R.M.S. SEGWUN
Built in 1887
The term "one of a kind" describes the universal appeal of the Royal Mail Ship Segwun. Long before the era of modern highways, the Segwun, then a paddlewheeler, sailed the Muskoka lakes from early spring to late fall, carrying passengers, mail and freight to the many resorts and villages not served by the railways.
In the 1970’s, the Segwun was lovingly restored by a group of steamboat enthusiasts with a respect for heritage and a vision for the future. On June 1st, 1974, Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau officially launched the refurbished Segwun and thus started her present career as a cruise ship extraordinaire.
In 2001 and 2002, the Royal Mail Ship Segwun was voted by Attractions Canada BEST LARGE ATTRACTION IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO and runner-up for the national award. This contest, launched in 1997, recognizes the merit and excellence of attractions, primarily with cultural or educational value.
Today, the Segwun sails from June through October offering a variety of cruises on the Muskoka lakes. With a capacity of 99, the Segwun is the oldest operating steamship in North America and offers passengers a chance to "step back in time" to the romance and nostalgia of Muskoka’s past.
Canada SG1245
Segwun
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john sefton
- Posts: 1816
- Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:59 pm
Re: Segwun
The Muskoka Lakes Navigation Company was formed in the late 1800’s to service the Muskoka area, which at the time was generally only accessible by water. Vacation time brought a mass of tourists and cottagers by train from Toronto to the Muskoka Wharf in Gravenhurst. It was then the responsibility of the Company to transfer these tourists and cottagers as well as cargo and mail throughout the lakes.
After the First World War Muskoka witnessed a dramatic increase in American visitors and tourists longing for a taste of the north. The increase was so dramatic that the Company was forced to look for an immediate solution. The company had to increase the size of the fleet to 7 steamers. Time was essentialgrand ladies of Muskoka and rather than commission a new steamer to be built they turned their focus on the old side paddler, Nippissing, that had been discarded and lay rotting at Gravenhurst since 1914. Although in sorry shape, most of the super structure and iron hull was in good shape. Two second hand reciprocating steam engines, a new Scotch boiler and a new stack were installed at the Muskoka Wharf through the winter of 1924. The next spring she was towed to the shipyards where the side paddles and pontoons were removed and the new screw shafts were installed. The ship’s wheel, chime whistle and the original hand carved Phoenix which adorned the top of the Nippissing’s wheelhouse, were reinstalled on the new steamer. Captain Bailey carved the original phoenix on the Nippissing. The refurbished Segwun was launched in June 1925 with Capt. A Peter Larson at the helm. After her maiden Voyage she quickly gain the reputation as the fastest steamship of the line. She held this honor until 1930 when it was rumored that the company had changed the propellers to purposely slow her down. This was an attempt to save the reputation of the Sagamo, the Company’s flag ship, nicknamed Big Chief.
In 1925 the Sagamo was almost totally destroyed by fire. After big chief at Clevelandsher reconstruction the carved phoenix from the Segwun was moved to the Sagamo as a theme to her resurrection. It remained on the Sagamo until the ship’s demise in the 1960’s.
After the disastrous fire on the passenger ship, the Noronic, in the Toronto harbour, the Canadian government tightened fire regulations on all passenger ships. The cost of $127,496.00 for upgrading the Muskoka fleet proved to be too much for the company and like many others filed for bankruptcy on May 11, 1951. A public outcry followed the bankruptcy and because the ships were never more than a mile off shore, the Canadian government eased up slightly and allowed the ships to continue operating with two thirds of the renovations complete. The Muskoka Lakes Navigation Company never recovered from this ordeal and after serving Muskoka for 52 years the company was sold to the new Gravenhurst Steamships Ltd.
With new road construction at an all time high in the area and the cancellation of the mail contracts the newly formed company was headed for desperate times. It was not unusual to see the decks of the steamers empty on their routes. Thethrough the narrows company ran into another hardship during the summer of 1958 when the Segwun ran aground on Gull Rocks Shoal smashing both propellers putting her out of commission for the rest of the summer. After the Sagamo completed her last trip on Labour Day of 1958, the company announced that it would cease operations due to financial difficulties. The steamboat era was at an end in Canada.
In 1959 two Gravenhurst businessmen, George Morrison and Jack Vincent bought the assets of the company with plans to scrap the Segwun, Cherokee and turn the Sagamo into a floating restaurant. This plan changed when the Sagamo burned at the Gravenhurst dock. Their eyes turned to the Segwun as the floating restaurant sparing her once more.
The townspeople of Gravenhurst began to realize the historical significance of these ships to their heritage and put their hearts and soul into a last effort to save one of these ships that served them so well. In 1962 they persuaded the owners to sell them the Segwun for $1.00 under the condition that it be turned into a Marine museum. The Segwun remained a museum until 1972 but her true fate was sealed 3 years earlier. A young marine stampengineer John B. Coulter, who had worked on the Segwun as a boy, had grandiose thoughts of the Segwun sailing again. But again, time was running out as pinhole leaks were noticed in the iron hull. A 10-year fund raising effort was launched to bring the Segwun back to standards. On her shakedown cruise a small obsolete pressure valve was found leaking. After a desperate search for a replacement went dry, a new valve was found by chance on the Tugboat Ned Hanlan, which was on display in Exhibition Park, Toronto. The old valve was switched for the new.
