A Canadian Navy Ship is under arrest.
The Department of National Defence and the Artificial Reef Society here on the South Shore are battling over ownership of the former warship, HMCS Fraser.
The Fraser is being held at the Shearwater jetty in Halifax.
Prior to that, the Fraser sat idle at dockside in Bridgewater for a decade, until just last year.
The arrest warrant comes after news the ship was being prepared for scrap reached members the Artificial Reef society,
Chairman Rick Welsford says the society has worked hard to preserve the ship since 1997.
"All our hearts were in preserving it. And at minimum to make sure that she came to a proper end that was respectful to her fifty years of service in the Canadian Navy...so there was a lot of heartbreaks", says Welsford.
Welsford says the Artificial Reef Society resold the vessel to the government in 2008 on the condition it would be preserved or returned to them.
He says this is not about money.
"There aren't dollars on the table being argued about at the moment. it's a matter of whether the government of Canada actually had full title to go ahead and take the action they did when there was an outstanding condition in their contract, " says Welsford.
Court documents show it would cost 2.6 million to scrap the ship.
