Swan Boats of Boston
Swan Boats are as much a part of Boston as the bean and the cod. They are the harbinger of Spring to native Bostonians. Famed in the stories Make Way For Ducklings and The Trumpet of the Swan, the Swan Boats are the only boats of their kind in the world! To the delight of the young and old each April for over 120 years, the Swan Boats have appeared in the Public Garden Lagoon with preenly grace.
This Boston tradition dates back to the 1870’s when Robert Paget, whose descendants continue to operate the business, was granted a boat for hire license by the City of Boston. In 1877, he capitalized on the bicycle principle and with the help of others, developed a catamaran which housed a paddle wheel arrangement that was foot-propelled. To cover the captain, Robert suggested a swan! The idea came to him from his familiarity with the opera Lohengrin. The opera is based on a medieval German story in which Lohengrin, a knight of the Grail crosses a river in a boat drawn by a swan to defend the innocence of his heroine, Princess Elsa.
Robert Paget lived only one year after the first Swan Boats were launched. He died in 1878 at the age of 42 and his wife Julia, a young widow with four children, assumed full management of the new enterprise. Initially, the fleet was comprised of single-seaters that could carry eight. The present boats are replicas of the originals, but have five or six benches, carrying up to 20 passengers.
