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  1. Thousand Islands Tour Boats of decades ago – where are they now?

    June 18, 2018 by Mike

    1000 Islands tour boats..

     

    American Boat Line Logo 1963 1972 postcard

    American Boat Line logos from 1963, 1972, and all three aluminum hulls on a vintage postcard

     

    Imagine if you could suddenly stumble upon some thing, some item, that holds fond memories for you, and then re-live some of those memories?

    Let me show you how that happened to me.

    Where are the old American Boat Line tour boats today? Click To Tweet

    Do you remember Clayton island tours aboard the American Adonis, Venus, Neptune, and Adonis II?  Do these old American Boat Line 1000 Islands tour boats still exist? 

    That’s a question I’ve asked myself many times, and started looking into.  I finally have an answer.

    My search led down a number of different paths, including phone calls, emails, Google, and personal transportation!  Along the way, I pretty well confirmed a rumor that (more…)


  2. Thousand Islands Boating – water taxi and Calumet Island Marina

    June 6, 2018 by Mike

    How do you get to your family’s boat if you are in Clayton and the boat is at Calumet Island Marina?  Oh, and it’s the 1960’s… Well, you call the marina and ask Rollo or Betty Weeks to come get you!  Reliably week after summer week for years that’s what played out for families harbored at Calumet.  The island used a Danish-built Coronet and you could see it pop out of the right side of the island and speed across the river, docking in Clayton where the canon and loop driveway would meet the river.  The Coronet was fiberglass over wood construction, very sturdy.

    "Calumet Island Orange" ferry boat used in the 60's

    1000 Islands “Calumet Orange” ferry boat used in the ’60s

    I recall one night we got to Clayton late and the wind had whipped the waves into whitecaps.  When Rollo brought the boat to Clayton, occasionally the waves crested over the dock and we had no idea how he would get the boat near enough for us to load bags and get aboard.  But he was a master and brought her alongside, timing everything just right and before long the line was slipped off the cleat and we were away!  That was not the smoothest ride over to Calumet thanks to mother nature, but safely done!

    That Coronet ran with various size engines over the years, mostly of the Gale line.

    Let’s look a little deeper, though – what is a Danish Coronet?  It was one among many variants built in Denmark by Botved Boats from the 1950s to the 1980s.  The Calumet Island Coronet appears to be either a 16-foot convertible or, more likely, the 18-foot hardtop seen here.

    Can you add more to this?  If you know anything about the Coronet Boats and can add some detail about the one used at Calumet Island Marina, leave a comment below!


  3. St Lawrence Seaway Locks and Thousand Islands Boating

    June 6, 2018 by Mike

    St Lawrence Seaway Locks (and how they work)

    Thousands Islands boating holds many adventures, be it fishing, diving, cruising, or touring.  One of the adventures is going through the St Lawrence Seaway locks. 

    Another locks adventure of sorts happened when the Seaway was closing for 2017, and the Federal Biscay got stuck in Snell Lock due to ice.  It took quite an effort to break her free, which delayed Seaway closing as several ships waited for the bottleneck to clear.

    My experience with the locks was decades earlier as a kid.  My father took his boat from Rainbow Harbor in central NY State to Clayton, NY.  We passed through several locks along the way, and I still remember them today. 

    There was a strange sensation of quiet with our engine stopped.  I recall being near the cement wall as our boat slowly rose or descended.  I watched as the embedded ladder rungs passed by as we slipped our line through each one to keep near the wall.  The sight of huge gates slowly swinging open or closed was indelible, an amazing sight.

    So, something to share with you:

    Here’s an interesting booklet I found on-line called “Tommy Trent’s ABC’s of the Seaway”.  You can find it here:

    ABC’s of the Seaway.

    St Lawrence Seaway locks

    It’s sort of written in comic book font, blue on white, which makes it quite interesting visually.  There are a ton of diagrams inside that explain the St Lawrence Seaway.  You’ll also read about the locks, the history of bulk cargo ships, satellite identification system, communication frequencies, ship watcher silhouettes, and more!  Do you know what terms like back haul, dead time, dump, turning back, and downbound mean?  Take a look, you’ll learn a bunch of cool stuff.

    Let me know if you have any locks stories of your own by leaving a comment below, because I’d love to read about them!

    Mike


  4. Thousand Islands Boating -7 Awesome Twitter Accounts for Ship Watching

    June 6, 2018 by Mike

    Thousand Islands boating – part of the joy is watching the huge ships on the river.  Ships are amazing to watch, and in the 1000 Islands between the U.S. and Canada, you can see them close-up and personal, even if you’re not there. In today’s post I’ll show you how!