The reconstruction of the iron hull started in 1972 and on June 1, 1974 she was launched as the Royal Mail Ship Segwun with Pierre Elliot Trudeau doing the honors. The townspeople struggled to keep funds coming in until 1981 when she was granted her certificate of operation by the government. The grand old lady was back in service carrying passengers though the lakes.
http://www.murden.com/images/stories/segwun_story.html
After the First World War Muskoka witnessed a dramatic increase in American visitors and tourists longing for a taste of the north. The increase was so dramatic that the Company was forced to look for an immediate solution. The company had to increase the size of the fleet to 7 steamers. Time was essentialgrand ladies of Muskoka and rather than commission a new steamer to be built they turned their focus on the old side paddler, Nippissing, that had been discarded and lay rotting at Gravenhurst since 1914. Although in sorry shape, most of the super structure and iron hull was in good shape. Two second hand reciprocating steam engines, a new Scotch boiler and a new stack were installed at the Muskoka Wharf through the winter of 1924. The next spring she was towed to the shipyards where the side paddles and pontoons were removed and the new screw shafts were installed. The ship’s wheel, chime whistle and the original hand carved Phoenix which adorned the top of the Nippissing’s wheelhouse, were reinstalled on the new steamer. Captain Bailey carved the original phoenix on the Nippissing. The refurbished Segwun was launched in June 1925 with Capt. A Peter Larson at the helm. After her maiden Voyage she quickly gain the reputation as the fastest steamship of the line. She held this honor until 1930 when it was rumored that the company had changed the propellers to purposely slow her down. This was an attempt to save the reputation of the Sagamo, the Company’s flag ship, nicknamed Big Chief.
In 1925 the Sagamo was almost totally destroyed by fire. After big chief at Clevelandsher reconstruction the carved phoenix from the Segwun was moved to the Sagamo as a theme to her resurrection. It remained on the Sagamo until the ship’s demise in the 1960’s.
After the disastrous fire on the passenger ship, the Noronic, in the Toronto harbour, the Canadian government tightened fire regulations on all passenger ships. The cost of $127,496.00 for upgrading the Muskoka fleet proved to be too much for the company and like many others filed for bankruptcy on May 11, 1951. A public outcry followed the bankruptcy and because the ships were never more than a mile off shore, the Canadian government eased up slightly and allowed the ships to continue operating with two thirds of the renovations complete. The Muskoka Lakes Navigation Company never recovered from this ordeal and after serving Muskoka for 52 years the company was sold to the new Gravenhurst Steamships Ltd.
With new road construction at an all time high in the area and the cancellation of the mail contracts the newly formed company was headed for desperate times. It was not unusual to see the decks of the steamers empty on their routes. Thethrough the narrows company ran into another hardship during the summer of 1958 when the Segwun ran aground on Gull Rocks Shoal smashing both propellers putting her out of commission for the rest of the summer. After the Sagamo completed her last trip on Labour Day of 1958, the company announced that it would cease operations due to financial difficulties. The steamboat era was at an end in Canada.
In 1959 two Gravenhurst businessmen, George Morrison and Jack Vincent bought the assets of the company with plans to scrap the Segwun, Cherokee and turn the Sagamo into a floating restaurant. This plan changed when the Sagamo burned at the Gravenhurst dock. Their eyes turned to the Segwun as the floating restaurant sparing her once more.
The townspeople of Gravenhurst began to realize the historical significance of these ships to their heritage and put their hearts and soul into a last effort to save one of these ships that served them so well. In 1962 they persuaded the owners to sell them the Segwun for $1.00 under the condition that it be turned into a Marine museum. The Segwun remained a museum until 1972 but her true fate was sealed 3 years earlier. A young marine stampengineer John B. Coulter, who had worked on the Segwun as a boy, had grandiose thoughts of the Segwun sailing again. But again, time was running out as pinhole leaks were noticed in the iron hull. A 10-year fund raising effort was launched to bring the Segwun back to standards. On her shakedown cruise a small obsolete pressure valve was found leaking. After a desperate search for a replacement went dry, a new valve was found by chance on the Tugboat Ned Hanlan, which was on display in Exhibition Park, Toronto. The old valve was switched for the new.
The reconstruction of the iron hull started in 1972 and on June 1, 1974 she was launched as the Royal Mail Ship Segwun with Pierre Elliot Trudeau doing the honors. The townspeople struggled to keep funds coming in until 1981 when she was granted her certificate of operation by the government. The grand old lady was back in service carrying passengers though the lakes.
http://www.murden.com/images/stories/segwun_story.html
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D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen
- Posts: 871
- Joined: Fri Sep 24, 2010 7:46 pm
Re: Segwun
Built in 1887 in Gravenhurst, Ontario as NIPISSING II, for Musoka Steamship Lines.
Ferry, Gt:272, Nt:132, Loa:37,64m. B:6,40m. D:2,32m. her compound engines came from the NIPISSING I.
She was first a sidewheel steamboat, built on the River Clyde in Scotland, assembled in Gravenhurst, 1924 converted to a propeller-driven steamboat and renamed SEGWUN.
(Canada 1987, 36 c. StG.1245)
Historic Ships, N.J. Brouwer
Ferry, Gt:272, Nt:132, Loa:37,64m. B:6,40m. D:2,32m. her compound engines came from the NIPISSING I.
She was first a sidewheel steamboat, built on the River Clyde in Scotland, assembled in Gravenhurst, 1924 converted to a propeller-driven steamboat and renamed SEGWUN.
(Canada 1987, 36 c. StG.1245)
Historic Ships, N.J. Brouwer
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