THE LAUNCH • 1910 Chestnut Canoe Launch • St.
Lawrence 2 hp, one cylinder engine, Brockville, Ontario • Purchased by Roy Simpson, Carols grandfather, from Mr.
Stevens, an executive of the Dennis Canadian Lumber Company in Whitney, Ontario in about 1919.
• The launch carried three generations of the Simpson family across the waters of her home, Long Lake, near Whitney, Ontario first generation from 1919 to 1942.
• During World War II, Simpson family vacations in Whitney were put on hold.
• Second generation of the Simpson family, Geary Simpson, Carols father started camping in Whitney, Ontario and using the launch in 1952, Carol Simpson was 6 years old.
• The Launch was stored in a boat house on the river with a hoist to take her up out of the water at the end of the summer.
After the war, a higher dam was built across the river, and this raised the level of the water so much that it covered The Launch.
Carols’ father and grandfather rescued The Launch from the bottom of the Madawaska River in Whitney,
Ontario.
With a lot of time and love for The Launch she was brought back to life.
Luckily, the ca.
1910 engine was still in production at the St.
Lawrence Engine Company in Brockville, Ontario.
In 1955 The Launch was back on the lake for the first time since its submersion in the boathouse.
• Due to the difficulty of moving The Launch from the basement of the Simpsons cabin The Launch was put in storage in 1961 while Carols’ father, Geary Simpson pondered alternative ways to launch her.
In 1968, Carol’s grandfather died.
Her father was making plans to bring The Launch out of storage just shortly before her father passed away in 1982.
• Third generation of the life of The Launch started in 1983 with Carol Simpson and her husband Doug Williams traveling to Whitney.
They discovered dry rot in the hull and was determined to move the boat out of the damp basement and to look for a knowledgeable restorer.
Two years later, after many long hours of repairing and rebuilding and some remanufacturing pieces The Launch
was transformed and ready to begin her third life in July of 1985.
• “The Launch” fell into the hands of Rick Gardner after the death of Carol Simpson in August 2016.
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