Crews with Transport Canada spent Thursday removing an abandoned vessel from Cook's Bay that has been leaking several gallons of diesel into the lake.  

Members of the Canadian Coast Guard were also on scene to deal with any oil leaks. The York Regional Police marine unit also assisted with the removal.

The operation was expected to take only a day, but after hours of pumping out water, the boat had only moved a few inches.

"It’s an older boat, it's got a lot of insecure hatches, and early today it was quite choppy on the bay, which was causing some issues because water was slashing over as we were pumping it out," said Staff Sgt. Peter Heard.

By Thursday evening crews managed to bring the 40 foot sailboat back to shore.

The coast guard and York Regional Police responded to the sinking ship on September 10th, just off the coast of Gilford.

At that time, the coast guard deployed a boom and absorbent material in an effort to contain the leak.

Town officials said the boat was towed into the municipal dock in Bell Ewart a few weeks ago and left there overnight.  A few days later, someone moved it to where it is now.

CTV News has learned officials tracked down the owner in the Mississauga area and was notified that he had to remove the boat.

"The owner has full responsibility for removal of the vessel, in this case we issued a removal order to the owner," said Kathy Morris with Transport Canada. "The deadline was yesterday at noon - the owner has not complied with our removal order."

Officials with Transport Canada  said the owner of the boat will have to pay for the removal operation.

-With a report from CTV Barrie's Aileen Doyle