Duck tour
tours on purpose-built amphibious vehicles
Duck tours (or, more formally, amphibious tours), are tours that take place on purpose-built amphibious tour buses and (modified) surplus amphibious military vehicles, like DUKWs ("Ducks") and LARC-Vs. They are often offered as tourist attractions in harbor, seaman and lake cities.
Origin and history
The first "duck tour" company was started in 1946 by Mel Flath and Bob Unger in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. Flath's company has changed ownership since, but it is still in operation under the name Original Wisconsin Ducks. His family continues to operate a duck company called the Dells Army Ducks in the Wisconsin Dells Area.
Regional operators
DUKWs operated by Boston Duck Tours have been used thirteen times since 1939 for "rolling rallies" to celebrate sports championships by New England–based local pro sports teams. There have been six for the New England Patriots (2002, 2004, 2005, 2015, 2017, 2019), four for the Boston Red Sox (2004, 2007, 2013, 2018), two for the Boston Celtics (2008, 2024), and one for the Boston Bruins (2011).
The Duck Boats were first planned to be used for the New England Patriots in 1997 however they did not win Super Bowl XXXI. While much of the parade routes over the years consisted of the DUKWs staying on land, some featured the DUKWs traversing both the land and across the Charles River.
The Seafair Pirates in Seattle use a DUKW "Moby Duck" modified to look like a Spanish Galleon as their primary means of amphibious transport.
Almost all have since been repainted and given modern diesel engines, and some have enclosed tops, making them more resemble conventional buses.
The public source identifies “Duck tour” as tours on purpose-built amphibious vehicles. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Duck, tour and tours.
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This entry incorporates text from “Duck tour” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.