In 1874, 13-year-old Chris Smith built his first duck boat on the St. Clair River in Michigan. The simple boat, and simple beginnings, evolved to become the Chris-Craft boat company, famous for its mahogany-hulled powerboats.
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By the end of the 1920s, Chris-Craft had become the largest-volume producer of standardized powerboats in the world. Among its most distinctive boats was the triple-cockpit runabout. The boats — 11 models starting at 20 feet — were popularly used as yacht tenders. This Soundings article has more.