    Due to the St Lawrence River’s length, these amazing vessels pass close to many towns and parks, and share the same navigable waterways that pleasure craft use. I recall watching 1000 Islands shipping around Clayton and Alexandria Bay in New York state as a kid. Back then, they were coal-powered and had to stop at coal refueling docks like this. Amazing stuff.

    Clayton 1000 islands coal dock summer 1967 - ships

    Clayton 1000 Islands coal dock, summer 1967, family photo
                      © 2016 1000islandssteelking.com

     

    If you never had a chance to experience ship watching, it’s a lot of fun and not hard to do.  All you have to do is be at, or on, the St Lawrence River.

    Or do you?

    Here’s the secret – you can see these ships all season long … via Twitter

     

    Just follow any number of St Lawrence River ship watchers. You’ll really appreciate the time they spend taking and posting pictures, and you can tell they have a love for the hobby and a sense of connection to these vessels, their cargo, and their journey.  What kind of ships will you see?  All kinds!  St Lawrence River cruises, cargo ships, tour boats, military ships, tugboats, barges, and many more.


    Let me show you a few examples to get started:

     

    One of my latest Twitter discoveries serves up a regular feed of photos, definitely worth a follow.  I recently reached out to @SeawayNNY, since several recent tweets featured ships passing by my favorite spot (Clayton NY and Calumet Island), and asked if I could share some photos with you.  Thankfully the answer was “yes”.

    Here are a few of the great shots from @SeawayNNY:

    Having spent so many years of summers on the St Lawrence watching ships pass by Clayton and up close from our family boat, I really enjoy the detail in these shots.  These photo tweets really capture the beauty and working nature of these busy vessels.

     

    Want more? You got it!

    There are several other Twitter accounts I follow that serve up wonderful 1000 Islands ship pictures.  Each day I see some amazing shots and it keeps me close to the place I spent a lot of time at as a kid, and still love today.  Give them a follow, too!

    @TallShipsBV
    @IslandLifeMag
    @theShipWatcher
    @scubadiver5
    @EdHuckMarine
    @BobMondore

    Whether you call it the Thousand Islands or the 1000 Islands, it’s a great place.  Beautiful islands, great boating and fishing, relaxation, and ships.  All shapes and sizes of ships.

    It’s fun to check out the ship names and very often spot interesting cargo.  One of the most fascinating cargo loads I’ve seen was a deck full of huge wind turbine blades.  Yeah, via Twitter!  Visiting one of the St Lawrence ship tracker websites or Twitter accounts keeps you tuned in to a lot of interesting shipping activity.

    Thanks again to @SeawayNNY, and if you have a favorite source of 1000 Islands ship pictures, I’d love it if you would leave a comment below.

    Also, if you enjoyed this article, please share it on social media!

    [ctt template=”7″ link=”O2A8D” via=”yes” ]I just found this awesome article on #1000islands ship watcher photos – here’s the scoop! @1000islandsboat[/ctt]


  5. Thousand Islands Boating – Clayton, Calumet Island, Alexandria Bay

    June 6, 2018 by Mike

    Boating in the 1000 Islands is timeless.  I remember it from the boyhood vantage point of the 1960’s when I spent the summers at Calumet Island Marina, Clayton, NY, and Alexandria Bay, NY.  I can still hear the sounds and see the sights in my head.  I haven’t been back in maybe 14 years, but I imagine today it’s a lot like it was then.  So what’s different?  Who out there remembers the 1000 Islands from the 60’s and can compare it to today?

    Let me take a stab at it, without the benefit of first-hand knowledge.

    Obviously Calumet Island is different.  1000 Islands Calumet Island Marina 1967From its glorious heyday complete with castle and service harbor, to the 60’s marina, to today as a private residence, Calumet has a beauty and charm all its own. 

    Here’s a photo from a seaplane in 1967, and you can see how many trees it had back then.  The castle ruins were still plentiful and provided quite a sight-seeing adventure for my brother and I, though there was no way to get safely close.  I visited in the early 2000’s and it was very clean and for the first time in my life I was able to see the turret and stairs facing the Clayton side that was completely overgrown in the 60’s.  1000 Islands Calumet Harbor mid60sThe Calumet harbor was filled with boats, so many that “finger docks” sprung out from the stone walkways to accommodate all the customers.  Today none of those era remain, though a few new ones have sprouted according to photo’s I’ve seen.

