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Ship of the M o n t h - cont'd. The 12. fo re ma st was red, w h i l e the p i l o t h o u s e w as w hi te w i t h a red sun visor. buff, w h i l e the m a i n m a s t a nd the stack w ere all black. O A K B R A N C H w as a r a t h e r h a n d s o m e tanker, but she was only to op e r a t e on the lakes a nd the St. L a w r e n c e R i ver for a few short years. She had b een in ser v i c e for o n l y a y e a r w h e n Canada, at the b e g i n n i n g of Se p te m be r, 1939, bec a m e e m b r o i l e d in W o r l d Wa r Two. M a n y of the c a n a l l e r s were to be taken over for s e r v i c e on sal t w a t e r to aid in the Allies' war effort, and tan ke rs , in p a r t i c u l a r , w e r e m u c h in d e m a n d to aid in s u p p l y i n g f uel to a b e l e a g u e r e d B r it ai n . OAKBRANCH remained on the lakes for a while, but in 1942 she was r e q u i s i t i o n e d for s e r v i c e on salt water, and she left the lakes for good. T r a n s f e r r e d to the o w n e r s h i p of the B r i t i s h M i n i s t r y of War T r a ns po rt , she was p l a c e d in o p e r a t i o n in B r i t i s h w a t e r s u n de r the m a n a g e m e n t of the Bulk Oil S t e a m s h i p C o m p a n y Ltd. For her n e w duties, she was re n a m e d (c) EM PIR E LIZA RD . The t an k e r m a n a g e d to o p e r a t e s u c c e s s f u l l y and to su rv iv e the wa r years, and w as s t i l l in s e r v i c e w h e n the h o s t i l i t i e s we re c o n c l u d e d d u r i n g 1945. In 1946, E M P I R E L I Z A R D w as sold by the M i n i s t r y to Ba s i n g h a l l S h i p p i n g Ltd., of L o n d on , E n g l a n d , for fu rt her s e rv ic e a ro un d the B ri t i s h Isles. She was r e c h r i s t e n e d (d) B A S I N G B R O O K by her n e w owners. M an y lake o p e r a t o r s , n e e d i n g more t on nag e to s a t i s f y cargo d e m a n d s in the bus y y e a r s f o l l o w i n g the e nd of the war, and h u r t i n g as a re su l t of the loss by w e a t h e r or by e n e m y a c t i o n of so m a n y of their ships w h i c h had been requisitioned for w a r t i m e salt w a ter se rvice, s e a r c h e d a b ro ad for w a n d e r i n g c a n a l l e r s a n d b r o u g h t t h em h ome to the lakes. U n f o r t u n a t e l y , B A S I N G B R O O K was not i n c l u d e d in the g r o u p of ships w h i c h made their r et u rn to their for m e r h om e w a t e r s in this m a nner, and we migh t s p e c u l a t e that the st ea mer was not in the b es t of c o n d i t i o n af te r h ard use d u r i n g the war. B A S I N G B R O O K n e v e r r e t u r n e d to the lakes, and in 1949 B a s i n g h a l l Shipping Ltd. disposed of the vessel for s c ra ppi ng . That same year, she was d i s m a n t l e d at S u n d e r l a n d , E n g land, far from the w a t e r s w h i c h she h a d c a l le d hom e for so m a n y years. In the p o s t - w a r y ea r s, B r a n ch Lines Ltd. added a n u m b e r of c a n a l - s i z e d tan k e r s to its g r o w i n g fl eet. Some of these were n e w l y - c o n s t r u c t e d for the com pa n y, w h i l e o t h e r s w e r e r e bui lt f rom w a r t i m e - b u i l t "Park" class tankers. In t e r e s t i n g l y , the f le e t d i d a cq ui re a tanker w h i c h o p e r a t e d u nd er the name O A K B R A N C H (II), r e v i v i n g the name of the form er MA P L E H I L L , but this was not a m o d e r n v e s s e l . In fact, she was a small s t e m w i n d e r st ea me r w h i c h had been bui lt in 1 9 13 at L ev i s, Quebec, as a dre d ge to be operated by the D e p a r t m e n t of M a r i n e an d F i s h er ies . She later p a s s e d to the M i n i s t r y of T r a n s p o r t and, in 1940, M a r i n e I n d u s t r i e s c o n v e r t e d her to a ta nk e r for eas t c o a st b u n k e r i n g s e rv i c e . R e g i s t e r e d as C . 134364, she was (a) M & F H O P P E R B A R G E NO. 1, (b) D. M. H O P P E R B AR GE NO. 1, and was 1 8 0 . 0 x 3 2 . 1 x 1 3 . 5, 676 G r o s s a nd 253 Net Tons. In the war, she o p e r a t e d as the naval auxiliary (c) R . C . N . A. M O O N B E A M (Z43). B ra n c h L i n e s Ltd. a c q u i r e d h er from the War A s se ts Corp. in 1949 and she saw s e v e r a l y e a r s of s e r v i c e as (d) O A K B R A N C H (II) b e f o r e b ei ng l aid up in the M a r i n e I n d u s t r i e s b o n e y a r d at Sorel. She e v e n t u a l l y was s c r a p p e d but had b e e n r e n a m e d (e) B . L . L. 24 to free up her old na me for re-use. T he r e w a s to be an O A K B R A N C H (III). A tanker ( C . 312958) built for B ra nc h Lin es at S o r e l in 1961 w as l aid down as OA K BR AN CH , but b ef ore l a u n c h i n g she was g i v e n the n am e J. E D O U A R D SIMARD. Her name was s h o r t e n e d to (b) ED O U A R D S I M A R D in 1967, and in 198 2 she be cam e (c) LE C H E NE NO. 1, un der w h i c h name she s t i ll o p e r a t e s t od a y for S o c a n a v Inc. * * * * *