Dear Scott,
 
    The J.W. Westcott Co. and Gregory Boat Co. have had a business relationship dating back as far as 1949 when the J.W Westcott II was placed in service.
   Each winter the Westcott has arrived at your facility in mid-December for winter lay-up. Your facility has provided service to our company providing
   mechanics, shafting, rudders, bearings, electronics, paint and an assortment of other parts and services.

   For the past several years our industry partners have called on us to stay in service well past our traditional lay-up time, we often are in service well
   into January.

   We provide water transportation from our station located ¼ mile downstream from the Ambassador Bridge to ships moored at the USS facility located
   on Zug Island.

   To accomplish this task we rely on Gregory Boat to provide us with a temporary dockage during our extended season. We enjoy the calm harbor
   and secure facility that you provide.

   As you may expect, ice is our biggest challenge at this time of year we often encounter ice in excess of 4 inches thick, both in your harbor and along
   the way back to our station. Our vessel is well constructed to handle the ice - we have an all steel hull supported by a Detroit Diesel engine. We employ
   a “back and ram” method of ice breaking. We run the engine astern and then engage forward motion-running the bow up and onto the ice flow-the
   vessels weight then pushes down –thus breaking the ice. The forward motion may only be a few feet at a time, so patience of the boat’s Captain is
   essential. The forward motion is determined by the thickness of the ice. We also have to be careful not to hit the ice with too much force – as the ice
   could penetrate the hull. All aspects of the Westcott’s design can be considered heavy duty as the vessel’s duties call for round the clock operation in
   all types of weather conditions.

   During late December and early January our crews are in and out of the boat yard, checking the Westcott each day that is not in operation and arriving
   and departing as needed. This season we were in operation both Christmas and New Years Day. We ended our season on January 4th as weather and ice
   conditions in our area proved to be to harsh not only for our boat but the Great Lakes ships as well. Heavy ice jams in the St. Clair River stopped
   shipping for several days.

   Our end of season work proved to be successful as our customers were well served and our employees were able to earn some holiday pay.
   We only incurred light damage to our vessel in the form of a bent rudder blade and one minor hull puncture from ice. Things are looking up.

   Warmest Regards,
   Sam Buchanan