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The Gazette Montreal, Quebec, Quebec, Canada 31 Oct 1964, Sat Page 46 DRILLING BARGE: Timesaver II. 500-ton oil and gas drilling barge of Consolidated West Petroleum, takes to the water at Owen Sound. Designed to climb out of the lake on its own hydraulically-operated "legs." This barge, with a standard drilling rig amidship, will begin exploration next spring for new gas wells in Con West's offshore properties near Port Alma and Long Point in Lake Erie, with a view to greatly expanding the present 4,000,000 cubic foot output per day.
The Windsor Star, Windsor, Ontario, Canada 04 Dec 1964, Fri Page 3 NEW DRILLING RIG Although from a distance, it looked like an old riverboat, the unusual vessel which appeared in the St. Clair River at Sarnia at noon Thursday was the Timesaver II, a lake drilling rig being towed from Owen Sound to Lake Erie by the tug Atomic of McQueen Marine, Amherstburg. The tug swung around in mid-channel to facilitate movement to the Imperial Oil dock for refueling before continuing its journey. This photo shows the turn being made and the rig in the lead with the tug behind as both float downriver to the dock. (Star Sarnia Bureau Photo)
	The Gazette, Montreal, Quebec, 15 May 1965, Sat Page 54 Cons. West Pete Planning Erie Drilling Program Consolidated West Petroleum plans an active drilling program in Lake Erie this season, E. F Coste, president, said. Mr. Coste was successful in regaining control of the company from E. G. Bulmer in a proxy contest at the annual meeting May 3. He had lost control to Mr. Bulmer in a similar contest in 1963. Mr. Coste said the company's new drilling barge "Timesaver II" would be placed in operation shortly. First test will be com pletion of a contract well off Point Pelee, he said. Initial aim will be to test the equipment and break in the crew. Upon completion of this well, the barge will be moved to property on the flanks of the Tilbury field, owned by Consolidated West Pete Mr. Coste said. Previous management had planned an eight-well drilling program this season in this area. Mr. Coste said the company in addition ot its own drilling program, would also seek contract work in the lake this year and that negotiations were in progress for such work.
	The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) 09 Aug 1966, Tue Page 3 CONSOLIDATED WEST PETROLEUM'S TIMESAVER II - oil, gas drilling barge docks at Erieau 'Monster' at Erieau By TED BEAUDOIN ERIEAU - Erieau's newest 'water monster' has eight legs - each 140 feet long. At any one time, about 70 of those feet are sticking into the air, making the apparatus look like an original H. G. Wells "War of the Worlds" creation. Currently docked for servicing at Erieau is the largest oil and gas drilling barge on the Great Lakes. Property of the Consolidated West Petroleum Ltd., the Timesaver II, cuts a slim figure at 76 feet in width, 97 feet in length and 25 feet in superstructure height. Erieau's first 'water beast' made its appearance on the shores about two weeks ago, but would have looked like a dwarf compared to Timesaver II. The Larc XV, (a landing craft) one of 12 units being delivered from a Sturgeon Falls, Wisc manufacturer to the United States Army at Ft. Storey, Va., pulled into Canadian territory July 25 to take on supplies and get bearings. The Larc XV 50 measured a puny 60-by-30 feet and only 19 feet in height. Its unannounced arrival on Erieau shore prodded minds to seriously consider a revival of the Loch Ness Monster Spirit that prevails in Scotland. When Timesaver II was towed into dock Saturday afternoon, residents threw up their hands at the sight of the new 'tourist attraction.' They shrugged off its monstrous appearance with a "Once you've seen one, you've seen them all." The discrepancy in the time lag since its appearance and its being reported in The Star is accounted for by the attitude of 'one is just like any other.' Timesaver II, commissioned in the spring of '65, operated the Great Lakes during the summer of that year. Since May 1, she was offshore doing her well-drilling duties. This is her first appearance at dockside. Her port of registry is Chatham, and under the direction of Ron Quillian, Chatham area manager for CWP Ltd., her oil-drilling derrick is being removed, and other mechanical equipment is being brought aboard in anticipation of a Lake Huron water pipeline contract, soon to be signed. An aspect of the rig, which should be particularly refreshing to advocates of water-pollution is that she is a self-contained integrated barge with its own sewage disposal system. "We haven't found anyone with the guts to do it yet, but the water ejected by the barge is potable drinking water," said Mr. Quillian. He said the barge was designed with the sewage disposal system specifically in mind, in response to pressure being applied from various quarters to eliminate further sewage dumping into the Great Lakes. The barge has a load capacity of 500 tons. Its galley and crew quarters are capable of servicing 25 men for long periods of time. As for the drilling and waste control operations, Timesaver II, now completes a drilling and capping operation within five or six days, compared to the old time of 25 to 30 days. "Since drilling operations and techniques have improved considerably, we're also able to control the well to peak efficiency," said Mr. Quillian. The rig will remain here another week before it is towed to its next operation. That according to E. F. Coste of Toronto, firm president, could be on contract to someone else, or "for our own uses." Timesaver II's spidery and shapely legs, allow her to work the lake bottom to a 125 foot depth. Powerful, 120 hp. diesel engines raise and lower the superstructure to required height prior to drilling operations. Once a well is drilled, two divers are sent down to supervise capping operations. They are the vessel's only permanet crew: Monty Catherwood, of Manitoba and To Ayres Erieau. Both are also known as barge operators. Mr. Quillian indicated the divers are not necessarily needed to supervise the capping operations. They are sent to the bottom as a safety precaution. Sightseers travelling east along the Erieau roadway will see the legs sprouting over the surrounding territory. The legs are topped-off with white paint, and about 100 feet of them are visible above water.
