Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Scanner, v. 37, no. 6 (April 2005), p. 7

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7. Ship of the Month - cont'd. 1947, when McColl-Frontenac was absorbed into the large international Texaco organization. (Some aspects of the McColl-Frontenac operation continued un­ til 1959. ) All three steamers in 1947 came under the operation of Texaco Ca­ nada Ltd., although they were renamed and registered under three separate corporate entities. On October 7, 1947, CYCLO-CHIEF became (b) TEXACO CHIEF (i), owned by S. S. Texaco Chief Ltd., Montreal, while CYCLO-WARRIOR became (b) TEXACO WARRIOR, owned by S. S. Texaco Warrior Ltd., Montreal, and the BRAVE received the same treatment, although all remained registered at To­ ronto. It should be noted that although the names as painted on the vessels sometimes showed the old hyphon between the two parts of their names, the hyp'non was not included in the officially registered name of any of the steamers after Texaco took over. When the vessels joined the Texaco fleet, they kept much the same colours. The sides of the trunk remained red, but the billboard in white letters now read 'Texaco Products'. The stacks remained black, but between the two nar­ row white bands was a broad green band, on which was superimposed a large white circle, outlined in black, on which appeared a large five-pointed green star on which was a big red 'T'. The word 'Texaco' appeared in black letters across the upper part of the logo. This was one of the most compli­ cated stack designs ever carried by a lake vessel, but the overall effect on the tall stacks was very handsome. The vessels retained their original teak pilothouses until 1951, at which time they were replaced. Not only was it becoming difficult to maintain the wooden structures, but as well radar had come to the lakes, and the old pi­ lothouses did not provide enough space for the necessary radar installations. Accordingly, all three Texaco steamers were given new rectan­ gular steel pilothouses with five large windows in the forward face. At times, there were lower sections to some of these windows, providing addi­ tional visibility down to the foredeck. The steamers of the fleet ran generally without incident, although TEXACO WARRIOR seems to have been the hard-luck ship of the fleet. On October 29, 1950, whilst inbound at the Toronto Eastern Gap in a dense fog, the WARRIOR turned too soon to enter the Ship Channel and ran full-tilt into the wharf facing outside the channel entrance. She hammered back her stem some ten feet and, after unloading, was sent to drydock for repairs. She got into trouble again on August 20, 1964, when she ran into the bank of the Welland Canal near railway Bridge 10 at Thorold South, holing her hull beneath the waterline. Again, repairs in drydock were required. The first of the Cyclo Sisters to leave the Texaco fleet was TEXACO CHIEF, which went into winter lay-up at Port Weller Dry Docks in December of 1952, and never ran again for Texaco. We have no information as to why she was re­ tired, but we think it may have been related to boiler problems. (TEXACO BRAVE was reboilered in 1952. ) She was sold on July 27, 1955, to Gayport Shipping Ltd., Toronto, which operated the British American Oil Company's fleet of lake tankers and, on August 3, 1955, she was renamed (c) FUEL TRANSPORTER. Thereafter she ran with a black stack and the green and white B/A stripes, but without the B/A logo. She was seldom seem on the lakes, after her first visit to Toronto on September 17, 1955, as she spent most of her time in the St. Lawrence River trade under charter to the British Ameri­ can Oil Company Ltd., Toronto. On June 30, 1959, FUEL TRANSPORTER was sold to the Hall Corp. of Canada Ltd., Montreal, which was developing a tanker division of its fleet. On July 22nd, she was renamed (d) FUEL TRANSPORT and, the following day, she was re­ registered at Montreal. Her smokestack was cut down (much as Halco did to the other B/A tankers it acquired from Gayport) and she was given the fami­ liar Hall "wishbone" stack design. Her cabins remained white and the sides of the trunk stayed red. In 1969, ownership was transferred to the Hall Corp. (Shipping) Ltd., Montreal.

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