The MY Mary Elizabeth
This Great Lakes Boat Blog is presented by Hankwitz Heating & Cooling, 609 S. Washington Ave., Ludington; 231-843-2809.
By Mark Varenhorst, MCP Contributor
LUDINGTON — At the Ludington Municipal Marina on a rainy Monday in August sat a large yacht. It caught my eye while driving home. The size alone got my attention, but what kept my attention the most was the age of it, or what I perceived that to be. Having seen old movies and one in particular called “The Final Countdown” from 1980, the first thing that hit me was, this boat is from the 1940s. I was close; I was only off by a couple of decades. In the movie “The Final Countdown”, from the 1980s Kirk Douglas plays a U.S. Navy captain of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. In the movie the Nimitz goes through a time warp and is back on the day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941. In that movie Japanese planes attack a motor yacht off the Hawaiian coast so it does not alert the U.S. Navy that they are approaching. The yacht tied up in Ludington reminded me well of the yacht in that movie. And it may well have been the same type, as the one I saw at the Municipal Marina in Ludington was built in 1919. The type would have been around before World War Two.
The MY Mary Elizabeth was built in 1919. Yes, you read that correctly, 106 years ago, by The Matthews Boat Company in Port Clinton, Ohio for a businessman named Charles Peckham. Mr. Peckham ran Toledo Bridge & Crane (known today as Toledo Scale) and had the boat custom built.
It is 60-feet long and 13 feet wide. She was built with the original name of White Cap, and was powered by a Naptha engine until 1934. At that time, she was switched to a regular gasoline engine. Her final propulsion system is the diesel engine which was installed in 1965 and is still in operation on the boat at this time. It is a Starrett Diesel which is basically a Ford Industrial diesel, which develops 112 hp, operating a single screw.
The MY White Cap was the first custom yacht built after the end of World War I. According to the owner, Mr. Peckham also had the boat electrified (electricity throughout the boat produced by the engine on board) they understand by one Mr. Thomas Edison.
Stuart Benson, left, and Ken Yates.
Not long after finishing all of this in a matter of several years, Mr. Peckham died. The boat then passed down through the family and went into other hands. It changed hands a few times and found itself sitting in disrepair. The present owner, Stuart Benson, found it partially submerged, the engine area underwater. He raised it and began the process of restoring it and has now owned and been working on it for 36 years.
As I stood on the boat at the dock I could tell by how little it moved, that it was heavy. Looking about both topside and in, it was like a time capsule. Between the woodwork, fittings, pedestal sink, clawfoot tub (yes, a small cast iron claw foot tub) and the bunks and ships wheel, you would swear you were in 1940. Only the instruments and life-saving equipment broke it apart from that. And yes, they have everything necessary right down to global positioning system (GPS). Benson gave the boat a new name; the Mary Elizabeth.
But you might wonder, how did the Mary Elizabeth come to be at the Ludington Municipal Marina? That is quite another part of this story. Benson has been restoring the boat slowly for 36 years. I know me, I would have lost drive about year two. But then I have a cousin who would probably push me to finish it someday. Maybe Benson has a family member like that? There has to be two in the world. As Benson reached this point, he thought it was time to take a long trip. He wanted to take the Great Loop, a continuous waterway that recreational mariners can travel that includes part of the Atlantic Oceana, Gulf Intracoastal Waterways, the Great Lakes, Canadian Heritage canals, and the inland rivers of America’s heartland. Anyone who completes the journey is then named an official “Looper.
Starrett Diesel engine
Benson had started the Loop in Wilmington, NC on June 3, 2025. He started out with a crew of six and himself as captain. Before they reached New York he had none of them with him any longer. Enter Ken Yates. Yates joined up with Benson in Albany, NY and is helping him run the boat to continue the Loop trip. Quite an accomplishment between the two of them as they traveled the route.
At one point after going under many bridges they came to a spot where a ‘weather event’, or seiche had caused the water to rise rapidly by two feet, and they could not clear the bridge. Despite only going about 4 knots and going into full reverse, the current got them and they were slammed into the Thompson Street bridge, at Tonawanda Island, NY.
They were finally able to get clear of it and made their way to a marina in the area for repairs. Smith Boys Marina provided a slip and they were able to get a crane to help move the damaged cabin back into place. Also, the canopy over the aft part of the boat had collapsed and had to be put back in place. They even got the help of a boater nearby who was a cabinet maker to help make repairs.