The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) 19 Aug 1966, Fri Page 5 STATELY AND SLOW - A slow procession of an oil drilling barge, two tug boats, and a smaller barge, is etched against the Detroit skylinene as it moved past Windsor this morning. On their way to Grand Bend on lake Huron for the water pipeline operation to London are, Timesaver II, at right, followed by dredging dock tug Glen Rover, and barge Derrick No 7. G. W. Rogers, the tug pulling Timesaver II, is not shown in photo. The largest oil and gas drilling barge on the Great Lakes, Timesaver II is owned by Consolidated West Petroleum Ltd. Most interested observers appear to be the gulls sunning themselves at Dieppe Park.
	The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 19 Aug 1966, Fri Page 5 Bound for Grand Bend Timesaver II - - snail's pace Timesaver II inched its way up the Detroit River this morning at the anything but time-saving speed of 1.25 miles an hour. The largest oil and gas drilling barge on the Great Lakes is headed for Grand Bend where it will be used to drill the London water pipeline. And that's where the barge will save time. Timesaver II completes a drilling and capping operation in five or six days, compared to the old time of 25 to 30 days. Towed by two Canadian Dredging Dock tugs, the G. W. Rogers and the Glen Rover, the barge has a load capacity of 500 tons. Its galley and crew quarters can serve 25 men for long periods of time. The 97-foot long, 76-foot wide barge is owned by consolidated West Petroleum Ltd. Atop the 25-feet superstructure height, tower eight 140 foot tall drills. Timesaver II was docked for servicing at Erieau last week when her oil-drilling derrick was removed and other equipment was taken aboard for the water pipeline job. She left Erieau earlier this week, and was seen passing Bob-Lo Island at about 8 p.m. Thursday. She didn't pass Windsor's Dieppe Gardens until 8.35 a.m. today. Most lakeboats would have made the trip in less than an hour. The rig, commissioned in the spring of 1965, operated in the Great Lakes during the summer of that year. Since May 1 this year, she was offshore doing well-drilling duties. The barge is a self contained integrated one with its own sewage disposal system and the water ejected by the barge is said to be potable drinking water. Timesaver II's long drills allow her to work the lake bottom to a 125-foot depth. Her 120 h.p. diesel engines raise and lower the superstructure to required height before drilling operations. Once a well is drilled, two divers are sent down to supervise capping operations. They are the vessel's only permanent crew, Monty Catherwood of Manitoba and To Ayres of Erieau. Both are also known as barge operators. With Chatham her port of registry, Timesaver II is under the direction of Ron Quillian, Chatham area manager for CWT Ltd.
	The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) 01 Nov 1968, Fri Page 16 New drilling process termed 'revolutionary' Well drillers are getting a little bored (cough). Every time they drill a hole, and want to find out what's down there, they have to raise the drill head and all the piping connections out of the hole. Then they have to fix a testing tool to the tip and throw the whole works back down the hole. If that isn't enough, after the tests are done, up comes the testing tools and all the piping again so that the drillhead can go back down. But a new testing device has been developed which may save well-drillers as much as eight hours of boring work when trying to test their wells. In a technical paper presented this morning to the seventh annual conference of the Ontario Petroleum Institute at Seaway Inn, James R. Rosychuk, operations superintendent of Underwater Gas Developers Ltd., revealed results of field tests conducted with the new tool in Lake Erie. The new tool, termed revolutionary by some engineers, was developed by Lynes, Inc. of Houston, Texas. Underwater Gas Developers Ltd., Toronto-based drilling firm first used the tool this year on one of its drilling barges in Lake Erie, called, "Timesaver II." The testing tool is left in the pipe string while drilling is being conducted. Any time a test has to be done on the content of the well as a certain level, the drill head is raised to the desired level and the "flow pressure" is measured. This gives engineers an accurate picture of the quality of natural gas or fluids such as oil that may be contained in the rock formation at the tested level. In the older system, the entire pipe string, as much as 1,000 feet of thread-coupled pipe, had to be lifted completely out of the hole. During the entire operation, the lengths of pipe had to be uncoupled and re-coupled. The old method takes as long as 10 hours depending on the well depth and number of pipe links involved. With the new tool, testing can be done in less than two hours, Mr. Rosychuk said in an interview before his address to the Petroleum Institute engineers. The operations superintendent reviewed the history of drilling in Lake Erie. He said the first off-shore well was drilled in 1913 and from that year to 1957, 87 wells were drilled. Mr. Rosychuk said the old method of moving barges around the lake to test well fites was too time consuming and costly. Underwater Gas Developers Ltd. now have two ships in operation on the lake.

