Photo © Ian Coristine/1000IslandsPhotoArt.com
 You are here:  Back Issues      Archive

Floating History for Sale


It looks like it could be the end of an era for the last antique wooden tour boat in the Thousand Islands.

The Morrisania, built in 1923, is being sold after nearly a century of cruising the St. Lawrence River.

Morristown Tour Boat Lines has put the vintage vessel up for sale for $65,000 US after a poor season meant its stake holders could no longer keep it afloat. The wooden boat's classic charm has attracted tourists aboard for decades for cruises in the Thousand Islands with breathtaking views of the area's fabled cottages and top attractions including Dark Island's Singer Castle and Heart Island's Boldt Castle.

The Morrisania, believed to have been built in Fisher's Landing, has had several owners and names on the River over the years and was a floating fixture in Alexandria Bay for Boldt Castle tours as well as Clayton over the years. But the mahogany tour boat made Morristown home for the past six years and locals are hoping a new owner might keep the vessel at the main dock of this town of 500 residents.

 

"It helped put Morristown on the map a little," said Morristown Tour Boat Lines manager Ron Wright. "The best case scenario is I wish someone would take it over and operate it out of Morristown."

He said the boat's 24 stake holders decided to put the Morrisania up for sale through the marine brokerage at Bonnie Castle Yacht Basin Inc. at Alexandria Bay after a slow season came to a disappointing close last month. Wright, who owns Wright's Marina in Morristown, said he is hopeful the historical Thousand Islands tour boat will at least remain in the region since it was the last of its kind in the area still being operated.

"We'll see over the next few months," he said in an interview aboard the Morrisania at the town dock before its final fall voyage last month. The decision to put the boat up for sale was a difficult one, he added. "In order to sell our insurance and docking fees we will have to sell the boat."

The 48-foot long charter boat, with a capacity for 40 passengers, was used in recent years for cruises to Chippewa Bay for tours of Singer Castle, wedding parties, shore dinners and twilight River cruises. But business was significantly down this past season over previous years.

The Morrisania was purchased by its owners to promote tourism in Morristown. But it didn't attract enough interest to make its Thousand Islands tours profitable.

“This year, tour boats became a victim of the recession”, said Wright. A sharp decline in passengers, in addition to rising operating costs and a rainy summer forced its owners to put the vessel up for sale.

Chartered cruises were up this season from several years ago from 7 to 13. They included charters from Waddington, Oak Point, Blind Bay, Chippewa Bay, Ogdensburg and the Dockside Resorts in Morristown. Unfortunately the passenger count was down nearly 50 per cent from last year from nearly 500 to 264 patrons this year.

Wright said he's hopeful a buyer of the tour boat will come forward to keep its rich River heritage alive and on the water in the Thousand Islands for years to come. "She's a part of our history," he said.

By Kim Lunman kimlunman@thousandislandslife.com

Kim Lunman, a member of the TI Life team, is an award-winning Canadian journalist who lives in her hometown of Brockville Ontario. Kim is a freelance writer who has written online, newspaper and magazine articles on the Thousand Islands.

Posted in: News Article
Please feel free to leave comments about this article using the form below. Comments are moderated and we do not accept comments that contain links. As per our privacy policy, your email address will not be shared and is inaccessible even to us. For general comments, please email the editor.

Comments

Jackie Woodside
Comment by: Jackie Woodside ( )
Left at: 3:28 PM Monday, November 16, 2009
How very sad for Morristown and for the many small towns in the area. Thanks to all who made this happen over the past 6 years. I loved watching to boat go by my cottage at Point Comfort. Sad to see it go.
Richard LaRue
Comment by: Richard LaRue ( )
Left at: 6:24 PM Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Will be sad to see the old girl go. I have watched these old boats for over50 years. The paul boat line used several when they were in business in A bay many years ago. Rich and Barb
Deane Parkhurst
Comment by: Deane Parkhurst ( )
Left at: 12:36 PM Thursday, December 3, 2009
If memory serves, and it's been a long, long time, one of the names for the tour boat in this story was "Maxine V" a part of the Uncle Sam fleet of years gone by. It was re-named Uncle Sam (some Roman numeral) and used to take visitors from the Bay to Bolt Castle and back. As a kid, swimming off the rocks at TI Park, we would wait for the tour boats to come by, grab our inner tubes and ride the wake. That was big stuff back then, probably not today.
W J GOES
Comment by: W J GOES ( )
Left at: 12:28 AM Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Is the Morrisania still available for sale. Please email with information, hopefully additional pictures.
Thank you....wjg
Steve Boettcher
Comment by: Steve Boettcher
Left at: 9:49 PM Saturday, August 27, 2016
What happened to the boat--is it still available for sale? Please email information if possible. Thank you.