RUSSEL BROTHERS Ltd. Steelcraft winch boat and warping tug builders from Owen Sound, Ontario.

Russel Brothers Limited OWEN SOUND, ONTARIO Steelcraft Boat Builders

D & C

Canadian List of Shipping 1956: D. & C. [C.190435] registered at owen Sound; built at owen Sound in 1950. 47' x 12' x 4'; 13 g.t.; 9 n.t.; 165 hp. Owned by David A. Drever, (M.O.) Collingwood, Ontario. Transport Canada List 2002: Built by Russel-Hipwell Engine Co., Owen Sound, Ont. Transport Canada List 2003: Owned by Frances Nadjiwon & Allison Pedoniquotte, Wiarton, Ontario. Details for registered vessel D. & C. (O.N. 190435) Date of suspension: 2008-03-10.

D & C has been twice unlucky. Robert B. Farrow provides clippings from her 1957 grounding when her crew spent 30 hours on a rock in a Thunder Bay snowstorm. RBF notes: Way back when I was shipwreck hunting and researching, the D & C came up as a possible wreck site. I researched it and found that it had survived. The following is from "The News-Chronicle" and "Fort William Daily Times-Journal". Pretty neat also that the (Russel built) John C. was in the rescue.

Seamen Tell of Ordeal. Rudder Gone Ship Hurled on High Rock by Ken MacGrey, Port Arthur News-Chronicle Staff Writer, Wed. Nov. 20, 1957.
Four weary and wind-burned men peered through ice-coated portholes Wednesday afternoon as the Nipigon Lake Timber Co. tug John C. chugged into Nipigon harbor. They were the haggard but thankful survivors of the tug D and C, which slammed ashore on a tiny Lake Superior island in Tuesday morning's blinding blizzard. The ship has hit barren Evelyn rock on the rugged north shore about 100 miles east of Port Arthur during a voyage from this city to Owen Sound. Despite a vast air and sea rescue operation which sprung into action as soon as the SOS was received, the vessel and its small crew were only spotted until mid-morning Wednesday by an RCAF aircraft.
"There she is. It was quite a trip," said the burly captain of the rescue vessel, Harold Dampier, 40. He was talking through a heavy beard as he shut the engines down at his Nipigon berth. Rescued and rescuers scrambled ashore and took time out to tell of their harrowing ordeal. They had never had heard of the rock. Part owner of the tug D and C, Bryan Spruce, 34, of Collingwood said he knew they would be "picked up." He knew the freighter Everson had picked up his SOS at 4 a.m. Tuesday when the rudderless tug foundered at the shoal waters.
LITTLE TIME Just before the tug ran onto the ice-covered rocks, the rudder went out of commission. The four sailors frantically tried to repair the rudder. They knew they didn't have "much time," according to Mr. Bryan Drever. The wind was throwing snow at 55 miles an hour. Suddenly the rocks loomed out of the raging snow and the sailors knew they would crash.They tried to steer the tug with the diesel engine, but the wind drove it on and on. Mr. Drever raced for the radio to send an SOS. Just as the message got away, the steel-hulled vessel crashed and tumbled onto the five foot high rocks. She settled with a deep list.
The four men scrambled ashore through the shoal water. Captain of the tug John MacKenzie, 46, of 468 Empire Ave. Fort William, scrambled through the freezing water with Mr. Drever. The two men had a line tied around their waists. The two older men on the tug, E. (Ernest) Bishop, 60, and F. (Fred) N. Raymond, 66, both of Collingwood, waded to the rocks along the line. Captain MacKenzie and Mr. Drever returned to the tug through boiling shoal waters to bring old car tires and mattresses to shore. They promptly lit a fire with the tires as fuel.
TUG STAYED Slowly their frozen clothing began to melt. Luckily the 3,500-lb tug stayed on the rocks. "We would be dead now," said Captain MacKenzie "If the tug had slipped off the rocks into deep water." The rocks on Evelyn are only five feet above water, and the wind lashed the spray mercilessly (Please turn to page 8, No. 3).
