Readers will recall that our May issue mentioned the retirement of PINEDALE at which time we gave a short sketch of the life of this veteran steamer.

In particular we noted that PINEDALE had been converted to a self-unloader in 1932 and at that time was also lengthened. One of our readers has taken us up on the latter point, stating that the ship was never lengthened. As a result, we felt that we had best explain this point so as to avoid future confusion.

A check of the various shipping registers for the years around 1932 will indicate that WILLIAM T. ROBERTS (as PINEDALE was then known) did increase her length by 6.5 feet at the time of her conversion and although this change is not a large one, it is not consistent with a simple remeasuring of the boat, particularly when similar changes show up in the records of a few other vessels converted to self-unloaders about that time. It must be remembered that early conversions from straight-deckers to self-unloaders bore almost no resemblance to the modern conversions of, say, WILFRED SYKES or HENRY FORD II.

It appears that when WILLIAM T. ROBERTS was converted, she had a piece put in her, a small piece which either contained or was to contain sections of her unloading machinery. Undoubtedly this method reduced the loss of cubic capacity which is the unfortunate but inevitable result of the fitting of unloading equipment in a vessel.

Return to Home Port or Toronto Marine Historical Society's Scanner

Reproduced for the Web with the permission of the Toronto Marine Historical Society.