 William S. Grattan sat boarded @-@ up for eighteen months while city and fire department officials decided whether to replace her at a cost of $ 225 @,@ 000 dollars or rebuild her for $ 99 @,@ 000 dollars , which was $ 8 @,@ 000 dollars more than her original cost . The decision was made to rebuild and in 1930 she was rebuilt at the Buffalo Dry Dock Company of Buffalo , New York . During this refit some improvements were made to William S. Grattan . One improvement was that her boilers were converted from burning coal to burning oil . The engines were rebuilt and her firefighting system was updated and could now handle foam fire retardant . Also , the pilot house was raised to the upper boat deck level and a fixed turret tower with a fire monitor was constructed on the stern of the ship . A fourth fire monitor was added to the top of the pilot house of the ship as well . As part of her acceptance ceremony she participated in a race against the harbor tug Kentucky , which was considered to be one of the fastest tugs on the Great Lakes . 
