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9. Ship of the Month - cont'd. lieve that it was at this time that she was brought under Canadian registry with Toronto as her home port. Her operations, however, did not change and she continued in the same trades as before. At this time, her fleetmates flying the Shell houseflag on the lakes were BLUE CROSS (the former "Red Barge" REDHEAD), the 1940-built motorship LAKESHELL (II), and the small (178. 9-foot) PETER G. CAMPBELL, built in 1933 as a barge but converted to a motorship over the winter of 1934-1935. The Shell ships, like other Canadian tankers, remained on the lakes during the war years rather than being requisitioned for war service, because their operations were essential in their home waters. Then, during the 1950 sea­ son, Shell Canadian Tankers rechristened two of its ships to give them names more readly identifiable with the company that owned them. PETER G. CAMPBELL became (b) RIVERSHELL (I), while JOHN A. McDOUGALD was renamed (c) EASTERN SHELL (I). Within a few years after her renaming, EASTERN SHELL was modernized with the addition of a new and much larger pilothouse to provide space for the fit­ ting of modern navigational aids such as radar. The new house had five big windows across both its front and back, and a window and door in each side. New steel bulwarks were built to shelter the bridgewings. Luffing davits re­ placed her original radial lifeboat davits. Big steel plates, with the word 'SHELL' painted in large red letters were placed on either side of the ex­ pansion trunk, extending well above the level of the trunk deck. All of this work caused her tonnage to be recalculated as 1876 Gross and 1073 Net. Like many of the canal-sized tankers operated by Canadian lake tanker fleets EASTERN SHELL usually could be found during the winter months snugly laid up in Muir's Pond above Lock One of the old (third) Welland Canal at Port Dal­ housie. The former Muir Bros, shipyard there, which by then was a division of Port Weller Dry Docks, did work on EASTERN SHELL during winter lay-up, and in spring she usually would emerge with a glistening new coat of paint. By this time, the steamer also had been fitted with two small derrick posts, one on either side of the deck amidships, and fitted with booms to handle the heavy cargo unloading hoses. On Tuesday, November 18, 1958, EASTERN SHELL was bound up Lake Huron from Sarnia with a cargo for Owen Sound on Georgian Bay. On the open lake, she encountered extremely heavy weather and, when she was nearing the Tobermory area, the waves smashed in some of her pilothouse windows. She made port safely but we have no doubt that the occupants of the pilothouse found the remainder of the trip down to Owen Sound less than comfortable. On Friday, September 3rd, 1965, EASTERN SHELL rammed and sank the small wooden goelette MONT BLANC on the St. Lawrence River, twenty miles down­ stream from Trois Rivieres, Quebec. EASTERN SHELL did not sustain any signi­ ficant damage. MONT BLANC (C. 173945) was 84. 0 x 29. 7 x 8. 6, 150 Gross, 121 Net, built in 1944 and owned by Alida L. Harvey, of Ile-aux-Coudres, Quebec. In June of 1969, EASTERN SHELL was renamed (d) FUEL MARKETER (I) to reflect the fact that she was operating under charter to a Shell affiliate known as Canadian Fuel Marketers Ltd. The Shell "billboards" on either side of the trunk were painted out, but the word 'SHELL' remained in the stack design. By this time, of course, the steamer's cabins had become white and the lower portion of her stack was red. FUEL MARKETER operated for only the 1969 season under that name, and in De­ cember of 1969 she went into winter quarters on the north side of the Toronto turning basin, adjacent to the Shell distribution plant which was located on the opposite side of Commissioners' Street. On April 1st, 1970, she was renamed (e) WESTERN SHELL (II), her place in Canadian Fuel Marketers Ltd. service having been taken by the 1944-built motorship FUEL MARKETER (II), (a) EGLINTON PARK (45), (b) JOHN IRWIN (II)(56), (c) WHITE ROSE II (57), (d) WHITE ROSE (70).