    Here’s a mystery and a puzzler – why was the Calumet Island Skiff House roof and the taxi boat painted orange?  We called it “Calumet Orange” in our days there during the 1960’s for lack of a better term.  Here’s what I think:  advertising.  Calumet Island was a marina back then and a business needs to attract proper attention.  If you looked across the river from Clayton, there was no mistaking that orange roof!  The island itself is beautiful to look at, but that glint of orange would surely draw your eye and make you ask “Why?  What’s over there?”  The answer was “a marina, a nice place to keep your boat”.  A short while into the 60’s the marina’s small taxi boat got a hull of the same color.  I suspect for the same reason.  It became a matching extension to the marina at Calumet Island.  What do you think?  If there’s another reason you know about, it would be interesting if you’d share it.

    Clayton is different.  To me, one of the big differences between then and now are the coal docks.  As a kid, it was so neat to see the big ships close up while they took on coal for fuel. 1000 Islands Clayton Coal dock sep 67 I can still hear the very unique sound of the coal as it dropped down the long chutes into the ship’s storage areas.  Watching these behemoths maneuver to the mooring and deckhands securing the steel cables to the huge pilings and cleats left indelible images in my head.  I’ve seen pictures of that part of Clayton today and it has certainly been spruced up since the coal docks went away.  The adjacent town docks were configured a bit differently then, and the Golden Anchor restaurant sat above the side opposite the coal docks (and as I recall, the US Customs office).  Occasionally, small single-deck wooden tour boats docked next to the Golden Anchor, I believe part of the Uncle Sam Boat Tours line.  And far down the other river-side of town was McCormick’s restaurant, a period photo of which can be found in the Thousand Islands Life article in the References below, as well as Rice’s Marina where my father got his minnows for our weekly fishing trips to Grindstone Island.

    Alexandria Bay?  Well, that was a far-away destination to me!  Every few summers my family would make the voyage there from Calumet Island.  I remember how neat is was to pass under the 1000 Islands Bridge as cars passed overhead, seeing a hotel near where we docked (I believe it was the Edgewood Resort), and a western-themed family spot called “Adventure Town”.  They had wild west shows and a train ride that included a “real” gold robbery!  (You did not want to be the kid sitting on the bag of gold when the bad guys came a’ ridin’ in!)  The link I had below has gone dead, but if you’re interested in Adventure Town, you can probably find a clip on YouTube.

    1000 Islands McCormick's Restaurant and American Boat Line

    McCormick’s Restaurant and American Boat Line

    In this old postcard, you can see the street-side view of McCormick’s Restaurant next to the old American Boat Line tourboat office.  For more information on the American Boat Line and their 1000 Islands tours, see this post I wrote.

    Now it’s your turn.  How does it compare?  What’s still there and what isn’t?  Are boat operators any better or worse today than at that earlier period of time?  Has anything changed significantly in the past few decades?  What’s your favorite timeless spot? Leave a comment below and share your recollections of the area both past and present.  It’ll be fun!

    References:

    • Adventure Town
    • McCormick’s restaurant

     


  6. Thousand Islands Boating – Undersea Evidence

    June 6, 2018 by Mike

    In the mid ’60’s there was a brand new dock that sprung up on the Clayton side of Calumet Island.  Pre-1960’s there may have been another dock in the same place, but I’m not sure; Paul Malo’s excellent book “Fools’ Paradise” states on page 27 “At one time there was a big deep-water pier for yachts on this side.  It was over by that little island, which Emery more or less created…” (Paul Malo, “Fools’ Paradise” Copyright 2003 Laurentian Press).

    The 1960’s dock was constructed during a period of growth for the then-marina.  It never seemed to get much use, perhaps because it was on the non-protected side of Calumet’s harbor.

    One weekend, a visiting seaplane pilot brought his craft to the water between Clayton and Calumet and provided an afternoon of amazing rides over the river (to me, that was worth every penny of the dock’s construction costs!)

    Seaplane at Calumet Island dock, circa 1967

    Seaplane at Calumet Island dock, circa 1967

    Years later I went back to Calumet and the dock was gone.  A mystery as to why, and if it ever got used.

    Interestingly enough, the Google Maps aerial view still shows the location of that dock, probably something that would remain hidden from view in the much less clearer St Lawrence of the 60’s.

