Carrington Rekindles Youth Memory, Reunites With Beloved 1921 Cruiser, Boss
By Amy Polk

Boss, a 42-foot express cruiser made in 1921 by the Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation, is one of this year's three feature boats at the 30th Les Cheneaux Islands Antique Wooden Boat Show and Festival of Arts. (Photograph by John Grenier)

When she was eight years old, Janet Carrington saw a sight that remained in her memory for 50 years. Docked alongside the E.J.Mertaugh Boat Works gasoline dock in downtown Hessel was a boat that shined with quiet beauty. Its clean, white painted hull and crisp brown canvas set off its molasses-colored wood and shiny brass and copper hardware.

"Everyone admired it," she said of people in Hessel, whose heads were turned by the sight of the boat. "It was so long, and sleek, and beautiful. Then it left the dock and was gone for the year."

It's coming back again as one of the feature boats in the 2007 Les Cheneaux Antique Wooden Boat Show in Hessel. The boat, Boss, will be on display at the show Saturday, August 11, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Mrs. Carrington's summer sightings of the 42-foot, 1921 Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation cruiser made a lasting impression as the boat visited Hessel throughout her youth. Years later, as an adult, she prioritized four things she wanted to do before she died. Owning the Boss was one of them.

Inside the large, roomy cockpit of Boss, a forerunner to more modern cabin cruisers, passengers could fish or lounge in the large back seat or wicker chairs under the shade of a removable canvas canopy.

"It was a lifetime dream," she said.

She considered commissioning Antique and Classic Boats of Hessel to make a reproduction for her. Then a friend came across an article that featured the boat, and several weeks of research revealed its location. Mrs. Carrington purchased the boat in 2006, and brought it back to the place she first fell in love with it. Spectators at the 2006 Les Cheneaux Antique Wooden Boat Show were able to view it in almost the same location at Mertaugh's where Mrs. Carrington had seen it years before.

A forerunner to the massive cabin cruisers to come, Boss was built to the specifications of A.D. Goldman of St. Louis, Missouri, who owned a place in Charlevoix. He wanted a boat suitable for use both around the Charlevoix area and in Florida waters during the winter. The cruiser needed to be 42 feet in length, have sleeping accommodations for four, and offer "extensive accommodations in a cockpit for large day parties," according to the written specifications. The Milwaukee, Wisconsinbased Great Lakes Boat Building Corporation made the vessel with a Cyprus hull, canvas deck, brass and copper air vents, and an unusual wooden mast. The Bridgeport Coach Lace Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, originally supplied a fabric for the interior seat cushions, and an artificial leather material for the deck cushions. The main cabin is furnished with seating cushions that form upper and lower sleeping accommodations for four people. A galley in the cabin was built with a kerosene range with oven, ice box, sink, lockers, and dish rack so that passengers could sustain themselves for extended cruises.

Another unusual feature of the boat is its 9.5-foot width, which is considered relatively narrow and small for a cabin cruiser. Mrs. Carrington suspects the boat was built for a person shorter than six feet tall.

A built-in seat across the stern and wicker chairs in the cockpit outside are sheltered beneath a canvas canopy with side curtains that can be lifted or lowered. The canvas top was made to be removable "so it can be dispensed with on fishing trips either in northern or southern waters," according to the written specifications.

Much of the canvas is original. In fact, most of the boat is original, said Tom Mertaugh of Classic and Antique Boats, who performed some restoration and all the maintenance on the boat since her return to the Les Cheneaux Islands.

"The boat is almost completely original, which is very unusual," Mr. Mertaugh said. "It's pretty much had nothing done on it but maintenance. We painted her hull from the rub rail down, and that's about it."

He estimates that about 99% of the boat's wood is original as well. In the 1930s, the owners upgraded its original Sterling Dolphin engine with a 290-horsepower, 1937 six-cylinder, 24-valve model Sterling Special engine that remains in the boat. An original canvas and netting life raft also remain with the boat.

For Mrs. Carrington, that was the best part of the boat. When she examined the Boss before the purchase, she was sold on the fact that nothing much had changed from its original construction.

"It was so beautifully cared for and had never been messed with. I looked all around it to find something unoriginal, and there wasn't anything. No brass or wood was replaced," she said. "That's what really impressed me. It is such an unusual boat."

Historical accounts tell the boat achieved a top speed of about 25 miles per hour, and it served as a pleasure cruiser and fishing boat for most of its early days. It reportedly traveled to Florida, the North Channel of Ontario in northern Lake Huron, and Michigan places like Harbor Springs, Petoskey, and the DeTour and Drummond Island areas, in addition to its trips to the Les Cheneaux Islands. The boat avoided commission into service during World War II by the United States Coast Guard, and remained on the Great Lakes most of its life.

The boat was named Boss by Mr. Goldman, and the name remains on the transom of the boat in the same font it was originally painted in.

It also appears on side plaques near the top deck, and on life rings that hang on the side. Some say the name came from the fact it was the biggest boat on the lake at the time. Some say it was named simply to reflect the impression of size and beauty that struck people when they saw the boat.

Regardless, Boss is considered by many one of the finest antique boats on the Great Lakes, owing to its nearly perfect preservation and one-of-a-kind status.

"There probably was not any boat made in the same configuration as this boat," Mr. Mertaugh said. "It wasn't a production boat, so there probably was not another one ever made."

The boat has had only three owners, including the Goldman family, the Brandt family, and Mrs. Carrington, who divides her time between her homes in Cedarville and Florida.

Boss is featured on this year's collectible, 30th anniversary boat show poster, a print of the original oil painting by Diana J. Windsor Grenier of Up North Studio and Sign shop in Hessel. Her husband, John Grenier, designed this year's poster using her painting of the boat and Dollar Island in Les Cheneaux Channel near Cedarville. Posters are available at the shop, and the Greniers will sign their posters at a booth at the August 11 boat show.

Information about the show and schedules of boat show events are available at the Les Cheneaux Historical Museum on Meridian Street in Cedarville. The St. Ignace News will run a complete schedule of events with dates and times the week of boat show.