This photo from 1874 shows the racing skiff Mocking Bird leaving Collingwood Harbour. The crown jewel of W. Watts & Sons boat builders, the craft was the Watts family’s own pleasure yacht. Captained by fellow boatbuilder Patrick Doherty and crewed by William Sr. and his sons, Mocking Bird was known for its incredible speed and winning record at regattas locally and throughout the Great Lakes, winning the Collingwood Regatta Challenge Silver Cup in 1874, 1875 and 1876. To get to distant races, the large boat was loaded on flat rail cars and transported by train.
Irish immigrant William Watts, Sr. began designing and building boats in the mid-1850s to serve the growing commercial fisheries of Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. Watts & Sons boats soon became known for their fine lines, speed and ability to weather storms. Originally known as Collingwood fish boats or Collingwood skiffs, regional boat builders made hundreds of these vessels from the 1850s until the decline of the fishery in the early twentieth century.
While fishing boats were Watts & Sons’ bread and butter, the firm’s “pleasure boats” were also in demand. Modeled on the Collingwood fishing boats, the yachts were longer and racier, but true to the original skiff design and workmanship. Besides the Mocking Bird, other notable examples were the Nahma, a recreational sailboat built for Sir Edmund Walker (first president of the Art Gallery of Ontario) and the Pequod, which was registered at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club of Toronto in 1920. Both the Nahma and the Pequod were fixtures in the winner’s circle at regattas around the Great Lakes, often entered in the same races. Ken Jones, Nahma’s last owner, donated her to the Collingwood Museum in 1997. The boat was later transferred to the Canada Science and Technology Museum.
The Watts family sold the remaining pieces of the family business to the Collingwood Shipyards in the mid-1940s. However, the Watts Boathouse still stands at Collingwood Harbour. Built in the 1870s, the boathouse was originally used to store lifeboats and is now home to the Collingwood Dragon Boat and Canoe Club. ❧
Sources: Collingwood Museum, collingwooddragonboats.com
