A boat which started out in Auckland, was used on Otago Harbour, then moved to Lake Manapouri before settling on Lake Te Anau, has quietly marked her 100th anniversary.
The MV Pilgrim, built of heart kauri timber, was made by Bailey and Lowe in Auckland, originally used as a pilot boat on Otago Harbour before being transferred to Manapouri in the early 1920s by the Burns family of Oamaru.
In 1930, tourism pioneer Les Murrell bought the boat and used it to carry passengers to West Arm so they could walk the Doubtful Sound track.
To enhance viewing, Mr Murrell raised the roof line and added a large glass cabin, complete with a roof hatch.
The cabin earned Pilgrim the nickname "the floating glasshouse" due to its appearance.
It was also known as the Grim Pill due to its narrow beam giving the vessel a tendency to roll when the lake was rough, making passengers seasick.
Real Journeys Te Anau manager Neil Collinson said ownership of Pilgrim transferred to Les and Olive Hutchins in the 1950s when they bought Mr Murrell's estate and began operating the Manapouri Doubtful Sound Tourist Company, which was later Fiordland Travel Ltd and is now Real Journeys.
After being sold in 1964 and later bought back Pilgrim fell into disrepair, before being completely restored in 1986 by Gough Bros Engineering in Invercargill.
Today, Pilgrim is moored in the Te Anau boat harbour and maintained by Real Journeys.