    Imagery c 2012 GeoEye, New York GIS, Map Data c 2012 Google

    Imagery c 2012 GeoEye, New York GIS, Map Data c 2012 Google


  7. 1000 Islands Tours – American Boat Line Neptune upgrade

    June 18, 2017 by Mike

    Thousand Islands Boating – More information on the ex – 1000 Islands tour boat “Neptune”

    Since my previous article about the former American Boat Line “Neptune”  (once one of the a primary 1000 Islands tours fleet vessels with the American Boat Line out of Clayton, New York), I’ve discovered she’s more recently been part of Ft Lauderdale’s water taxi fleet as “Island Adventure”, and has undergone some further renovation!

    Half a century old, and still worthy of earning a living

    According to the water taxi website, the Captain’s Log says “So, why rebuild a 51 year old boat? The answer is simple…she has “good bones”  …  she needs a new lease on life and is going through a much-deserved keel to mast, stem to stern overhaul”.

    Apparently since her 1000 Islands tours days, she’s had a few different paint schemes !

    Boston Harbor Cruises

    What caught my eye from the Boston Harbor Cruises website: the unmistakable hull lines!

    and three more from recent times:

    1000 Islands' former ABL Neptune, now Ft Lauderdale Water Taxi

    Former ABL “Neptune” circa 2013

     

    1000 Islands' former ABL Neptune, now Ft Lauderdale Water Taxi

    1000 Islands’ former ABL Neptune, now Ft Lauderdale Water Taxi  circa 2015

     

    1000 Islands Tours former ABL Neptune

    1000 Islands’ former ABL Neptune, now Ft Lauderdale Water Taxi  circa 2015

     

    Here’s a look at her in Boston Harbor:

    When she was part of the tour fleet at Boston’s Best Tours, I had a chance to go on board for a memorable tour – same “good bones” I recall as a kid when she was the Neptune.

     

     

    So – What do you  know about this tour boat?

    Let me know by commenting below, I’d love to hear from you!

     

    Mike

     

    [ctt template=”3″ link=”GJ4uf” via=”yes” ]Send this post on a tour! Please share it with your 1000 Islands friends![/ctt]


  8. 1000 Islands Cruise – an interview with an American Adonis crewmember

    October 1, 2016 by Mike

    1000 Islands Tour Boats American Adonis - JWK Collection(Photo used with permission from the “J.W. King Photography Collection” and supplied for use by Tom King)

    A 1000 Islands cruise is a great getaway.  The vessels have changed over the years, but the fun hasn’t.  I’ve posted before about my fascination with the old American Boat Line 1000 Islands tour boats: Adonis, Venus, and Neptune.  The former was the first double decker in the line, made of wood, some confirmation that she was built on a PT boat hull, and downright nice looking!  Recently, I got in touch with Tom (Twitter handle @tbogie52), who answered a few 1000 Islands trivia questions I tweeted, and found out he was a crewman for one season on the original Adonis.  So we got to trading questions and answers, and I learned a few new things about the Adonis.  Let me share them with you: (more…)


  9. Thousand Islands Boating – A Fishing Vacation

    June 26, 2013 by Mike

    A 1000 Islands fishing vacation is one of the greatest ways to spend part of your summer.  When I was a kid, my brother and I each had a fishing pole and together we’d drop or cast a line from my father’s boat or the docks at Calumet Island Marina.  The shallow water was clear enough to let us see maybe 5 or 6 feet down and spotting the type of fish to go after was fairly easy.  Outside the harbor in deeper water, the St Lawrence was fairly low-visibility compared to today.  The easiest fishing in the harbor was for the small ones that would take any bait we put on the hook.  Ideally, we were looking for large or small mouth bass (something to eat) but always ended up with perch, sunfish, or the small rockbass.  They’d all end up back in the water (in fact, I don’t recall ever catching an actual “eating fish”, though my father did fry some perch once – I suppose to show it could be done).  Perch are bony little fish; lots of work to eat!  I did latch onto a pike from the bow of our Steel King in the harbor, but alas, it was too small to keep.  Another occasional find in the harbor was carp, but that wasn’t a favorite.

    The “real fish” were found outside the harbor; for us, off Grindstone Island.  The good ones were large mouth and small mouth bass, and we feasted on many of them over 10 years of summer visits.  Once my father did bring in an eel.  My young imagination wondered if it was electric and almost cautioned him not to grab it, but before I could say anything, he had removed the hook and sent it back to the cool river water.

