Skip to main content
Ingenium Logo

You are leaving IngeniumCanada.org

✖


This link leads to an external website that Ingenium does not control. Please read the third-party’s privacy policies before entering personal information or conducting a transaction on their site.

Have questions? Review our Privacy Statement

Vous quittez IngeniumCanada.org

✖


Ce lien mène à un site Web externe qu'Ingenium ne contrôle pas. Veuillez lire les politiques de confidentialité des tiers avant de partager des renseignements personnels ou d'effectuer une transaction sur leur site.

Questions? Consultez notre Énoncé de confidentialité

Ingenium Canada Science and Technology Museum

Langue

  • Français
Search Toggle

Menu des liens rapides

  • Tickets
  • Ingenium Locations
  • Shop
  • Donate
  • Join
Menu

Main Navigation

  • Plan Your Visit
    • Health and Safety
    • Hours
    • Admission
    • Location and Directions
    • Accessibility
    • Browse All Visitor Information
    • Buy Tickets
    • Online Resources for Science at Home
    • About the Museum
  • What's On at the Museum
    • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • Spaces and Studios
  • Bookings and Rentals
    • School Programs
    • Birthday Parties
    • Summer Camps
    • Venue Rentals
    • Travelling Exhibitions
    • Virtual Field Trips
    • Group Visits
  • Educational Programs
    • School Programs
    • Virtual Field Trips
    • Program Location
      • At the Museum
      • At Your School
      • Online
      • Browse all Educational Programs
    • Popular Links
      • 3D Educational Resources
      • Digital Learning Kits
      • Games and Apps
      • Online Resources for Science at Home
      • Tell Me About
      • Try This Out
  • Collection and Research
    • Research Institute
    • Research Projects
    • Collection Resources
      • Ingenium Collection
      • Collection Highlights
      • Conservation and Collection Services
    • Library and Archives
      • Library and Archives Services
      • Library Catalogue
      • Digital Archives
    • Open Access
      • Ingenium APIs
      • Open Data
      • Open Documents
  • Projects and Initiatives
    • Ingenium Channel
    • Curiosity on Stage
    • Women in STEM
    • Innovation Storybook
    • Species at Risk in Canada
    • Climate Science

W. Watts & Sons Collingwood Skiff Nahma

Hours and Location

Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday to Sunday
Address
1867 St Laurent Blvd, Ottawa, ON
Admission
Browse all Visitor Information for Canada Science and Technology Museum
Browse All Visitor Information

W. Watts & Sons Collingwood Skiff Nahma

W. Watts & Sons Collingwood Skiff Nahma

Current location:

Collection Storage Facility

Provenance:

Ken Jones, Nahma‘s last owner, donated her to the Collingwood Museum in 1997. Fifteen years later, museum staff recognized that, without a major infusion of funds, they could no longer store Nahma safely nor consider displaying her. Under the terms of Ken Jones’s donation, if the Collingwood Museum could not take proper care of Nahma, she was to be offered to the Canada Science and Technology Museum. In April 2013, after an emotional farewell, the Collingwood Museum transferred Nahma to the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation.

Technical history:

The Collingwood skiff was the single most common type of sail-powered fishing boat built on the Great Lakes. Boats like this were built by the hundreds to serve the large fishery on Lake Huron. They were stable craft that could carry a large load of fish but they were also fast enough to outrun sudden squalls and shallow enough to shelter in coves when necessary. Watts was the pre-eminent builder of these craft and his company continued to build them to order even after the great age of sail-powered fishing boats on the Great Lakes had passed. Nahma is Canada’s last surviving example of an ancient class of boats known as the shallop.

History:

In the mid-1850s, Irish immigrant William Watts started making boats 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 know as Collingwood fish boats, regional boat builders made hundreds of these vessels from the 1850s until the decline of the fishery in the early twentieth century. Watts & Sons built Nahma in 1923 as a recreational sailboat for Sir Edmund Walker, first president of the Art Gallery of Ontario. Known by this time as a Collingwood skiff, this boat is nonetheless true to the original fish boat design and, as such, is the only surviving example of this important type of historic working boat.

CSTMC/SMSTC 2013.0026

CSTMC/SMSTC 2013.0026

CSTMC/SMSTC 2013.0026

SCITECH
Canada Science and Technology Museum
Artifact No.
2013.0026
Manufacturer
W. Watts & Sons
Manufacturer Location
Collingwood, Ontario
Manufacture Date
1923
Acquisition Date
2013
  • View all the collection highlights at the Canada Science and Technology Museum
  • View other collection highlights related to Marine Transportation

Footer

About Canada Science and Technology Museum

Canada Science and Technology Museum
The Canada Science and Technology Museum tells Canada's innovation story in an immersive, educational, and fun way.
Read more about the museum

Contact Us

Canada Science and Technology Museum
1867 St Laurent Blvd
Ottawa ON K1G 5A3
Canada

613-991-3044
1-866-442-4416
contact@IngeniumCanada.org
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Museum

    • About the Museum
    • Visitor Information
    • Careers
    • Accessibility
  • Visit

    • Online Resources for Science at Home
    • Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
    • Canada Aviation and Space Museum
    • Canada Science and Technology Museum
    • Ingenium Centre
  • Support

    • The Foundation
    • Ways to Donate
    • Membership
    • Corporate Memberships
    • Volunteering
    • Partnerships
    • Online Boutique
    • Venue Rentals
    • Book a Travelling Exhibition
  • For Media

    • Newsroom
    • Awards
    • The Channel

Connect with us

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest Ingenium news straight to your inbox!

Sign Up

Legal Bits

Ingenium Privacy Statement

© 2023 Ingenium

Symbol of the Government of Canada
  • Plan Your Visit
    • Health and Safety
    • Hours
    • Admission
    • Location and Directions
    • Accessibility
    • Browse All Visitor Information
    • Buy Tickets
    • Online Resources for Science at Home
    • About the Museum
  • What's On at the Museum
    • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • Spaces and Studios
  • Bookings and Rentals
    • School Programs
    • Birthday Parties
    • Summer Camps
    • Venue Rentals
    • Travelling Exhibitions
    • Virtual Field Trips
    • Group Visits
  • Educational Programs
    • School Programs
    • Virtual Field Trips
    • Program Location
      • At the Museum
      • At Your School
      • Online
      • Browse all Educational Programs
    • Popular Links
      • 3D Educational Resources
      • Digital Learning Kits
      • Games and Apps
      • Online Resources for Science at Home
      • Tell Me About
      • Try This Out
  • Collection and Research
    • Research Institute
    • Research Projects
    • Collection Resources
      • Ingenium Collection
      • Collection Highlights
      • Conservation and Collection Services
    • Library and Archives
      • Library and Archives Services
      • Library Catalogue
      • Digital Archives
    • Open Access
      • Ingenium APIs
      • Open Data
      • Open Documents
  • Projects and Initiatives
    • Ingenium Channel
    • Curiosity on Stage
    • Women in STEM
    • Innovation Storybook
    • Species at Risk in Canada
    • Climate Science