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Ship of the M onth - cont'd. purchase them for lake service. 10. A c c o r d i n g l y , the Paterson fleet was in desperate need of c anal-sized to n nage after the war. It turn ed its eyes to St. Lawrence Steamships Ltd. and, in 1946, p u r c h a s e d that company's last ship, CHEYENNE. As well, and also in 1946, Paterson acquired A L G O N Q U I N S and SIOUX from the war shipping a u t h o r i ties, and so three of the old St. Lawrence boats were r e u nited under a new houseflag. (The fourth, DELAWARE, w h i c h had been renamed [c] EMPIRE RO T H E R during the war, was owned by the British M i n i s t r y of War Transport and was c h artered out to a British operator, so she was not available. She did, h o w ever, re t u r n to the lakes in 1949 after being acquired by the Quebec and O n tario T r a n s p o r t a t i o n C o m p a n y L t d . ) CHEYENNE was put on dryd o c k at M o n t r e a l in 1946, and she was rebuilt w i t h a deepened hull, the step in her dec k being removed in the same manner as A L G ONQUINS and SIOUX had been r e c o n s t r u c t e d back in 1939. The r e b u i l d i n g i n creased her depth to 2 1 . 8 feet, and her tonnage to 2214 Gross and 1526 Net. She emerged bear i n g the name (c) SORELDOC (II), the name not only h o n o u r i n g the city of Sorel, Quebec, but also an earlier Paterson canaller, SORELDOC (I). This ship was very similar to SORELDOC (II), having bee n built as Swan, H unter & W i g h a m R i c h a r d s o n ' s Hull 1335 at W a l l s e n d - o n - T y n e in 1928. She was a war loss, having been sunk by U . 1302 on February 28, 1945, with the loss of f ifteen lives. A L G O N Q U I N S and SIOUX also were rena m e d whe n Paterson a c q u i r e d them in 1946 and brought them back to the lakes, and it is i n t e r esting to note that they also were given names that h o n o u r e d Paterson boats lost to U-boats in the war. A L G O N Q U I N S became (b) T R O ISDOC (II), the name deri v e d from the city of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, while SIOUX was rec h r i s t e n e d (b) PRESCODOC (II), that name r e f e r r i n g to the town of Prescott, Ontario, w here a large grain elevator was (and still is) located. SORELDOC (II) was pain t e d up in traditional Paterson fleet colours w h e n she was plac ed in commission, wit h a black hull, white f orecastle and cabins, and a black stack w ith a large, white letter 'P ' on it. The much sho r t e n e d pipe fore mast was pain t e d buff, the m a i n m a s t was black, and the kin g p o s t s were buff w ith black tops. The cargo booms were buff wit h black tips, a l t h o u g h the aft boom on the second kingpost (the boom closest to the s m o k e stack) had a longer black tip. It should be noted that in her Paterson days, S O R E L D O C 's cargo booms u s u a l l y were carried in a raised p o s i t i o n whe n not in use. Back in her years of St. Lawrence Steamships ownership, the booms were secured p a r allel to the deck and s u pported on prominent braces, except for the first one w h i c h had to remain up as it was too close to the forward c a bins to be secured in the down position. SORELDOC went through seve ral changes during her Paterson years, in a d d i t i o n to the fact that the name of the owning company was c h a n g e d to N. M. P a t e r son & Sons Limited in the early 1950s. A large w o o d e n box was built o v e r hanging the forward end of the aft cabin to increase the steamer's coal b u n ker capacity. The texas cabin was enlarged, its front face moved out f o r wards, and this created a w a l k w a y in front of the p i l o t h o u s e on the bridge deck above. Also, a large w o o d e n sunshade was built out over the front of the pilot h o u s e and this latter a d d i t i o n was, perhaps, S O R E L D O C 's most d i s tinctive feature in her latter years. For a short period after her a c q u i s i tion, she carried the P a t e r s o n red, black and white d i a m o n d insignia on her bows, but for most of her P a t erson years, she was one of the boats that did not carry any v e r s i o n of the diamond. SORELDOC o p e r a t e d s u c c e s s f u l l y for Paterson, without major accident, runn i n g m a i n l y in the grain and p u l p w o o d trades but also carrying any other cargoes that could be found for her. She, PRESCODOC and TROISDOC wer e joined in 1954 by two of S O R E L D O C 's o r i ginal sisterships, whe n Paterson pur c h a s e d from I n land Lines Ltd. the D AMIA and SARACEN, w h i c h then were renamed (b) C O T E A U D OC (II) and (b) T O R ON D OC (II), respectively.