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9. Ship of the Month - cont'd. to the site, filled with water and sunk under and around the rig; then air was to be pumped into the tanks to force the water out and raise the rig. It never happened. It was found that the bulkheads on the barge had collapsed and salvage costs would not have made the venture profitable. TRANSLAKE NO. 3 was abandoned and remains on the bottom of Georgian Bay to this day. The tug E. D. M. PURVIS was sold by the Lougheed estate in 1962 to the Purdy Fisheries of Sarnia. Milford Purdy sold the vessel sometime later to a mari­ na in Point Edward, where the fishtug was taken for conversion to a house­ boat. Its bilge pump quit and the PURVIS sank in about 30 feet of water. It never was raised. The PURVIS was last noted in the Canadian List of Ships in 1966. The surviving TRANSLAKE NO. 2 was rebuilt at Port Colborne in 1970. In 1973, it was towed to Lake Ontario by the McQueen Marine tug AMHERSTBURG, where it was used for soil sampling for Ontario Hydro off Frenchman's Bay, near Pick­ ering. NO. 2 eventually was sold off the lakes, and made its way to Walker's Cay in the Bahamas. It was renamed (b) JIM GIBSON, and continues to operate for Bahamas Oil Ltd., of Pickering, Ontario. TRANSLAKE NO. 1 was rebuilt at Port Colborne in 1969. It was acquired by Ba­ hamas Oil Ltd. and renamed (b) AUTUMN EXPLORER in 1999. It departed the lakes the same year, bound for Walker's Cay, along with the veteran lake tug JEAN T. (C. 107891) which, although registered to a numbered company, is ow­ ned by Steve Richardson of Bahamas Oil Ltd. This tug was built at Montreal in 1899 as MONITOR for the Minister of Public Works. It passed into private ownership and was given its present name in 1949 by Simjac Marine Ltd. The drill barge LOUIS J. GOULET (C. 188900) joined the Translake jack-up rigs at Walker's Cay in 2002, where she reportedly was renamed (d) LIBERTY HUN­ TER. Launched as the canaller CONISCLIFFE HALL (ii) in 1957, she was conver­ ted to a drilling platform and renamed (b) TELESIS in 1975, and (c) LOUIS J. GOULET in 1998. In 1964, Russel-Hipwell built another larger jack-up rig named TIMESAVER II (C. 311348). Originally built for drilling, the rig still operates during the shipping season on Lake Erie, south of Port Stanley, as an offshore compres­ sor station. For more information on natural gas drilling, one can visit the Canadian Drilling Rig Museum Inc., in Rainham Centre, near Nanticoke, Ontario. Visits to the operational steam-powered drilling rig are by appointment only. Contact the museum at 1-905-776-0919 or by e-mail at candrillmuseum@on. aibn. com You can visit its website at www. candrillingrig museum. com * * * We would like to thank the following for their assistance with this tale: Ron Beaupre of Port Elgin; Don Boone of Collingwood; Lee Chambers of Dunn­ ville; Harry Eagle of Dunnville; Alvon Jackson of Amherstburg; George Lee of Port Lambton; Buck Longhurst of Sault Ste. Marie; Warren Lougheed of Owen Sound; Scott Mallard of Talisman Energy Inc., Port Colborne; John Mackay of Port Elgin; Jerald McKenzie, President, Canadian Drilling Rig Museum Inc., Selkirk, Ontario; Jim McLay of Southampton; Rod Morrison of Kingston; Don Powers, Registrar of Ships for Port of Toronto; Frank Prothero of Port Stan­ ley, and Gordon Turner of Toronto. Ye Ed. is grateful to Gerry Ouderkirk for suggesting and producing this feature concerning a type of lake vessel that never before has been given any significant mention in our publication. We hope that our readers have found this feature article to be refreshingly different. * * * * * mailto:candrillmuseum@on.aibn.com http://www.candrillingrig