FAIRMILE RESTORATION

ML 105 is being restored back to her WWII configuration. Here are some of the news stories which were captured:

Story #1
DUC Sees Dry Land
Posted By CATHY DOBSON
The Sarnia Observer

She's out.

Sarnia's own Second World War submarine chaser was stripped down Sunday ( Dec 9/07) and finally lifted out of the water and on to land by a 500-ton super crane. "The keel is good and straight. All of a sudden I feel a lot better," said Paul Woolley, president of Friends of the Q105, which intends to restore the 64-year-old ship.
He and about 100 onlookers waited hours for the moment when the vessel was finally airborne.

On Saturday close to 200 people lined the shoreline at the end of Exmouth Street. But after six hours in the cold and several attempts, the operation had to be postponed until the next day. Trouble was that historical records had led organizers to estimate the Q105 weighed between 45 and 65 tons and could easily be lifted by a Sterling crane with a 90-ton capacity. But the calculations proved wrong. The Q105 weighed in at more than 90 tons.
More counterweight and a superlift were added to the crane by 8 a.m. Sunday for another attempt. It was early but spectators lined the shore once again.

This time the chains grew taut on the rigging and the bottom of the old wooden ship brushed the water's surface. But crane operator Mait Noyle set her down again. The risk was still too great at that weight, Sterling officials said. Ballast had already been removed Saturday, along with a variety of flotation devises and appliances. So, on Sunday, everything else that could be removed had to go. Life jackets, ropes, tires, countertops and pipe littered the dock. Volunteers sawed off the upper rail and canopy. The last remaining gallons of fuel were pumped out. Even the stackable chairs were tossed off the deck. This time, with the ship hooked up by a series of spreaders and chainfall, the Q105 could move closer to shore and give the crane more capacity. At 2:30 p.m., a supervisor ordered the crowd to move back as the hull finally cleared the water and slowly rose overhead. A silence fell as the ship was carried high into the air and swung about 80 feet to a cradle assembled on the shore.

Among the onlookers was Bill Randall, a retired crane operator, who remembers the day in August 1943 when the Q105 was launched in Sarnia. She had been built at the Mac Craft company just a few hundred metres from where she was lifted out of the water. "I was only 11 and I remember it looked very different from the way it does today," he said. "I'm really glad to see it's being put back to its original shape."  Friends of the Q105 intend to make her the only Second World War vessel in original condition under power in Canada, Woolley said.
"This is of international significance. It's the most exciting thing happening in Sarnia and we've got people coming out of the woodwork to help," he said.

Eighty-year-old Lloyd Pardo is one of many Sarnians taking an interest in the project. Pardo was 17 years old when he helped build the Q105. "I lay the keel and put all the ribs in," he said. "When it gets assessed, I'm anxious to see what kind of shape it's in." A registered marine surveyor will analyze the hull, Woolley said. His findings will determine the cost of the restoration expected to be about $350,000. Pardo has a vivid memory of the Q105's original appearance. During the years she operated as a cruise boat on the St. Clair as the Duc d'Orleans, she was dramatically altered, he said.  "It's worth every penny to restore it if the hull is in good shape," he said. "She's got three-planking on her for better protection. I did that myself for 50 cents an hour. "I bet she's still got a lot of years left in her."

fairmile_q105_lift_s.jpg Q105 being lifted out of the water. Click to enlarge. (Photo by Glen Ogilvie , The Sarnia Observer) 
Story #2
Volunteers Plan To Restore Piece of Canadian Naval History
By Jered Stuffco
The Canadian Press

Monday, December 10, 2007 –

SARNIA, ONT. -- It's a rare sight to witness an antique warship float out of the water and hover 10 metres above ground. But that was the surreal scene along the waters of the St. Clair River yesterday as a crowd of curious landlubbers joined naval aficionados to watch a towering crane hoist an 80-tonne warship onto dry land.
"We were worried it wasn't going to happen today," said Paul Wooley, the man behind the Friends of Q105, which aims to take the decommissioned Second World War ship and restore it to its former glory.
But after two false starts, a day and a half of waiting and the work of volunteers from the local Steelworkers union, the Duc d'Orleans - originally a Nazi U-Boat killer christened the Q105 - finally rested on dry land.
"I feel a lot better," Mr. Wooley said yesterday afternoon, standing next to the ship. The effort was also helped by Sterling Cranes, which donated a 40- metre hydraulic crane for the ambitious project.

In 2010, Mr. Wooley and his group plan to sail the boat through the St. Lawrence Seaway to Halifax, to take part in the Canadian Navy's 100-year anniversary celebrations. "When this is finished, it will be the only Canadian vessel from World War II that will be seaworthy and in operation," said Mr. Wooley, adding that the boat was built in Sarnia in 1943 a mere 500 metres from were it now sits. The Q105 was designed to hunt down and destroy submarines. Armed with sonar, 20-millimetre anti-aircraft guns and powerful depth charges, it was once a major force on the high seas. The 38-metre vessel, powered by two gasoline engines, was made entirely from wood, meaning it was nearly immune to magnetic mines planted by the enemy. The ship, which had a crew of 14, was initially used off the coast of Bermuda as a convoy escort.

But after the Axis powers were defeated in 1945, the ship was donated to the government of Quebec, Mr. Wooley said. The ship was used by McGill University as a research vessel and later housed an arts and crafts college. In 1948, the boat was sold off, outfitted with a passenger deck and used to ferry passengers up and down the St. Lawrence in Quebec City. That's where Mr. Woolley first spotted her in 1974. "I knew right away it was an old sub chaser," he recalled.

The Duc d'Orleans sailed home to Sarnia in 1978 after a local businessman bought it. "And it's plied the waters up and down the river as a day cruiser ever since," Mr. Wooley said. Last year, the boat was decommissioned and donated to Mr. Wooley's group. The restoration is expected to take two years, hundreds of hours of volunteer labour and up to $500,000 in material costs.

Along with tearing off the passenger deck and painting the hull haze grey, the ship will be outfitted with replica guns and phony depth charges. "When we're done with it, it's going to look exactly the same as it did in 1943," Mr. Wooley said. Among the crowd watching yesterday was Bill Randall, who witnessed the Q105 slide into the water in 1943. "I was just a young fella," said Mr. Randall, who was 11 at the time.  Now 75, Mr. Randall has fond memories of that day. "I never thought she'd survive this long - or me."

fairmile_duc_ d_orleans_q105_a_2009_0609.jpg
Above and below: The Duc D'Orleans being restored in Point Edward, Ontario as seen on June 9, 2009. (Photos by Marc-André Morin) 
fairmile_duc_d_orleans_q105b_2009_0609.jpg
 


Additional Contributors and Credits:

1) Marc-André Morin <marc-andre.morin(at)videotron.ca>
 
 

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