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      You are here: Home / News / Steamboat Sighting on Lake Champlain

      Steamboat Sighting on Lake Champlain

      July 28, 2013 By Geo Davis 7 Comments

      Tugboats playing on Lake Champlain between Begg's Point and the Essex, NY ferry dock.
      Tugboats playing on Lake Champlain between Begg’s Point and the Essex, NY ferry dock.

      This is not a vintage photograph of steamboats in Essex, NY. It was taken yesterday.

      On Saturday, July 28, I was enjoying lunch with family and friends on the sun soaked outer deck of the Old Dock Restaurant. It was packed, but the service was swift and the quintessential “summer on Lake Champlain” atmosphere was relaxed, upbeat and joyful despite the memorial service for Judge Lewis taking place less than a block away.

      Suddenly the most unusual music began to drift across the bay, gaspy but playful tunes, only a few notes long that reminded me of a calliope or maybe even a distant ice cream truck. Soon all of the diners on the deck were looking out onto Lake Champlain where a flotilla of miniature steamboats were releasing storybook white puffs into the bluebird skies.

      As the steamboats chugged along, playfully dodging whitecaps and chasing each other from Beggs Point toward the Old Dock, and then past the ferry dock toward Rosslyn boathouse where they anchored en masse.

      Identify this Steamboat Event?

      The steamboat photographs in this gallery were shot quickly from my mobile phone, and while they’re better than no photographs at all, I kept wishing that I had brought my proper camera along to lunch. It would’ve been nice to capture some high-resolution images of this curious maritime regatta.

      In passing along these photographs, I am hoping to learn more about the event. Can you help unravel the steamboat mystery? What was happening? Where are these steamboats from? Who are their owners? If you have any information to pass along, please contact us to help fill in the gaps. Thanks in advance!

      Tugboats playing on Lake Champlain between Begg's Point and the Essex, NY ferry dock.
      Tugboats playing on Lake Champlain between Begg’s Point and the Essex, NY ferry dock.
      Tugboats playing on Lake Champlain between the Old Dock Restaurant in Essex, NY and the busy ferry dock.
      Tugboats playing on Lake Champlain between the Old Dock Restaurant in Essex, NY and the busy ferry dock.
      Tugboats anchored between Rosslyn's boathouse and the Essex, NY ferry dock.
      Tugboats anchored between Rosslyn’s boathouse and the Essex, NY ferry dock.
      Tugboats anchored between Rosslyn's boathouse and the Essex, NY ferry dock.
      Tugboats anchored between Rosslyn’s boathouse and the Essex, NY ferry dock.
      Tugboats anchored between Rosslyn's boathouse and the Essex, NY ferry dock.
      Tugboats anchored between Rosslyn’s boathouse and the Essex, NY ferry dock.

      Update

      Hat tip to Dee Carroll and Kevin Cooper whose comments (see below) helped me flesh out a few more details. I don’t believe that the steam launches we witnessed on Saturday were part of 13th annual steamboat rally on Waterford Canal given the date and distance discrepancies, but the photographs suggest that some of the same steam launches may have participated.

      Plumes of white smoke rose gently into the late morning sky as visitors walked along the canal bank, taking in the sight of nearly a dozen steam-powered watercraft from another era.

      The town’s 13th annual Steamboat Rally began Friday, when steamboats from up and down the eastern seaboard made their way into Waterford’s harbor for the annual event featuring craft and food vendors, music and entertainment for all ages. (Saratogian.com)

      According to the International Steamboat Society the annual Waterford, NY steamboat rally (boat parade, social hour, fireworks) took place from July 4 to 7. I haven’t found enough footage from the event to verify sighting some of the same steamboats, but the following video from the 2011 Waterford steamboat rally reveals a few familiar steam launches.

      Related articles
      • Lake Champlain Maritime Festival August 16-18, 2013 (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • VIDEO: Lois McClure among attractions at this year’s Steamboat Meet in Waterford (troyrecord.com)

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      Filed Under: News Tagged With: Antique Boat, Lake Champlain, Maritime, Old Dock Restaurant, Steamboat

      About Geo Davis

      Geo Davis (aka virtualDavis) is a writer, storyteller and unabashed flâneur. He taught and coached at Santa Fe Preparatory School and The American School of Paris, co-founded Maison Margaux: "Paris à la parisienne" in Faubourg Saint-Germain, and owns Adobe Oasis in Santa Fe, NM with his bride.

      Geo chronicles adventures (and misadventures) of rehabilitating an historic Essex home at Rosslyn Redux: Reawakening a home, a dream and ourselves; blogs about doodling and other esoterica at virtualDavis.com; posts sometimes unnerving, occasionally euphoric, and always pollyanna "midlife mashups" at 40x41.com; waxes nautical at Sailing Errant; and delves into matters of parenting, babylandia, and childfreedom at Why No Kids? He meanders on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube and Flickr.

      Reader Interactions

      Comments

      1. Dee Carroll says

        July 28, 2013 at 1:02 pm

        Lucky you to see them! They are a very independent bunch of boaters who steam around the Lake as the spirit moves them. Love it when they steam into Westport’s Northwest Bay. Hope they visit this summer!

        Reply
        • G.G. Davis, Jr. says

          July 29, 2013 at 10:20 am

          Lucky indeed. The Old Dock was full of lunchers, and all were snapping photos. A fun time. Your information has me even more intrigued now, Dee. Do you have any advice where I could learn more about this “very independent bunch of boaters”?

          Reply
      2. Kevin Cooper says

        July 28, 2013 at 3:08 pm

        Those are “steam launches”. I saw the red one heading south through the narrows on Monday 7/22/13, very pretty, got some great pics. Waterford has an annual steamboat rally every July.

        Reply
        • G.G. Davis, Jr. says

          July 29, 2013 at 10:22 am

          Steam launches sounds exactly right. I’ll poke around and see what I can find out about Waterford’s steam launch rally in July. Might have been a spin-off… Any good photos to share on the blog, Kevin?

          Reply
          • Kevin Cooper says

            July 30, 2013 at 8:07 pm

            Just sent you one, George, from the south end of the Narrows, Adirondacks in the background, very pretty

            Reply
            • G.G. Davis, Jr. says

              August 2, 2013 at 7:56 am

              Many thanks. Publishing it shortly in a Lake Champlain steamboat sighting update… Stay tuned! (And GREAT photo, by the way. Thanks for passing it along.)

              Reply

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