RMS Segwun
Segwun approaches dock
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| History | |
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 Canada
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| Name: | RMS Segwun |
| Port of registry: | Toronto, Canada |
| Ordered: | 1887 |
| Builder: | Clyde, Scotland |
| Laid down: | 1887 |
| Launched: | 1887 (as SS Nipissing) 1925 (as RMS Segwun) |
| Completed: | 1887 and 1925 |
| In service: |
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| Out of service: | 1958–1981 |
| Status: | In service |
| Notes: | Oldest steam-powered vessel still in use in Canada |
| General characteristics | |
| Length: | 125 feet |
| Beam: | 21 feet |
| Propulsion: | two reciprocating steam engines, circa 1907, 1914 |
RMS Segwun is the oldest operating steam driven vessel in North America, built in 1887 to cruise the Muskoka Lakes in the Muskoka, Ontario, Canada, a resort area with many lakes and rivers. Early in the 20th century, Muskoka was poorly served by roads. Vacationers were transported to lodges, or private cottages, via a fleet of steamships, including the Segwun. She is one of only four ships in the world still carrying the status of Royal Mail Ship.
Ports of call included Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Beaumaris, Port Sandfield, Port Carling, Bala.
In the 1920s the Muskoka Lakes saw strong growth in tourism as the Canadian economy recovered from the trauma of World War I. By 1924 the Muskoka Lakes Navigation Company found that the six steamers then serving the lakes were growing inadequate to the task and looked to add to their fleet. Rather than commission an entirely new boat, management decided to convert the decommissioned SS Nipissing from a paddle-wheeler to a twin propeller passenger steamer. Nipissing's wrought iron hull was built on the Clyde in 1887 and was in service on the lakes from 1887 through 1915. When Segwun was rebuilt on the hull of the second SS Nipissing she was also converted from a side paddle wheel steamer with a walking beam engine into the current two counter-rotating propellers.
The conversion was performed at the Navigation Company's yard in Gravenhurst, Ontario during the fall and winter of 1924–5, at which time the bulk of Nipissing's machinery was removed, including her engines. Workers installed a new Scotch marine boiler along with two secondhand Doty compound steam engines and stack. The bulk of the two lower decks were retained.
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