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8. Ship of the M o n t h No. 186 TH O M A S J. D R U M M O N D In past issues, we have spoke n of sever al c a n a l - s i z e d steamers w h i c h were built in the years bef or e the m a s s - p r o d u c t i o n of such ships bec am e c o m m o n place. A case in point was the bulk ca rrier H A D D I N G T O N / M A P L E H I L L , w hich was featured in our Octo be r issue. This time around, we fe ature a canal steam er w h i c h was one of the most ha ndsome of such vessels, but w h i c h will not be w e l l - k n o w n to most of our younger ma r i n e histor ia ns . She was built and lost be f o r e most of them came on the scene, and she nev er se rved for any p a r t i c u l a r l y long pe r i o d of time under any one houseflag. As well, her u n t i m e l y loss was the resul t of the elements and not of the e nemy action w h i c h br ought to an end the lives of so man y of our C a n a d i a n cana ll er s w h i c h se rved on salt w ater during two World Wars. In 1910, the Al g o m a Ce ntral and H u d s o n ' s Bay R a i l w a y Company, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, orde r e d for its Algoma Ce ntral S t e a m s h i p C o m p a n y a c a n a l sized bulk carrier from the s h i p b u i l d i n g firm of A r c h i b a l d M c M i l l a n & Sons Ltd. The steame r was built as Hu ll 438 of the M c M i l l a n shipyard at Dumbarton, Scotland, and she was la unched on Tuesday, Ma y 3rd, 1910. Although at first glanc e this vessel res e m b l e d a typical canal-sized package f r eighter of that era (due to her great dep th of hull, such as that p o s s e s s e d by a ship w i t h 'tween decks), she actua l l y was a si n g l e - d e c k bulk carrier, e s p e c i a l l y d e s i g n e d and s t r e n g t h e n e d for the carr ia ge of cargoes of steel and rails. In length, she was 2 5 7 . 0 feet over al l ( 2 4 7 . 9 feet betw e e n p e r p e n d i c u l a r s ) , w hile she had a be am of 4 3 . 7 feet and a d epth of hull of 2 2 . 8 feet. Her o r i ginal tonnage was calculated as 2201 Gross and 1664 Net. She was p o w e r e d by a triple e x p a n s i o n en gine w hich had cy linders of 2 0 1 / 2 , 33 and 59 inches diameter, and a stroke of 36 inches. The engine was built for the ship by the firm of Mu ir & H o u s t o n Ltd., of Glasgow, Scotland. Steam for the engine and the a u x i l i a r i e s was p r o v i d e d by two s i n g l e - e n d e d Scotc h boilers w h i c h m e a s u r e d 14 feet by 1 0 1 / 2 feet, and w h i c h we re fired wit h coal. The new steamer was c h r i s t e n e d TH OMAS J. DRUMM O N D in ho nour of one of the officials of the railroad. She was e n r o l l e d at Sault Ste. Mar ie and was given official number C . 126863. In fact, it was a bit unus u a l for a canaller built in this period, at a s h i p y a r d in the U n i t e d Kingdom, to be r e g i s t e r e d in Canada; most of the vess e l s so bu ilt were r e g i s t e r e d at Br itish ports, p a r t i c u l a r l y in the early years of their careers. In due cour se of time, the D R U MMOND mad e her d e l i v e r y vo yage acr os s the North A t l a n t i c and a r r i v e d safe ly in Canada. She was painted up in her owner's colours of the period, and had an all - b l a c k hull wit h w hite cabins. Her stack was black, w i t h two red bands and a whi te band betw e e n them. Her foremast was a dark buff colour, w hile her m a i nmast was black. THOMAS J. D R U M M O N D had a ra ther m a s s i v e - l o o k i n g hull, w i t h just a bit of sheer. She had a stra ig ht stem and a rathe r h e a v y count er stern. Her anchors were carried fro m h a w s e p i p e s set close to the stem, just above the loaded w a t e r l i n e and one and a half pla te s below the level of the spar deck. The ship was built wit h a full for ec as tl e, and a clo se d steel rail ran back for most of the length of the forec a s t l e head. The re was a large texas cabin, whose m a i n 't hw artship sec ti on p r o v i d e d space for the capt ai n' s a c c o m m o d a t i o n and office. A large forw a r d sect io n of the texas, wit h a rounded front and por t h o l e s in it, appe ar s to have pr ovided additional acc ommodation, most p r o b a b l y for c o m p a n y guests. On the bridge dec k above the texas was a large, roun d e d pilot ho us e, wit h seven big wind o w s in its