onto the cringing men. At 8 a.m. the the shipwrecked sailors returned to the foundered tug but could not get the oil stove to work. Finally the built a fire from wood, which had jarred loose in the crash. Throughout the day the sailors kept watch. As night closed in, and the howling fury of the wind did not abate, things began to look worse. The men dared not go to sleep on the ship for fear it came off the rocks and tumbled over into deep water. They had to keep watch.
Earlier that morning they saw a boat go by and raised a hand made flare. The boat seemed to dim its deck lights, and put on a searchlight. The shivering survivors took this as a signal they had been seen. But the boat kept going.
When dawn came they knew they were not on Hawk Island, but there was no way they could tell the searchers. Had they landed on Hawk Island, they would have perished. The North and West sides of Hawk Island are sheer rock faces, coated with ice. They could never have clambered ashore. As night came on Tuesday, the sailors started the engines and put on the lights. They kept hand made flares going. These were made of rags dipped in oil. Evelyn Rock is only 150 feet long and 75 feet wide. It was bare and gloomy, and cold.
BITTER COLD Throughout the long bitterly cold night, while the wind howled and the temperature dipped to 20 degrees, the sailors waited. As dawn broke through the storm Wednesday morning the survivors heard a plane. The RCAF had arrived. The plane quickly spotted the men and gave the location to the tug John C. The men aboard the John C had fought a valiant battle with the raging lake all night. They had left Nipigon the night before and went straight to Hawk Island.
A Volunteer crew made up of skipper Harold Dampier, 40, W. Hurd and A. Turuya, 44. They had left port in a blinding snowstorm of their own accord. Bruce Grogan, manager of Nipigon Lake Timber Company's Nipigon branch said: "I wouldn't send men out in this stuff." At three a.m. Tuesday the Paterson freighter Bricoldoc lowered a boat over the side. The tug John C pulled it ashore on Hawk
Island. Nine sailors from the Bricoldoc went over to the island with 18 flashlights. They found no sign of life and they could not know the men they sought were nine miles away.The men of the John C then began a systematic search of the mainland shore, which lasted throughout the night.Suddenly at 8 a.m. plane number 414 of the RCAF Search and Rescue squadron called with the location of the doomed tug D & C.
HARD TO BELIEVE The John C arrived at the Evelyn Rock at 10 a.m. and pulled the survivors aboard at 10:30. The four survivors blinked their red and scorching eyes. Capt. MacKenzie said: "I saw the two tugs, and I couldn't believe my eyes." The survivors had to "look twice." Their eyes were red and dry from the howling wind and the acrid smoke from the burning tires which had saved their lives. Captain MacKenzie said later in Nipigon: "If the tug had not stayed on the rock, we would all be dead now." MacKenzie, who has been sailing for 23 years, had never been shipwrecked before and "I hope this is the last time."
Another boat crew played a major part in the rescue. The Clara Lee out of Rossport went to the Hawk island location Tuesday night, and appeared on the scene with the D and C the next day. The crew of the Clara Lee were captain W. Schilling, 50, Dave Gerow, 43, Dan Gerow, 43, and Russell Gerow, 36. They had lain in wait all night in the open lake waiting for a chance to get onto Hawk Island. When the final moment of rescue came they were on the scene too. Rescuers and rescued were weary, cold and exhausted, but happy. They had beaten the lake at its worst.

