Miller Boat Line a Lake Erie fi xture
He calls himself “the highest paid dock boy.”
Billy Market’s tongue-incheek assessment of himself is much like the humor a lot of us use as icebreakers when we engage in conservation with people we’ve never met before. In this case, Market was about to launch into a telephone interview about his family’s widely known company, Miller Boat Line.
Yet in a way, Billy Market’s quip also explains how Miller Boat Line has worked as a family operation for 112 years. His down-to-earth personality, a demeanor shared by his sister, Julene Market, and brother, Scott Market, have made them part of South Bass Island’s close-knit fabric for years, as has their ability to avoid stepping on each other’s toes.
“I call it kissing babies and shaking hands,” Billy Market said of the role he has assumed as Miller Boat Line ambassador and all-around troubleshooter, explaining that Julene’s strength is in promotions and advertising, while Scott’s is as a handyman in charge of maintenance of the vessels. “I’m sort of the front-ofcompany guy.”
Miller Boat Line didn’t start with the Markets. According to records, the company got its name from a Put-in-Bay man named William M. Miller, who in 1905 started a local ice business with another South Bass Island resident, Harry Jones. The ice was harvested from Put-in-Bay’s harbor during the winter, stored in an ice house that was insulated with sawdust, and then sold in the summertime to sailors aboard yachts moored in the bay or to island hotels and restaurants.
Miller, appropriately, had an 18-foot delivery boat called Iceman. He eventually expanded his service to six charter boats, including a 50-footer called Avon. He also had a water-taxi service.
His son, Lee Miller, skippered the Avon on its 3-mile runs between South Bass Island and Catawba Point. To serve as a ferry, the Avon would be attached to a scow. That allowed it to carry up to eight cars at a time, according to the company’s website.
More boats and services were added by the company, known as Miller Boat Livery during its early years. Because regular air service didn’t begin until 1929, the Millers held the contract for mail service between South Bass and the mainland for years.
When Lee Miller died in 1973, his widow, Mary Miller, asked Bill Market, father of the three Market siblings who own the company today, to take over all of the company’s day-today operations. Bill Market and his wife, MaryAnn, bought the company five years later.
The three siblings inherited the company from their parents. Their father died in 2006 and their mother in 2010.
Their biggest fans include longtime South Bass resident Dave Fredericks, 73, whose wife grew up on the island.
“They are one of the most accommodating and benevolent families on the island,” Fredericks said.
All three Miller Boat Line owners grew up on and are raising their families on South Bass Island. They are among the island’s 550 yearround residents.
“It definitely has so many advantages,” Billy Market said, adding that stocking up on food — especially during the coldest time of the year when the ferries aren’t operating from early January to mid-March — becomes almost second-nature to island residents.
“I think any island is an attraction in itself, whether it be in Lake Erie or the Caribbean, or Alaska,” he said.