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7. Ship of the Month - cont'd. with the dredge. Still, they managed to bring the sinking craft some 300 yards shoreward before it grounded. It was thought that incoming water had swept Capt. Howell off his feet. He had been in charge of the dredge for at least a quarter of a century. The search for Capt. Howell's body was called off at 11 p. m. Thursday night (May 29). Four divers took part in the search. First on the scene was Tom Backus of Port Rowan, but his equipment proved to be too light for the job. He was assisted by Tom Gilbert and Jack Berry of Port Stanley. Ace Bartlett called in Harry Gamble from Port Dover, who arrived early in the evening, bringing with him the diving equipment that he had acquired from Tom Gil­ bert. Both Gamble and Gilbert went down into the mid-ships and they searched for more than two hours in the dark Thursday night. Diving resumed early Friday morning. Attempts to get into the engineroom were hampered by a lack of diving hose and an array of obstacles presenting dangers to the divers. Heavier diving gear arrived overnight from Amherstburg, Ontario, aboard the McQueen Marine tug PATRICIA McQUEEN under Capt. Angus Morrison (father of T. M. H. S. member Rod Morrison who, along with his brother Cliff, also worked for McQueen). The tug had made the trip down the lake in 12 hours, arriving at 6 a. m. Friday. The heavier diving equipment was used by Hub Moore and Bob Stickley, divers from Amherstburg. They made it into the dredge's engineroom but they were confronted with a tangle of ropes and cables and other gear which made searching that area impossible. They tried to untangle the mess, but gave up Friday evening at 11 p. m. Mr. L. P. Larochelle, the D. P. W. dis­ trict supervisor, arrived Friday morning aboard PATRICIA McQUEEN and he be­ gan his investigation during the day, interviewing the tug and dredge crew members in a cabin aboard HERCULES. Crew members managed to salvage some of their personal belongings and bed­ ding on Friday with the assistance of the 46-foot Port Stanley fish tug L. & S., owned by Capt. George Vary and Sons Fishery. Meanwhile, O. P. P. and R. C. M. P. constables were on hand in small boats dragging the harbour around the dredge, hoping to recover Capt. Howell's body, which some thought might have been swept out of the control room and overboard. Saturday morning found the divers repairing their gear, which had been da­ maged the previous day in the engineroom while groping around in the dark searching for Capt. Howell's body. Shortly after they renewed their efforts, they found the missing captain, still in the control room, having gone down with his dredge. Capt. Howell was buried on Monday, June 2nd, in the Union Cemetery. During the weekend, the west pier was crowded with spectators coming to have a look at the sunken dredge. HERCULES was flying her flag at half-mast. PAT­ RICIA McQUEEN departed for Amherstburg on Saturday afternoon, taking the di­ vers and the dredge inspector with her. On Tuesday, June 3rd, lighthouse keeper Jack Taylor lighted the wreck with oil lamps suspended on wire poles from the corners of the hulk, to warn mariners of the danger. On June 6, HERCULES went to Amherstburg to assist PATRICIA McQUEEN in towing McQueen Marine's derrick COMMANDER J. E. to Port Stanley. They arrived Sun­ day at noon and began removing equipment from the sunken dredge on Monday morning. The boom and 25-ton dipper bucket were removed. While being swung to the pier, a sling broke and the heavy assembly crashed onto the dock, narrowly missing workers. In the following days, deck equipment was stripped from the wreck and dumped on the west dock. The C. S. L. self-unloading canal­ ler COALHAVEN was the first commercial lakeboat into port after the acci­ dent, arriving on June 8 with bituminous coal. The McNamara tug CONNIE M. also put into port on the weekend, bound for Hamilton. High winds hampered the salvagers' attempts for several days while waves be­ gan breaking apart the dredge's wooden superstructure. On June 26, the stern spud was removed, and it was announced that a formal inquest would be held