TUG FOUND, CREW SAVED Grounded Vessel Sighted By RCAF Rescue Aircraft Fort William Daily Times-Journal, Wed. November 20, 1957.
Marooned for nearly 30 hours on a bleak, storm-swept rock in Lake Superior, a Fort William skipper and his crew of three were removed safely about 11 a.m. today. John MacKenzie, of 458 Empire Avenue, and crew members Ernie Bishop, Fred Raymond and Brian Trevor, all of Collingwood, were taken off by the Great Lakes Lumber and Shipping Company Ltd., tug John C at 10:52 a.m. after being sighted from the air by Trenton-based RCAF Dakota searching the area. The plane left the lakehead about 8:45 and spotted the men at 9:56.
Radio reports from the John C said the men were all in good condition and would not need hospitalization, despite their overnight ordeal in the wintry weather. They are being taken to Nipigon and are expected there about 4 p.m. Originally believed to be marooned on Hawk Island, about 60 miles northeast of Fort William, the men were found near their grounded tug on one of a series of rocks, measuring about 1,000 square feet, some nine miles southeast of Hawk Island near Sweetland Island. They had been there since their tug ran aground about 3 a.m. Tuesday.
Piloted by F-O Moore, one of two Dakotas in the search sighted three men and the boat on the rocky reef. The fourth man was in the boat at the time. First to see the missing men was navigator F-O Len Perry. The plane circled the island and dropped food to to the men and immediately radioed Capt. R. W. Forbes, of the Port Arthur marine division, who immediately got in touch with the tug Clara E under the command of Captain Bill Schilling, of Rossport, and the John C, who were searching in the vicinity.
Within an hour the tugs were at the island and proceded to take the men off. They were reported to be in good condition despite their 30 hours in the blinding snowstorm. The boat was aground on the northwest side of the reef and is reported to have a hole in her side. First word of the vessel's plight, which left Port Arthur Monday afternoon came from the SS Everton early yesterday morning. She relayed the SOS from the tug to the lakehead by ship-to-shore phone. Other members of the Search and Rescue plane which sighted (Continued on page 3, column 5)
Volunteer to Search For Tug The Nipigon crew of the tug John C, which this morning picked up the men of the ill-fated D and C volunteered to join the search when they were informed of it yesterday. Don Clark, Jr., of Port Arthur, in a telphone conversation with the Nipigon office of Great Lakes Lumber and Shipping Co. Ltd. which the Clarks operate, told the men there of the search being made. The John C. skipper, Harold Dampier, and his crew comprising Bill Hurd and Art Furuya asked to be allowed to go and left Nipigon about 4 p.m. with blankets, clothing and food. They scoured the area with the other boats from Rossport throughout the night and picked up the men this morning after being given their location by the RCAF Dakota aircraft which first spotted them on Evelyn Rocks.

TUG CREW RESCUED OFF ROCKY REEF THIS MORNING Fort William Daily Times-Journal, Wed. November 20, 1957.
After spending 30 hours in their grounded 45-foot tug on a rocky water-swept reef off Black Bay peninsula in Lake Superior, four members of the tug D and C were rescued this morning by the Great Lumber and Shipping Co. tug John C., after being spotted by a plane of the RCAF Search and Rescue Squadron from Trenton.
The party, including Captain John MacKenzie of Fort William, was sighted at 9.56 a.m. by the rescue plane and help was soon on the way. The tug was en route from the lakehead to Collingwood and left Port Arthur Monday afternoon.
Caught in an early winter blizzard the tug went aground, as shown in the above photo, on a reef off Swede Island. Lower photo shows the rescue boat, right, and the disabled tug, which is reported to have a hole in her side. The tug with the men aboard was due at Nipigon late this afternoon.

Push Hunt for Tugboat. Sarnia-Bound Ship Lost in Lake Storm. The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 20 Nov 1957, Wed Page 1 PORT ARTHUR, (CP) Seamen from the 4,300-ton freighter Bricoldoc Tuesday night fought their way to rock-studded Hawk Island, 60 miles east of here, but failed to find any sign of four missing men or their Sarnia-bound tugboat. Battling high seas on Lake Superior and a 45-mile-an-hour gale, a lifeboat from the Pater-son Line ship reached the island following failure of similar attempts by two smaller vessels. The searchers found no tracks in the fresh-fallen snow and sighted no signal fires. However, a search of the entire island was prevented by a steep cliff.
The fishing vessel Clara Lee and the tug John C, which had failed earlier in attempts to reach the island, circled the island looking for fires. None was sighted. The search started when the freighter Everton picked up an SOS from the tugboat D and C which said it had gone aground on Hawk Island but its four-man crew could reach the island. Aboard the tug were John McKenzie of Fort William and Fred Raymond, Ernish Bishop and Brian Trevor, all of Collingwood. They were headed for Sarnia, when the accident occurred during a blinding snowstorm about 3 a.m. Tuesday.
Capt. R. W. Forbes of the Port Arthur Marine Division called in the R.C.A.F. when an unidentified tug circled the island early Tuesday night and reported it could see no sign of the missing tugboat. Two planes from the R.C.A.F. base at Trenton, one carrying Searchmaster Fit. Lt. Glen Ross and a para-rescue team, arrived here Tuesday night. A third plane from Winnipeg, also carrying a para-rescue team, was to leave early today to join the search. Capt. Forbes said details of the search by the Bricoldoc and the two smaller ships were limited because of poor radio reception. The Bricoldoc reported taking aboard its lifeboat and continuing on its trip east. It left here earlier, carrying a cargo of wheat and barley but stopped to give assistance when it heard of the grounding.
Search operations were hampered by the storm which was described by Capt. Forbes as "unique, in that it has lasted so long." "It started to blow and snow at noon Monday and still was blowing early today," he said. "I'm not too sure if the snow has completely stopped because little information can be obtained due to poor reception."