RBF notes: Timesaver II - Gas Drilling Barge (Port Stanley, ON April 4, 2004)

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Timesaver II. Photo courtesy David Low.

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Timesaver II under tow. Photo by Rod Morrison.

 

Timesaver II at Port Stanley, Ont. Feb. 2003. Photo courtesy Karyn Lamb.

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Jack-up rig Timsesaver. Port Maitland is the base for Dundee Energy who have a number of natural gas wells in Lake Erie. Port Maitland, Ontario - Paul Beesley Sept. 2011.
http://www.boatnerd.com/news/newsthumbsb/images-11-3/2-time-9-23-11-pb.jpg

 

Timesaver II at Port Maitland, Ont. 2011-09-21. Photo by Eira Voth.

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Timesaver II at Port Maitland, Ont. February 8, 2018. Photo by Shaun Vary.

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Time Saver II working again, for the first time in many years. Aug. 28, 2019. Photo by Andrew Smith.

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Timesaver II at Toronto, November 21, 2019. Shaun Vary photo.

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Tim McKeil comments (Tuesday, May 12, 2020): "Looking in the approximate direction 135° from the finger pier at Pier 10 in Hamilton, across the Navy Basin. What is now Soletanche Bachy (old Bermingham) to the left and to the right is the Department of National Defence property. McKeil put the Timesaver II into condition for Soletanche and sold it to them.

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Andrew McFarlane photo. Timesaver II in Toronto, Ontario, May 17, 2020.

 

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