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To handle the barge, Wakeham & Sons Ltd., Hamilton, purchased the tug AL BATTAL in Saudi Arabia and registered it in Bermuda as PETITE FORTE. The pair departed Middle East waters on September 11, 1986, for Lake Ontario. PETITE FORTE (C. 359165 ) is 112 x 31. 0 x 15. 5, 368 Gross, and is powered by twin 8-cylinder Ruston & Hornsby diesels. She was built in 1969 by Cochrane & Sons Ltd., Selby, England, as Hull 1520. Launched as E. BRONSON INGRAM AND flagged Panamanian, she was renamed (b) JARAMAC 42 in 1970. She was sold in­ to British registry (Br. 359165) in 1973 and renamed (c) SCOTSMAN, which name she held until sold into Saudi Arabian registry in 1981 as (d) AL BATTAL. PETITE FORTE and CLARKSON CARRIER made their first trip from Clarkson to Os­ wego during the week of November 24, 1986. The two are still paired, although CLARKSON CARRIER was sold to the St. Marys Cement Company in 1994 and renamed (e) ST. MARYS CEMENT II. PETITE FORTE also had been sold, at least by 1992, to Great Lakes & International Towing & Salvage Co., of Bur­ lington. Wakeham & Sons Ltd. had gone out of business as a result of a $9 million lawsuit started on behalf of St. Lawrence Cement Inc. and its insu­ rers over the loss of the KOCH and her cargo. what was left of ROBERT KOCH idled away at the Gondel International yard at Contrecoeur while crews there finished cutting up the barge GENERAL KARRIER (formerly CEMENTKARRIER), followed by the dismantling of the freighter FORT SEVERN. Gondel International changed management during this time, and the dismantling of ROBERT KOCH became a protracted affair. On October 16, 1989, the tug MANIC (C. 158043), the former TECHNO-MANIC, took the hull of ROBERT KOCH in tow at Contrecoeur, and hauled it to Trois- Rivieres. During the winter of 1989-1990, the hull was at Ste. Angele-de- Laval, which is situated across the river from Trois-Rivieres. In the spring of 1900, it was back at Trois-Rivieres. The final stop for "the trolley" was the Davie Shipyard. The big tug DUGA took the KOCH in tow on November 1st, 1990, and took her to Levis, where her demolition was completed within a few weeks. And so to a sad end came one of the prettiest little vessels to have opera­ ted on the lower lakes in modern times. We wish that we had taken more pho­ tos of her when she was running, and could not possibly count all the times we saw her in the Welland Canal but passed her by because "it was just the KOCH again"! She might have enjoyed a considerably longer career if only St. Lawrence Cement had not made that fateful decision to cut her down to a barge. * * * Ship of the Month - cont'd. 12. Authors' Notes: So often, we resort to the scrapbooks kept by some of our late members for the material which goes into our features. On this occasion, we delved into the writings of our own "Ye Ed. " for much of the story as it happened and was reported in the pages of "Scanner". However, we also would like to thank Rene Beauchamp; Ron Beaupre; Jeff Came­ ron; Roger Chapman; Claude Chauvette, Secretary of the St. Lawrence Cement Company; Skip Gillham; Bob Graham, curator, The Historical Collections of the Great Lakes; Jason LaDue; Capt. Buck Longhurst; Dan McCormick; Bill Moran; Richard F. Palmer; Jim Sprunt and Gordon Turner for their contribu­ tions, and we also acknowledge photos originally taken by Dyke Cobb, Richard DeNagel, David Kohl and Michel Richard. We are fortunate indeed that many of the log books of ROBERT KOCH (and some from her GUARDIAN CARRIER days) sur­ vive in the collections of several members of T. M. H. S. If any of our members can add more detail to the story of ROBERT KOCH, we would be pleased to hear from them. There must be even more tales about her than those we have recounted here. * * * * *