They continued on the Loop going through Buffalo, Lake Erie, Detroit, Lake St. Clair, Lake Huron and making their way around Michigan. This included stops at Lexington, Port Austin, Saginaw Bay, Alpena, Rogers City, Mackinaw Island, Little Traverse Bay, Petosky and finally arriving Sunday, August 17 in Ludington where I came across them still making repairs.
Stuart Benson had a career as a land surveyor in private practice for 40 years. A lot of that time has also been spent working on the Mary Elizabeth. As I looked the boat over, he said “Mark, the boat is original as it can be other than the electronics”.
As I said, when you look about the boat, it’s like opening a time capsule. I have never been on a boat quite like it. You could look in the bow area where they now have a head (toilet) which used to be the crew quarters. There is also one aft on the boat. Back in the day when it was built, the crew entered that area separate from the area where the owners were.
The boat can sleep eight to 10 somewhat comfortably, and more if needed; just not as comfortably. There is a galley and it has all the things to keep the crew fed. The woodwork was just wonderful. Not shiny and glossy to where it did not look realistic; this looked real. I kept thinking my wife would love to see all this. There was one issue that would stop her.
Spiders. All boats have spiders, it is just something about boats, water, humidity or whatever. Yates remarked “Mark I woke up this morning to a web they had built across my face.” The spiders had to be brought under control. I took Benson to the store to get provisions so he was stocked up for another leg of the trip and one part of that was a gallon jug of bug spray to mix up. As Benson said, “we are fogging them tonight try to knock them down.”
While we were away picking up the items and hardware for more repairs, Yates manned the boat for other curious onlookers.
Ken Yates is from Jonesboro, Ark. He has a daughter, Kendra and three grandchildren. He was in the U.S. Navy from 1982 to 1989 and is a pilot who spent much of his career flying for a prosthetics company that was owned by members of his family. He also worked for Disney as a theater technician.
Being on the boat and traveling the Loop is taking all that stress out of him. Just like Benson, Yates also has his boat captain’s license. So, between boats and flying, he is Capt. Ken Yates.
Just watching Yates and Benson they seemed right in their element. I was trying to get pictures of the boat and to look about, but it was difficult as mother nature had decided to have storm after storm run through the area that day. It just poured down like a monsoon. As I got to my Jeep I was soaked from my toes to my nose. Literally, water ran out of my shoes as I got into the Jeep!
On Tuesday morning Aug. 19, they pulled out of Ludington while I was sleeping, and headed the Mary Elizabeth in the direction of St. Joseph. But the night before they had told me, “Mark, come along with us. Ride two days or two weeks, what a story you could write. You can leave with us tomorrow or catch up with us in a few days along the trip. And if you want to come you can get off where you choose I will rent a car and take you home.”
I had to admit, that was indeed quite a thought. I got both of their cell phone numbers so I could stay in touch, and just in case I did decide it was time for an adventure. I had to run that around to see if I could break free that long. How long before my wife noticed the lawn was not getting mowed, laundry not caught up?
The Mary Elizabeth was going to continue on down through Chicago and the Chicago River until the boat hit the Mississippi River, then south to the Gulf of America. They would like to winter in the Caribbean.
“I’d like to go to Cuba but they won’t let anyone, sad huh?” Benson said. “So, we will go somewhere else, probably the Caribbean.”
It’s a thought you know. Go with them, down the Mississippi and eventually to the Caribbean. I wonder how long I could be on the boat before I had to come home? My cousin can run my tractor, and he could plow the snow. Gotta think about that one. Which is worse, spiders or snow, spiders or snow.
“You know, they have alligators on the Mississippi River,” my wife pointed out.
I have a list and alligators trump spiders or snow. So sure, throw that into my thought process! For those who do not know me, I have a life-long aversion to alligators. Ok, so also crocodiles. Ok, so also lizards, snakes, toads and frogs not necessarily in that order. I am sure the list is longer but I will stop there.
Yates promised to send me pictures and notes along the way to show where they are and how it’s going. I wish those guys well. And the Mary Elizabeth.
This Great Lakes Boat Blog is presented by Hankwitz Heating & Cooling, 609 S. Washington Ave., Ludington; 231-843-2809
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