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The Boat Builder
Watts was already an oarsman, sailor, and expert Georgian Bay boat builder thanks to his father, William Sr, when he arrived in Vancouver at age 26. William Watts Jr won this 3' rowing trophy two years later in 1890 for the Burrard Inlet (now the Vancouver) Rowing Club. He later wrote of his victory that "I received a great advertizement for my rowing, as well as for my boats." --from a 10-page autobiography in the Vancouver Archives.
Among the vessels built in Watts' shipyard: > The racing yacht Syren (below) > First BC steamboat Miramichi > First BC purpose-built lifeboat > Maple Leaf, 1904, a luxury yacht for ten years, then a halibut schooner for sixty years into the 70's, and for the 40+ years since then, a successful luxury-charter vessel again for eco-touring up and down the west coast. |
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William Watts Jr (1862-1954) came to Vancouver from Collingwood, Ontario, in December, 1888. With hometown partner Ed Trott, he began building boats on the beach between Cambie and Abbott streets in what was then called "Granville" -- later Vancouver BC, Canada. Already a talented self-promoter, he determined to make a name for himself by becoming BC's champion rower. He built his own 20' rowing scull and after months of exercise and practice, won a 3-foot First Place trophy (photo) at the 1890 Provincial Regatta in Victoria. In 1892 he opened "Vancouver Ship Yards Co. Ltd" where he and Trott and their workmen built the Chief Skugaid in 1913. They also built a sister ship, Chief Zibassa, and scores of other vessels, large and small-- including hundreds of Columbia/Fraser River Skiffs. His largest vessel was the 135' SS Teco for AJT Taylor & Associates. The fastest was the rumrunning shoreboat Skeezix, renamed the Fleetwood in the 60's, and now being restored in Steveston, BC. |