Porte St. Louis (H.M.C.S.)

The two Gate Vessels assigned to the East Coast were sold into service in the Caribbean. Their new names and countries of registration are not known to us at this time.

They would have been similar to other small tramp steamers carrying inter–island freight in the Windward Islands. The fate of HMCS Porte St. Jean has recently been determined by Mac Mackay on his Shipfax website "This vessel ended up at the Derecktor Shipyard in the Fort Lauderdale FL area of Dania Beach, and may have been owned by the yard’s founder, the late Robert Derecktor. After his death in 2001 work on converting the ship to a yacht was suspended. One photo has been located showing the work in progress, with the deckhouse removed and the start of a new flying bridge type wheelhouse. On April 29, 2004 the ship was taken to sea and sunk as an artificial fish reef and dive site. Tracing the ship was difficult because it had been renamed (perhaps unofficially) Miss Dania Beach. Its location is in Broward County at 26 degrees 08.605 minutes North x 80 degrees 05.502 minutes West in 71 feet of water. A plaque on shore points to the Bob Derecktor Memorial Reef.