Monster-waved tug to return to Loch Ness

INVERNESS, Scotland, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The buyer of an icebreaking tugboat hopes to return it to duty on Scotland's Loch Ness, where its wake was responsible for many monster sightings.

Dan Clark, a former lockkeeper on the Caledonian Canal and now a cruise-boat operator in Fort Augustus, says the Scot II can help keep the Fort William-Inverness Canal, which includes Loch Ness, open all winter, The Scotsman reported. He says the boat, which produces a long wash, will also draw tourists with more frequent reports of the Loch Ness monster.

"Scot II, with its icebreaker bow, was the cause of many monster sightings, as it caused wonderfully sinuous waves which people mistook for the monster, sometimes more than 20 minutes after the vessel had disappeared from view," loch-ness.org reports.

Clark says his father, James, a former captain of the Scot II, will help with restoration.

The boat, built in 1931, was retired from icebreaking 60 years later. It put in some time as a floating restaurant and ended up on Bute as a hulk.