A 1958 Burger ... Are we insane??

Yes you did indeed read correctly, we ended up purchasing a vintage 1958 Flush Deck 60ft Motor Yacht made by the Burger Boat Company out of Manitowoc Wisconsin. This post will cover some of the history of this well established shipbuilder.  Most of the information can be found on various historical sites, the Burger Boat Company site as well as various personal web pages for other Burger yachts.

Burger is one of the oldest boat builders in the United States.  It goes back to 1863 where a German immigrant relocated his family to settle in the USA settling in Milwaukee Wisconsin.  Their young son, Henry, soon grew up and at the age of 18 he learned the craft of shipbuilding as an apprentice at the Wolf & Davidson Shipyard.

During the American Civil war, Henry moved North to Manitowoc, where he married and opened the H. Burger Shipyard where he applied his skill building Mackinaw Fishing Boats for local fishermen.

Photo courtesy of  www.handsondeckgb.org

Much like any other expert craftsman, Henry's reputation for building very good quality vessels soon became known throughout the industry.  The H Burger Shipyard built larger schooners including Fleet Wing and S.A. Wood.  Henry Burger then merged with the Green-Rand shipyard to form the Green-Rand & Burger Shipyard.  Together, they built many more schooners until the death of his partner Mr. Green-Rand.

Burger then partnered with his nephew, George B. Burger and together they formed the Burger & Burger shipyard where they purchased the only dry dock in Manitowoc and focused their business on ship repair as the decline of wooden sailing ships began.  Together they continued to build new vessels as well as repair and refit existing vessels.  In 1889 they launched the CORA A., the last of the full rigged schooners to be built on the great lakes.

photo courtesy of www.nemoha.org

The diversification between new builds and repair and refit work proved to be quite prosperous during a time when most shipyards suffered.  Burger & Burger had the only dry dock from Detroit to Lake Superior and this proved to be a massive asset.  After many years of success and having been a major influence in the great lakes shipbuilding industry, Henry B. Burger Sr. and George B. Burger sold their company to the Manitowoc Dry Dock Compamy and Henry B. Burger Sr. retired.  Meanwhile 10 years earlier, Henry B Burger Sr. saw his nephew Henry B Burger Jr. start his own shipbuilding company across the river where the Burger Boat Company stands today.

Henry Jr. was a true visionary and saw the potential of the crude oil engine in the marine industry and started building motor yachts using the Khalenberg Brother's engine.  The first motor yacht to be built was the Vernon Jr., an 85 foot cruiser built for Vernon Siever of Chicago in 1901.  This set the company up for building motor yachts over the next ten years.

photo courtesy of vintagemachinery.org, Joel Havens

Henry B Burger Jr. passed in 1914 leaving behind his wife and four children who continued the Burger legacy and incorporated the Burger Boat Company in 1915 which continues to operate to present day.  During the first world war, Burger was commissioned by the US Navy to build wooden minesweepers, sub-chasers, tugboats and rescue boats.

USS Lapwing example of WW 1 minesweeper
photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

 Following World War I, Burger started to use the innovations in electric arc welding techniques in their boat building endeavors.  Burger built the first all welded steel auxiliary ketch in the country, the 81 foot Tamaris.

photo courtesy of astro.temple.edu/~bstavis/pr/tamaris.htm

Then, the depression set in and while many yacht builders seemed to succumb to the economic pressures of the time, the Burger Boat Company turned back to their roots and like Henry B Burger Sr., started once again to build fishing boats.  These boats were more utilitarian in nature than the luxury yachts that Burger had been building before the great war.  To this day you can see some of the commercial vessels on the great lakes.

photo courtesy of www.agatelady.com

In 1940, Burger then launched the first Flush Deck Cruiser, the 65 foot Pilgrim which is still in operation today.  Pilgrim has been beautifully restored and at present, can be seen plying the waters of the great lakes.

Pilgrim, 1940 65 foot Flush Deck Motor Yacht
photo courtesy of Burger Boat Company
Does this look familiar?

Then, with World War II, the Burger Boat Company began to focus on Navy commissions building 55 vessels that ranged from crash boats to sub-chasers.  Following World War II, the Burger Boat Company focused its efforts on building luxury motor yachts, using their steel boat building skills acquired over years of experience.  It was in 1952 that the Reynolds family approached the Burger Boat Company to work with a new experimental material, aluminium.

With the advances of MIG and TIG (metal inert gas and tungsten inert gas) welding techniques, the collaboration produced the first aluminium cruiser, the 36 foot Virginia.  The company underwent many changes and restructured; still, the focus was on building luxury motor yachts, both custom and semi custom designs mainly made of aluminium.   The Burger Boat Company closed its doors for a short time on November 30, 1990 under the direction of the Tacoma Shipyard, but was re-opened in February of 1993 when businessmen David Ross and Jim Ruffolo purchased the assets and continued the yacht building tradition of the Burger Boat Company that dated back to 1863.

Today the Burger Boat Company is still known for quality boat building right here in the United States of America.  The Burger Boat Company not only builds high quality luxury yachts, but they still are true to their roots and take on various commercial projects from time to time.  One thing remains at the core of any Burger Boat, quality and craftsmanship.

Scan of original line drawing for the Burger 60 Flush Deck Motor Yacht
Courtesy of Burger Boat Company. 

For more information on the Burger Boat Company, visit them at Burgerboat.com