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9. Ship of the Month - cont'd. version was done at Port Weller Dry Docks. BLACK RIVER re-entered service in October of 1952, while PIC RIVER was ready for operation in April of 1953. No longer needed by Q & O after the barges were towed to the shipyard for rebuilding, ROCKY RIVER was put up for sale and a buyer was found for her early in 1952. The new owner of ROCKY RIVER was Foundation Maritime Ltd., of Montreal, which conducted a marine construction, salvage and towing business on the lower St. Lawrence River, the Gulf and the east coast. ROCKY RIVER was sta­ tioned by the firm at Halifax. Farley Mowat's books Grey Seas Under and The Serpent's Coil are great tales of this company's salvage adventures at sea. One of the first salvage jobs for Foundation's new acquisition was reported in "The Halifax Chronicle-Herald" on Tuesday, May 20, 1952, roughly as fol­ lows: Two ships reported missing off eastern Canada are safe in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland ports, while efforts are being made to refloat a third off Malagash in Cumberland County (N. S. )... the Newfoundland freighter BLUE PRINCE, owned by the Blue Peter Steamship Company, of St. John's, ran aground early Sunday. In a dense fog, bound from Charlottetown, P. E. I., to the French island of St. Pierre, the 420-ton ship plowed onto a rocky reef. The government icebreaker SAUREL and the naval tug GLENLIVET II failed in an early attempt to haul the freighter into deep water, and Foundation Maritime was called to the scene. Built as (a) FS-138 and later (b) ZEBRINNEY (under which name she was a fre­ quent visitor to the Great Lakes), BLUE PRINCE was refloated at high tide on the 21st by ROCKY RIVER, after which the PRINCE proceeded to Pictou, Nova Scotia, shipyards for hull inspection. Included in BLUE PRINCE's cargo were hundreds of pigs, cows and calves, all of which had to be unloaded before the vessel could be placed on drydock. The menagerie was herded into the lo­ cal fairgrounds while repairs to BLUE PRINCE were completed. ROCKY RIVER's next assignment came on May 30th when, under fair skies, she took the Hall Corporation canal steamer JOHN H. PRICE in tow from Ste. Anne des Monts, Quebec, bound for Quebec City. The PRICE had been ashore all win­ ter, having gone aground on November 26, 1951, in a nasty storm. A detailed account of that incident appeared in "Scanner" Vol. XXVII, No. 7, in April 1966, where the PRICE was featured as Ship of the Month No. 228. In that ar­ ticle, we still had ROCKY RIVER owned by Q & O (most likely because she still carried her old name) but we now are certain that she already had gone into Foundation Maritime ownership. The PRICE tow to Quebec City was accom­ panied by FOUNDATION FRANCES in case trouble developed. On June 5, 1952, the Cunard passenger liner SCYTHIA, outbound from Quebec City, collided with the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation freighter WABANA, inbound from Sydney, off Fame Point, Gaspe. The sharp straight stem of SCYTHIA amputated some thirty feet of WABANA's stern, including her pro­ peller and rudder, killing one of the freighter's crew. ROCKY RIVER happened to be nearby and took the listing WABANA, which was making some water, in tow for Quebec. Along the way, LADY GREY, MANOIR, AIGLON and CHATEAU joined the tow. SCYTHIA, which also had suffered considerable damage in the colli­ sion, likewise went to Quebec City, but under her own power. Then, on June 25, the coaster COMTE MATANE fractured her propeller shaft when 80 miles off Gaspe. ROCKY RIVER took her in tow for the Magdalen Islands. On July 27th, the 1929-built Colonial Steamships Limited canal steamer JOHN A. FRANCE (i) (59), (a) STARWELL (44), (c) AVONDALE (i), collided at an almost direct angle with the British freighter WOODFORD in fog off Ile Verte, 120 miles east of Quebec and across from the mouth of the Saguenay River. There were no injuries on either vessel. Four passengers and 24 crew members from WOODFORD were taken aboard the canaller BIRCHTON, which respon­ ded to the distress call, and were landed at Quebec. WOODFORD, which was a frequent visitor to the lakes after the opening of the Seaway, was operated by Watts, Watts and Company, of England, and was represented in Canada by