Popeye (boat)

[1] The original Popeye, a 25-foot (7.6 m) boat holding up to 20 passengers, was built for Gordon Stanley Watts, a Gallipoli veteran, by Harold Lounder in 1935 in one of several workshops which were then dotted along the banks of Torrens Lake.

She proved so popular that in 1939[2] a second boat, Miss Centenary, was purchased, which had previously run cruises at Glenelg.

Apart from scheduled runs on weekends and holidays during the warmer months, Popeyes were available for private hire, for weddings, children's birthday parties and other events.

[4] During the years that he was skipper of Popeye, if there were a large number of children, Watts would call out "Anyone's birthday today?"

[5] In March 1962 Keith Altmann, owner of riverside café, later restaurant, Jolley's Boathouse, took over the Popeye business.