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7. Ship of the Month - cont'd. cure possession of their vessels. The court finally ordered the shipbuil der to turn the tanker, named CAPITAINE DAMIANI, over to her owners, t o g e t h e r with all materials intended for the ship (including the uninstalled machinery), and the owner itself eventually finished the construction of the tanker. Two other similar tank steamers had been begun just before the shipyard's failure, and it was the same owner's intention to finish them as well, if possible. The contract had originally been for four tankers, but the final one had never been laid down in the yard. By October of 1920, the five wooden-hulled boats were lying in Louise Ba sin at Quebec City, and there they remained, in an unfinished state, until the French government put them up for sale in the spring of 1921. They were purchased by Transportation and Shipping Co. Ltd., Quebec, from which they passed to the Sincennes McNaughton Lines Ltd., Montreal, the famous towing and barge firm. The five hulls were converted to barges and given the new names ANDRON L. (formerly BOUXWILER), BERNON L. (BOUZONVILLE), JEANNON L. (BRUMATH), LAUREON L. (CATTENON) and FREDON L. (CERNAY), under which they operated for a number of years. Meanwhile, during the autumn of 1 9 2 0 , there was created a firm called Fra ser, Brace Ltd., which was incorporated under the Dominion Companies Act as a private company, with authorized capital of $ 5 5 0 , 0 0 0 and offices at Montreal. It was formed in order to take over the "shipyards and other bu sinesses of Fraser, Brace & Co. Ltd. and Fraser, Brace Shipyards Ltd. " The Fraser, Brace name was not one that was particularly well known, but the company had operated shipyard facilities at Montreal, on the south bank of the Lachine Canal between the Atwater and Cote St. Paul bridges. As a matter of fact, in the autumn of 1 9 2 0 , this shipyard was rebuilding for salt-water service the former lake steamer PAIPOONGE, which had been sold by the Canadian Northwest Steamship Company, Port Arthur, for off-lakes use. During the year of 1918, Fraser, Brace had built at Montreal four wooden-hulled steamers, namely WAR ERIE, WAR HURON, WAR NIAGARA and WAR OTTAWA, for the Imperial Munitions Board. As well, Fraser, Brace & Co. Ltd. had been involved in the ownership of the canaller NEWONA which, at one time, was chartered to the Canada Atlantic Transit Company. Fraser, Brace Ltd. took over the defunct Three Rivers shipyard from the Re ceivers of National Shipbuilding and, early in 1922, the firm secured an order from the George Hall Coal & Shipping Company, Montreal, for the con struction of four canal-sized bulk freight steamships. The vessels were built on the Isherwood system of hull framing, as had been the tankers be gun at the Three Rivers yard under the previous management. The Isherwood design saw some application on the lakes, but never was particularly popu lar because hulls built with Sir Joseph Isherwood's system of longitudinal instead of transverse side framing were unusually supple. Very few canal lers ever were built on this principle, and so the four Fraser, Brace boats were unique. The construction of the four Hall steamers was well underway at Three Ri vers by the late summer of 1922. The ships were christened N. H. BOTSFORD, FRANK A. AUGSBURY, EDWARD L. STRONG and JOHN C. HOWARD (II). The only one for which we ever have seen a verified hull number was the STRONG, and in later years the American Bureau of Shipping carried the notation that she was the yard's Hull 19. If we suppose that this is correct, and knowing that the four vessels were built in direct sequence, then it might reason ably be assumed that the BOTSFORD, AUGSBURY and HOWARD were Fraser, Brace Hulls 17, 18 and 20. N. H. BOTSFORD was launched on September 1st, 1922, the AUGSBURY on October 25th, the STRONG on November 25th, and the HOWARD supposedly sometime du ring December. There is some doubt about the latter date, as "Canadian Rail way and Marine World" indicated that the HOWARD was launched on May 5 ,1923, whereas other sources seem to suggest that she simply was christened on