Pauline, a fly-boat that carried cargo, was built in Goole by the Aire and Calder Navigation Company in 1869.
She would originally have been horse drawn, but was motorised around 1950.
John Hayden, who now captains the boat, said: “It’s nice for Goole to have an event like this, and for people to acknowledge the labour of the past and to keep that going.”
Scrimgeour said before the town was established the area was used as farmland, with a small hamlet across the other side of the Dutch River.
“I think Goole folk need to be very proud of what they’ve got.
“The heritage of this this town and the waterways and what it has achieved is worth celebrating,” he said.
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