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Ship of the Month - cont'd. 8. saw sporadic service during the 1964 season, which was the year in which the company's package freight terminals in Montreal and Toronto were abandoned in favour of new facili­ ties at Valleyfield, Quebec, and Port Credit, Ontario. She spent part of the summer idle in the North Slip at Sarnia, was back in service later in the year, and during the late autumn was laid up for the last time at Kingston, in the area behind the company's Portsmouth ele­ vator where many of the fleet's retired ships traditionally spent their last days. C. S. L. held on to BATTLEFORD during 1965 and part of 1966 in case she should be needed again, but she never was. On June 11, 1966, she was sold to Bahamas Package Carriers Ltd., an enterprise of a Mr. Nevill Roberts, although the official change of ownership did not take place until November 15, 1966. Two days later, her registry was transferred to the Port of Nassau, and she cleared Kingston under her own power on November 29, 1966. It ori­ ginally had been intended that she be towed to Nassau by the refitted tug TRIDENT STAR, but Roberts never completed the purchase of the tug, and so BATTLEFORD was sent south under her own steam. An account of her southbound voyage, written by then-T. M. H. S. member Capt. Denis Conway, of Kingston, who was her master on the delivery trip, appeared in our issue of May 1973. However, it is such an interesting account that parts of it will be repeated here. "The First Mate, Vince Cartwright, Second Mate, whose name I've forgotten, and six Bahamian crewmen were flown up to Kingston sometime in the second half of November, 1966. I see from my discharge book that we all signed on board on November 24 and I remember that the ship­ ping master was Mr. Martyn, who still (in 1973) holds that post in Kingston. "A quantity of crushed stone, 1,200 tons, was loaded and flattened out by bulldozer to form excellent ballast. In the 'tween decks, we carried 35 pieces of dust collecting equipment, the type one would see in the loft of a grain elevator. Also in the 'tween deck were two artillery pieces, World War II cannon, destined to decorate the owner's front lawn in Nassau, I think. I had the wild thought of placing one cannon on the forecastle head and the second on the poop and challenging the Royal Navy in Nassau Harbour. "The engine room crew were all Canadian, and though the Chief didn't have a marine ticket, he worked long hours to keep the old girl from falling apart as far as Halifax, where he requested relief. We sailed from Kingston... and headed for Clayton, N. Y., for 700 tons of bunker coal, 200 tons in the coal bunker and the remainder in the 'tween deck forward where a bin was built of old hatch covers. The coal, our final dead weight, made our departure draught 13 feet, trimmed a foot by the stern. At this point in the voyage, it was the opin­ ion of some optimists ashore that we would make Nassau non-stop on one bunker of coal. This estimate was based on a fictitious rate of fuel consumption and allowed no stops for re­ pairs. Our first unscheduled stop became necessary before Iroquois Lock as the v. h. f. ra­ diotelephone quit, so I slid BATTLEFORD in behind the Prescott elevator and made fast to the C. S. L. dock. A Marconi technician came up from Montreal in the forenoon to correct this fault... "Our second stop was Montreal for engine repairs with the help of some shore labour, to hire three additional firemen at the Chief's request, and to obtain some charts and sea stores. A letter of caution was given to me before we sailed by Mr. G. L. Hayes, our underwriters' representative. I signed off two Kingston Shipyards hands that we had bor­ rowed to assist with canal work. Our agent was Canada Steamship Lines Ltd., who were very cooperative. "The weather during this first part of the voyage had been quite nice so it was noticeable when temperatures dropped to about ten above (F. ) for two days rounding the Gaspe, freezing our deck lines. During the daylight hours steaming tranquilly down through the Northumber­ land Strait, however, the temperature rose to the forties and didn't dip much into the frost range thereafter. We made a late night passage through the Canso Lock in continuing fair weather with most of our navigation gear in working order. That must have been the 4th or 5th of December. I can remember coasting down the Eastern shore between Canso and Hali­ fax in fog and snow, running from one sea buoy to the next until east of Egg Island, when we were in the range of Camperdown shore radar who verified our position, as our radar had 'packed it in'. "At Halifax there was no coal available so our agent arranged for the use of a rented mo­ bile clam to scoop some 200 tons of coal from our 'tween decks, dump it on the dock and, with the ship moved forward, load it in the bunker. Even though it was our coal, I think the cost of the transfer amounted to quite a few dollars per ton. More repairs to the en­