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13. Ship of the Month - cont'd. bottom of the slip and was not, according to Harbourmaster George Wilson, a menace to navigation as it was 97 feet inside the slip. The next stage of salvage operations was "being studied". It was proposed that a cofferdam be built across the carferry slip so that water in the slip could be pumped out, and the wreck exposed to the salvagers, who had given up on the float­ ing drydock idea. Most of the salvage fleet was dispatched to other tasks by October 27th. The cofferdam was never built. The career of HERCULES was far from over. She was now paired with dredge P. W. D. NO. 116 and at the end of October 1954, after a busy season at Port Burwell, the pair was preparing for a trip to the Toronto drydock. In early November, the tug and dredge were being held at Port Stanley while soundings were conducted in the area outside the harbour where P. W. D. NO. 117 had lain so long. On November 9, the tug H. J. DIXON arrived and the trio departed for Toronto, with a promise from the D. P. W. to return the following spring for dredging work at Port Stanley. HERCULES was to continue with her annual dredging program on Lake Erie for another ten years. It was not always boring working with the dredges. Back in early May, 1946, HERCULES got into an altercation with the Port Stanley fish tug J. M. LODER which, while outbound for Lake Erie, failed to see the passing signal for the inbound government tug. They collided, but HERCULES proved the stronger vessel, suffering only $500 damage to her starboard bow, while the LODER suffered a $2, 500 punch to her starboard nose. In April of 1957, HERCULES was one of three tugs which went to the assis­ tance of the sinking barge (and former ferry) LEVIS, which was under tow from Windsor to Whitby by the Toronto tug H. J. DIXON. Capt. Roy Palmer of the DIXON radioed for assistance when the barge began sinking. Capt. George Gilbert, of the Port Burwell fish tug CLARA B., Capt. Max Loder with his tug J. M. LODER, and Capt. Ace Bartlett with HERCULES rushed to meet the DIXON and, with portable pumps, they kept the barge afloat long enough to bring it into Port Burwell. On Monday night, August 7, 1961, HERCULES was sent to the aid of EASTCLIFFE HALL, which was loaded with 6, 000 tons of coal from Sydney, Nova Scotia, and was stuck firmly on a sand bar 500 feet from shore in 37 feet of water just off Port Burwell. Rough water and high winds delayed the rescue effort. HERCULES freed EASTCLIFFE HALL three times on Tuesday, but each time the winds and waves pushed her aground again. Some 36 hours later, HERCULES managed to tug the stranded vessel free and undamaged. In December 1963, the passenger vessel PELEE was blown from her moorings in Port Stanley by a gale, and she remained aground for two weeks, stuck on a piece of the sunken dredge P. W. D. NO. 117. Finally, with the assistance of a strong onshore wind which raised the water level in the harbour over four inches, a local fish tug and a tow truck ashore managed to pull PELEE free. Blasted remnants of dredge 117 remain on the bottom of Port Stanley harbour to this day. On June 25, 1964, HERCULES' register was transferred to Quebec City. Her use by the Department of Public Works was deemed no longer necessary, and HERCU­ LES was sold to Verreault Navigation Inc., of Les Mechins, Quebec. HERCULES departed the Great Lakes, but saw little service in Verreault colours as a dredge tender. The days for steam tugs were done. HERCULES was dropped from the Canadian register on December 11, 1970, with the notation "dismantled", and is presumed scrapped. * * * This tale was managed in the making, and we would like to thank the follow­ ing people, alphabetically, for their assistance: Ron Beaupre; Capt. Bill Breaker; Colin Campbell; Dino Dean; Skip Gillham; Robert W. Graham; Alvon Jackson; Lorne Joyce; Capt. George Lee; John Lutman (University of Western Ontario); Alan Mann; Daniel C. McCormick; Bill McNeil; Jack Messmer; Bill