    Occasionally, trolling was the order of the day.  For that, I learned about a different kind of fishing pole, very stiff, with steel line.  Muskies and Northern Pike were the targets and, though I found trolling to be a bit of a bore at that age, the thrills begin quickly when we hooked one.  Even when I was freezing aboard a wooden flying-bridge Pacemaker one cold November west of Calumet Island, snow coming down, the prospect of seeing that fighting fish kept me in the game.  In the end, it was just a cold day fishing, with no reward other than having been there.  Good enough.

    If you are planning a 1000 Islands vacation this year, don’t leave out fishing.  You won’t find a better place for it!  For a start, take a peek at the information the Clayton Chamber of Commerce has on fishing the area.

    Got any 1000 Islands fishing vacation stories to share?  Leave some feedback below!


  10. Clayton Island Tours – Scenic Cruises on the American Boat Line

    July 3, 2012 by Mike

    1960’s… hula hoops, muscle cars, the twist, the new St Lawrence Seaway, scenic cruise boat tours.  Well, certainly more than that, but boat tours sticks out in my mind today, and in particular the tour boats of the American Boat Line.  Early in my decade of childhood visits to Clayton, I was placed aboard a wooden double decker, the American Adonis, for a scenic cruise.

    1000 Islands American Adonis from my old postcard

    1000 Islands American Adonis from an old postcard we bought in the 60’s

    I remember well the captain slowing her to a near stop as the tour guide asked us to look carefully over the side to see the line painted under the water, marking the boundary between the US and Canada.  I was quite frustrated that I couldn’t see it, and a double check with my brother and Mom confirmed it must have been really tough to spot!

    A few more tour-years on the Adonis and we were greeted with the announcement that coming soon would be an all-new aluminum double decker – the American Venus!  Wow, I could not wait.  Remember – this was at the heart of the space age and anything shiny, new, and made of metal was one step above anything else.  The next season arrived and we logged another tour from Clayton to Gananoque and return – this time in double-deck aluminum splendor!  I still held a fondness for the wooden Adonis and, fishing off Grindstone island most weekends, we could spot them both from across the river as they headed out on schedule.  Eventually their wake would make it to us, though quite small compared to the huge tsunamis they seemed like when a 10 year old and his brother viewed them close up.  The gentle rocking of our Steel King brought a comforting reminder that all was well, timetables were being met, and people were out having a great day courtesy of the American Boat Line.

    Time passed slowly in those days, plenty of time to marvel about this new metal wonderboat, and then as if you got an extra present after all your birthday gifts were unwrapped, word of a second aluminum ABL vessel hit – coming soon, the American Neptune!  Oh gosh, I’d have to wait until NEXT boating season to see this.  Fall…. winter…. spring…. finally summer.  Clayton, Calumet Island, the river.  There she was!  Wow, pretty much like the Venus; only shinier and newer.  I gotta get a ride on that one!  Eventually I did.

    Nearer to the mainland, I also loved the single-deck wooden boats from Uncle Sam’s fleet, and when venturing across the border to Canadian waters, admired the Canadian Boat Line’s wooden beauties.  It was the big ABL boats that drew my attention though, and on several occasions while seated by the window at the old McCormick’s Restaurant, the familiar blast from the tour boat’s horn warned of departure and foreshadowed the start of another tour run as happy people on the upper deck passed by “my” restaurant window.

    Then one day the island visits stopped as life moved on and my father had to sell his boat.  Memories linger, though, and another decade later I managed a trip to Clayton.  Darn if the tours weren’t still running!  One more chance to ride my favorite, and this time get a picture up by the wheel!! (I wanted to be a tour boat captain for ABL when I grew up, so having that picture morphed childhood fantasy with grown-up reality).  I seem to recall the boats were part of Gray Line Tours at that time, and have read in articles at the Thousand Islands Life website that a company named International Boat Tours also played a part in their history.  Apparently there was a third practically identical aluminum boat – the American Adonis II, but I never got the chance to see her. 

    They’re gone now but not forgotten.  Or are they?

    For some details on these tour boats, see my Tour Boats page – and I’d like to thank the “Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University” for permission to use data from their extensive database for this post.  They have a wonderful searchable website!

    American Adonis: built 1943, 61 feet

    American Venus: built 1960, 64 feet

    American Neptune: built 1964, 64 feet

    American Adonis II: built 1972, 64 feet

    The 1000 Islands’ American Boat Line double-deckers… gone but not forgotten!  <– click to tweet this!