“I call them trophies. It’s part of me. I built it. I’ve done everything to it. I go down to the river and it’s my trophy.”

— René Longtin, as quoted from Shawn Thompson, River Rats: The People of the Thousand Islands, 1989

Born in 1932, René Longtin grew up in Cornwall, Ontario, and was always fascinated by water and boats.

He started working in construction, but changed direction at 39 years old when given the chance to apprentice with a Hungarian master boat builder in Oshawa, Ontario. This job taught him the skills he would use throughout his career.

In 1971, René took a job working for Marlin Yachts to build the first Thousand Islander tour boat for the Gananoque Boat Line (GBL). The 33.5 metre (110 foot) Thousand Islander was the largest all aluminum passenger vessel in the world at the time and could carry 380 passengers. This was followed by a second tour boat, and soon he was hired to work for Algan Shipyard, GBL’s boat building division. Longtin bought Algan Shipyard in 1978 and completed the fleet of five GBL tour boats, now owned and operated by City Cruises Gananoque. He went on to build the St. Lawrence Cruise Lines’ flagship Canadian Empress, launched in 1981 and still cruising the St. Lawrence River today.

Longtin also built large catamarans and trimarans (sailing vessels with metal pontoons). The Cuan Law was the world’s largest trimaran when it was launched in 1988, with just 6 metres (20 feet) to spare as it sailed under the Thousand Islands Bridge enroute to the Caribbean.

René doesn’t build boats anymore, but he continues to work as a captain, engineer and consultant on and around the many boats he helped design and build over his fifty year career.

Boats built by René Longtin in the Museum collection:

Located beside the Boat Museum on the Gananoque waterfront, City Cruises Gananoque still uses the fleet of 5 tour boats that René completed for the Gananoque Boat Line in the 1970s. Take a tour on one today, or wander the town docks and check out these impressive vessels.