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. x the dock which was raised to lift the remaining bottom out of the water for final cutting. As soon as the dock surfaced, which took about one and a half hours to pump out, the men were aboard starting the cutting operation. The dry dock was made especially for Ford in 1926 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works at River Rouge, Michigan and was hull number 254. It was 250 feet long and was equipped with everything needed to quickly dispose of the remaining hull. The hull was cut into six foot long transverse, double-bottomed sections and lifted onto flat cars to be further reduced to furnace charging size by hugh steam powered shears on land. During the two years of scrapping operations, Ford continually improved upon techniques from lessons learned as each vessel was dismantled. In fact, changes were being made right up to the last boat. The rate of scrapped ships, when the operation was at full swing, was three ships every five days. Seventy-eight ships were scrapped in 1926 and seventy in 1927 at the West wall. The time from arrival at the North dock to the removal of the last section from the floating dry dock, required an average of 29 days to scrap a laker... a truly astonishing achievement for a company which knew very little about marine scrapping at the outset. More scrap was produced daily than what was needed to supply the steel mill and iron foundry. The excess scrap was stored and eventually used up. Ford accomplished the objective of scrapping, or integrating into his fleet, 199 ships within the two years specified in the contract. This entire operation was a measure of ingenuity and foresight typical of the Ford staff. During this time, the Engineering staff was engaged in the big change over from the Model T, produced since 1909, to the Model A introduced in 1928; a complete redesign. It's amazing they could do it at all. FOLLOW UP Thirteen lakers were spared the torch, when their engines were pulled, and converted to barges for the Ford fleet. Some had their Capacity increased by being lengthened. Often two of these barges could be seen in the rivers being towed behind one of the big Ford tugs. Most of the barges stayed in the fleet until World War il when they all were requistioned by the Shipping Board and sent to the East Coast. Some were repowered for the war effort. The thirteen were: LAKE ALLEN (W) LAKE INAHA LAKE CRYSTAL (W) — LAKE SAPOR LAKE HEMLOCK (W) LAKE KYTTLE LAKE LOUISE (W) LAKE FARGE LAKE PLEASANT (W) — LAKE FOLCROFT LAKE FRUGALITY LAKE FRUMET LAKE FREELAND (Names with (W) were originally “War” names which were confiscated by the Shipping Board in 1917.) After the towing job was completed, Ford brought the towing steamers and the tugs that were assigned to the East Coast to the Rouge to serve the needs of the fleet. LAKE ORMOC was repowered with a diesel engine in 1928 and was extensively refurbished with larger cabins and accommodations to serve the rubber trade between Ford's plantations in Brazil and the Rouge. She survived the Second War and was sold to Swedish interests, later as Norwegian and Italian. She foundered off Cape Rizzuto, Italy in 1962. LAKE BENBOW was repowered and later sold out of the Ford fleet in 1938. She ended her days as SANTA DOLORES, when she was scrapped at Hong Kong in 1959-1960. LAKE GORIN was repowered as a motor vessel 43-5-3