Wooden Boats of the St. Lawrence River (2024)

Wooden Boats of the St. Lawrence River

In April of 2017, I met David Kunz through his submission via email to Thousand Islands Life. He wrote a tribute about Chauncey Burtch River Captain Extraordinaire and he wanted to make sure that we knew about Chauncey. But, I felt it was one of those Thousand islands stories that had to be told before it vanished.

I googled him (David) and found out that he was about to publish a book with family friend and fiction author Bill Simpson. (Thomas William Simpson); even better, the book was about wooden boats.

Simpson said that it only took one phone call to Arcadia Publishing as they recognized a popular subject for the region. I have to admit some of these “Images of America” series are nothing more than postcards or photographs without enough history for my liking.

However, with Simpson doing the writing and Kunz providing the photos and family history, “Wooden Boats” is a living thing. Some chapters are typical historical reviews as found in many other books of this nature, and those looking for smaller lesser known family boats may be disappointed, but the meat of this book shares new information about some of the most iconic wooden boats in the Thousand islands people know about: Pardon Me, Finesse and Vamoose.

I asked David: “Where did you get your material – many sources?” “Most of my book,” he said. “came from my family archives on Oak Island. I sorted all of the old letters and pictures up in my attic at the cottage trying to find stuff about my uncle Charles Lyon. Charlie’s boat Pardon Me is one of the biggest draws at the Antique Boat Museum. There were some people who have said that he never used it or ‘He was on board half a dozen times.’ I knew that wasn’t true and felt I had to tell Charlie’s side of things. I wanted to answer everyone’s question, why would a man build a monster runabout at 78 years old only to use it a few times?”

I also asked him if he found what I call “Gold.” “When you talk about striking gold I know exactly what you mean. It happened to me twice. It was when I found all of the old documents about Finesse, Vamoose and Pardon Me. It was a gift. There was one photo ever taken of Charlie Lyon on Pardon Me. Also The log book rides which detailed exact dates he was on board and who went with him on his rides all leading to me being able to prove Charlie Lyon used his boats let me explain what happened.

He also tells this story about Vamoose after WWII… “This custom Fitzgerald & Lee boat had survived World War II but then what? It proved Charlie Lyon had discarded her to build Pardon Me. He claimed she was in disrepair, but it’s all a white lie, as an excuse to build a boat to celebrate the War being over. No one has ever found current information about where “Vamoose” is and maybe this book will solve this I think it’s going to be big, and may even brings her back to the 1000 Islands.” “I am a big dreamer,” he admits.

And true to form the co-authors mentioned thank yous to organizations who shared their information with them and were so supportive ABM, ACBS, Alex Bay Historical Society, Mariners Museum VA, and “Classic Boating Magazine.”

David went on, ”The project would not have been the same without my father John Kunz, Claire Wakefield curator at ABM, and author/friend Tony Mollica Jr. They all helped out tremendously. (Note: Unless otherwise noted all images are courtesy of the Lyon Family Archives.)

To all of the above and mostly David Kunz and Bill Simpson we thank you. Yes buy it read it keep it on your bookshelf you will refer back often Wooden Boats of The St Lawrence River.

Watch Wooden Boats of the St. Lawrence River For Free On Gomovies.