Crew of Four Near Nipigon In Rescue Ship Port Arthur News-Chronicle, Wed. Nov. 20, 1957.
Four men reported stranded on a bleak and gale-lashed island about 100 miles east of Port Arthur were reported in good condition today after being picked up this morning from a reef some nine miles southwest of their originally estimated position.
The men were reported sighted by an RCAF search and rescue aircraft at 9:56 a.m. today and removed from Evelyn Rock around 10:56 a.m. by the tug John C of the Great Lakes Lumber and Shipping Company. Captain R.W. Forbes of the Port Arthur marine division reported the sighting by the rescue aircraft which came from Trenton last night.
ENDED ON ROCKS The tug in which the men came to grief, the D and C owned by McNamara Construction Company, has been left high and dry on Evelyn Rocks after going aground Tuesday. The John C. and a fishing boat, the Clara Lee made attempts yesterday to reconnoitre Hawk Island where the men reported by radio they had gone aground during the gale and snowstorm. No sign of the men was found on the island and the tugs stood by in sheltered Moss Harbor, near Hawk Island, waiting to aid in further rescue operations. The tugs were directed to Evelyn Rock by the search and rescue aircraft whose messages were relayed to the John C by a Paterson lines lake freighter, the 4,300 ton Bricoldoc standing off the rocky shore.
The rescued men, Captain John MacKenzie of Fort William, and his crew of Fred Raymond, Ernish Bishop and Brian Trevor*, all of Collingwood, were reported in good condition aboard the tug as it headed for Nipigon. It is expected the tug will arrive there...The Company has been instructed to have medical supplies on hand in case they are needed when the tug docks.
HELD BY STORM The John C and the Clara Lee set out at 4 p.m. yesterday manned by volunteer crews. The boats were unable to leave any earlier because of the severe storm which was lashing the northern Lake Superior shore.
* should be Drever

