Research Resources

Research Resources ~ Gordon C. Shaw
Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston
55 Ontario Street, Kingston, Ontario. K7L2Y2
Phone: 613 542 2261 Research E Mail: curator@marmuseum.ca

AN INTRODUCTION TO GORDON C. SHAW

Gordon was born in Detroit, Michigan, of Canadian parents, and grew up in Walkerville and graduated from King George Public School and Walkerville Collegiate.

As a young person, he became interested in passenger ships and looked forward, each summer, to riding such fine steamers at Detroit as the Tashmoo, Put-in-Bay, Ste. Claire and Columbia and on several Canada Days, the big Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company steamers, Eastern States, City of Cleveland III and City of Detroit III on special excursions to Lake Huron.

After graduating from Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario in Mathematics and Economics, Gordon joined the Department of Research of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Montreal. They transferred him to Vancouver where he spent several great years researching the prospects for the CPR’s fine fleet of "Princess" steamers, then operating all along the British Columbia coast.

After leaving the railway, he studied for his Masters and Doctoral degrees, the latter in the Department of Industrial Engineering at University of Toronto. Here he used his experience with the Princess ships in his doctoral thesis which investigated how the scheduling of airline flights affects numbers of passengers. In 1966, Gordon joined the Faculty of Administrative Studies at York University, in Toronto where he became a full Professor and taught applied mathematics and transportation subjects to their Masters of Business and Honour Business students. He now Professor Emeritus at York University and resides in Thornhill, Ontario.

During the 1970’s, Gordon became interested in the restoration of R.M.S. SEGWUN, at Gravenhurst. This ship was built in 1887 as the side-wheel steamer, "NIPISSING" but was rebuilt and renamed SEGWUN in 1925. At that time, the paddle wheels were removed and replaced by two compound reciprocating steam engines driving twin propellers. SEGWUN then served the Muskoka lakes until highway competition forced her retirement in 1958. She became a floating museum, but was restored and resumed cruising in 1981, this time under the ownership of the Muskoka Steamship & Historical Society, a registered charity..

Gordon became a director of the Historical Society in 1982 and, in 1986, became president of their operating subsidiary, the Muskoka Lakes Navigation and Hotel Company. At present, he is president of the Historical Society and a director and secretary of the Navigation Company. Since 1982, Gordon has seen the Segwun become both financially viable and a leading Ontario tourist attraction. In 1993, the Historical Society became owner and restorer of the yacht Wanda III, the largest steam yacht on these inland lakes. While Gordon is proud of these heritage ships, he has promoted the Society’s building of a new ship WENONAH II, also of heritage design, which will enter service in late 2001.

In addition to Muskoka, Gordon enjoys a continued association with Kingston, Ontario, where he is on the Editorial Board of the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston and also Chairman of the Investment Committee for the Queen’s Theological College. At the Marine Museum, he is particularly interested in the Phoebe Restoration Project and in sponsoring such publications as the New Mills List of 1999. He looks forward to the Marine Museum playing an even greater role in the preserving the traditions of the Great Lakes

Updated 18 June, 2007, MDS