With the 1930 season underway, OSTC purchased a retired Detroit Fire Department fire boat named the S.S. "James R Elliot", delivering it to the Midland Shipbuilding Company for conversion into a combination package freighter and passenger ferry. Replacing her boiler and steam engine with a new diesel engine increased her freight capacity and enabled her to transport automobiles. Overnight passenger cabins were also added. In 1931 the vessel was renamed the M.S. "Normac", after the OSTC's general manager Norman Mckay, captain of the S.S. "Manitoulin".