royal Muskoka tour - I just - Wanna ride, I - Dunno if we talk to, I'm gonna tickets we'll tell you about what's going on here today.

Okay.

Alright.

And give you a brochure, - Cruises.

- However the ing runs, I wanna see - Millionaires.

Ali, - I want to see millionaires.

Okay, so millionaires row is gonna be Monday and Tuesday.

- So as an infant, a babe in arms, I lived up river about a quarter mile from where this ship was home ported in Bracebridge back in the 1950s and sixties.

I paddled past it many times with the family rowboat.

Never really had a burning desire to own it.

But after working for many, many years for a wage, possibly looking for a new challenge, and the more that I thought about this, the more it just burned a hole into my brain and said, you gotta do this.

I'm a sucker for historic vessels.

I was the senior Captain on the steamship Segwun.

I was also the captain that ran, for the most part, the steam yacht, Wanda 3 History is in my blood.

I love sharing the Muskoka history amongst other things with our guests on the ship.

This is a floating pile of history.

Why not take it on?

Once it's gone to the scrap yard, you can't bring it back.

So it's a piece of Muskoka history.

Every now and again, somebody will come on the boat and say, wouldn't it have been cheaper just to buy or build a brand new boat?

Oh, quite likely.

But at the same time, you just can't.

Fake history.

This is the real deal, a hundred percent.

But yet nothing.

Nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of on this boat.

It's a passion.

I've been sailing now for 43 years, always on the Muskoka Lakes.

This is my retirement plan.

So I'll continue to do this as long as I'm able to.

You meet lots of nice people.

What's not to love about the beautiful Muskoka Lakes.

Lots and lots of history and every day I meet lots of new people.

It's always fun.

- We are here in Port Carling for our five year Canada inspection of the ships.

- Vintage vessels is made possible in part by -Kozmiuk wooden boats.

Custom wooden boat builder of ore sail and power boats traditionally built with old world craftsmanship.

Born from knowledge passed down through generations.

Custom built and restoration service at kozmiukwoodenboats.com The Grundy Insurance Classic Boat program was born from their family sailing tradition, offering vessels full agreed value coverage, protection from uninsured boaters, marine environmental damage, and search and rescue.

online@grundy.com Pettit Paint Captain's Varnish, available in pints, courts, gallons and aerosol.

This marine grade spray on varnish is made to protect wood from ultraviolet light drying to an amber color.

More information is available online at pettitpaint.com ACBS celebrating 50 years of vintage boating in 2025.

Chapter locations across North America can be found at acbs.org Closed captioning support is provided by Peter Henkel incorporated.

online at chris-craft-parts.com