Fred Landon Scrapbooks, Box 4199, Vol. 4, p. 133. SEARCH SUCCESSFUL The tugboat John C. today picked up four men marooned some 30 hours on Evelyn Rock, nine miles from Hawk Island in Lake Superior, where they first radioed they had been driven aground in a storm.
Tugboat saves men marooned on lonely rock Four men missing since their tugboat went aground early yesterday in Lake Superior,were picked up today by the searching tug John C and were being taken to Nipigon, 65 miles northeast of here.
SPOTTED FROM AIR Search headquarters reported the men were first sighted at 9:56 a.m. EST on Evelyne Rock , a small island nine miles southwest of Hawk Island, centre of the search, by an RCAF Dakota from Trenton. The John C, scouring the area with fishing vessel Clara Lee, picked up the four, all in good condition, at 10:52 a.m. and proceeded to Nipigon. It was expected to arrive there about 3:30 p.m. The missing men's tugboat was reported "high and dry" on the shore of Evelyn Rock. The brief report on the finding of the men was relayed first from the RCAF Dakota to the 4,300-ton freighter Bricoldoc, also in the search, and then to the airport at Fort William.
BRINGS SEARCHMASTER The Dakota, piloted by FO Harry Moore, took off from here about 9 a.m. to search the area around Hawk Island, about 60 miles east of the Lakehead. It had arrived last night from Trenton, carrying Searchmaster FO Glenn Ross and a para-rescue team. Another Dakota, from Winnipeg, arrived early today but did not participate in the search. Last night, seamen from the Bricoldoc battled high seas and a 45-mile gale in a lifeboat to reach Hawk Island, where the men had radioed that they were grounded, but failed to find any trace of the missing men or their boat.
The search started when the freighter Everton picked up an SOS from the tugboat D and C which said it had gone aground on Hawk island but its four man crew could reach the island. Aboard the tug were John McKenzie of Fort William and Fred Raymond, Ernish Bishop and Brian Trevor, all of Collingwood. They were headed for Sarnia when the accident occurred during a blinding snowstorm about 3 a.m. yesterday.
RCAF CALLED IN Capt. R. W. Forbes of the Port Arthur Division called in the RCAF when an unidentified tug circled the island early last night and reported it could see no sign of the missing tugboat.
RESCUE 3 LOCAL MEN AND PILOT SHIPWRECKED IN LAKE SUPERIOR Nov. 21, 1957 Just before midday yesterday, Wednesday, four sailors, three of them Collingwood residents, were rescued from a desolate island along the north shore of lake Superior, north-east of Port Arthur, after having been stranded on the island since last Tuesday. Rescued were John McKenzie, pilot-captain, of Fort William, and Ernie Bishop, Brian Drever and Fred Raymond, all of Collingwood.
The four men, in the enclosed tugboat, were returning from Port Arthur to Collingwood when the vessel ran aground during a blinding snowstorm early Tuesday morning. The shipwrecked men radioed that they were marooned on Hawk island, one of a group of islands about 27 miles northeast of Point Porphyry, a large Island east of the top of Sibley Peninsula. A fishing vessel, Clara Lee, and a tug, John C, set out to find the men, but high seas, and a 50-mile-an-hour gale, and driving snow prevented either from launching a small boat to reach uninhabited Hawk Island to bring food and clothing to the stranded men. The two boats sailed around the island but could find no sign of life.
Later on Tuesday the freighter Bricoldoc lay off Hawk island and launched a lifeboat despite the high winds and huge waves, but its crew failed to find the four men. Airplanes from Winnipeg and Trenton also joined in the search, but, searchers had concluded that the stranded men might have been confused by the storm in designating their location on Hawk Island, others of the many nearby islands were searched as well. Late Tuesday afternoon a Department of Lands and Forests plane from Parry Sound dropped food and clothing where it was thought the men might be.
Thus, on Wednesday morning, after about 31 hours without food or shelter, the four men were spotted by an air-sea rescue plane from RCAF base at Trenton, on a rocky, storm-swept island nine miles east of Hawk Island. The men were then picked up by the tug John Davis, and were taken to Nipigon. Radio reports of the rescue on Wednesday stated that the men were all in good condition. The grounded tug was named D and C, the initials of its owners, Brian Drever, one of the shipwrecked men, his brother Arthur Drever, and his brother-in-law, Duncan Currie, of Collingwood. Drever, Bishop and Raymond are well-known in Collingwood, and are experienced sailors.

4 Seamen Exhausted, But Safe! The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 21 Nov 1957, Thu Page 41 NIPIGON, (CP) Four exhausted lake seamen climbed stiffly ashore from an ice-encrusted rescue tug here Wednesday after more than 30 hours marooned on a wave-battered rock in Lake Superior. The men were stranded early Tuesday morning when the Sarnia-bound tug D and C, from Port Arthur, was tossed on a rock by giant waves during a blizzard. They were picked up Wednesday morning by the tug John C.
Rescued were Capt. John Mac-Kenzie. 40, of Fort William and Bryan Drever, 34, Fred N. Raymond, 60, and Ernest Bishop, 63, all of Collingwood. They suffered only exhaustion, scraped shins and stinging, reddened eyes caused by smoke and wind. Drever, part owner of the D and C, said the tug left Port Arthur late Monday intending tr make as direct a trip as possible across the lake. However, snow started at dark and as the weather worsened, shelter was sought along the northwestern shore of the lake, fringed with islands.

Sonny Dampier (Harold Dampier's son) sent over another couple of photos..."Kingfisher, John C and D&C at Evelyn Rocks November 20 1957. Recently I was redoing some picture frames that I got from my dad and came across these behind one of them. I can't remember seeing them before." This was the day of the rescue of the D&C. It lost rudder and was tossed on the rocks. https://goo.gl/maps/Lw3n37e47rWMExZ57.