The original boat, Duc d'Orleans, was a Fairmile built in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada in 1943 at the Mac-Craft boat building company for the second world war as a coastal patrol ship/mine-sweeper (commonly called a "sub chaser"). It was launched in 1944 and christened Q105. Its duties included convoy escorts and mine clearing. It was 112' long, 18' wide and drew 6' of water and had a cruising speed of 20 knots. It was originally outfitted with 12 depth charges, a single Hotchkiss 3-pounder gun, and a set of twin 0.303-in machine guns.

After its services were no longer required, it was decommissioned, the armament removed and put on loan to McGill University for research and training and subsequently sold to the Quebec Waterways Sightseeing Tours Co. in Quebec, Canada where it cruised near the Île d'Orléans and took on the name Duc d'Orleans.

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