Ditchburn Boats: A Muskoka Legacy

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

This is the story of Herb and his boats: boats that chased rum runners,
boats that were rum runners, boats that helped win the war, rowing
skiffs, hydroplanes, day cruisers, family launches, luxury yachts,
runabouts, race boats, houseboats, patrol boats, hospital ships, and,
above all, hand-built pleasure craft—boats that were “transports of
delight.”

Herbert Ditchburn came to Canada looking for a way to make a living.
When fate took him to that patch of Ontario now known as Muskoka, he
made the decision not to become a struggling farmer on the rocky land
but rather to turn to the thousands of lakes that added beauty to the
area. Wealthy Torontonians and Americans were drawn to those lakes each
summer. Ditchburn decided they needed boats to round out their luxurious
lifestyle. At his little factory in Gravenhurst, Ontario, he built
world-class boats that were renowned for their craftsmanship, design,
beauty, and speed. The factory operated from 1900 to 1938, supplemented
by a subsidiary plant in nearby Orillia in the early 1920s, until the
Great Depression killed the market for luxury launches.

The text is packed with details for the boat hobbyist. There’s data
on engines, woods, hulls, keels, displacement. The style is factual and
smooth, with a minimum of editorializing. Illustrations receive a very
generous share of the pages, with dozens of archival photos and
documents mixed with color shots of restored boats in use today. These
are technically first-rate, if a bit short on mood and romance.

This book is a must-have for local/social historians and vintage-boat
enthusiasts.