The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

MARINE NEWS 2. After a decade of idleness following the cessation of her owner's general cargo trade, the Canada Steamship Lines package freighter FORT ST. LOUIS finally has left Hamilton, and her immediate destination was not the scrap yard! At about 2: 30 p. m. on Saturday, October 19, the tug SALVAGE MONARCH, assisted by LAC VANCOUVER, took the 28-year-old motorship out through the canal into Lake Ontario, and the tow headed down the lake, bound for Montreal. Observers remarked that FORT ST. LOUIS's stack and part of her superstructure had been freshly repainted in C . S. L. colours. In fact, FORT ST. LOUIS will be used as part of the celebrations honouring the upcoming 350th anniversary of the founding of Montreal, and the ship will be open to the public, with Port of Montreal displays aboard. It is not yet known what will be done with the ship once the celebrations are finished... On Friday, October 18, there was a surprise arrival at the Marine Salvage scrapyard in Ramey's Bend, Humberstone, as the McAllister Towing & Salvage Inc. tug SALVAGE MONARCH hauled her venerable fleetmate JAMES BATTLE into the scrapping berth. JAMES BATTLE (U. S . 77444), 117. 6 x 25. 2 x 11. 8, 198 Gross and 123 Net, was launched October 13, 1900, as Hull 137 of the Detroit Shipbuilding Company, Wyandotte. She was designed as a 7, 200 gallon-perminute firetug for the City of Detroit Fire Commission, and she served that city for many years. In 1941, she was acquired by Sin Mac Lines Ltd., Mo n t real, for operation as a firetug at Halifax under charter to the National Harbours Board, and she was enrolled on the Canadian Register as C . 174801. In 1955 at Sorel, Quebec, Sin Mac rebuilt the BATTLE for lake and river use, 226 Gross and 101 Net, and took out h e r old 18 & 18 x 24 steam engine and two Scotch boilers, replacing them with an 1, 150 h. p. diesel plant. Sin Mac Lines was absorbed into the McAllister Towing and Salvage fleet in 1969. In her latter years, the BATTLE presented a distinctive profile, with her streamlined, double-deck cabin, but she had not been seen in the lakes for a number of years prior to her recent sale for scrapping. In the May issue, we reported the foundering, with the loss of five of her six crew, of the McAllister tug PATRICIA B. McALLISTER on April 22nd in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, off the Gaspe. At the time of the tug's loss, the cause of her sudden sinking was not revealed. Recently, however, a research vessel reportedly found a towline floating on the surface of the Gulf, one end apparently attached to something beneath the surface. Subsequent underwater investigation found that the line was secured to PATRICIA B. McALLISTER, which was lying upright on the bottom in some 320 feet of water. A 30-foot-long hole was found in her side, seemingly indicating that it was impact with "growler" ice which sank the tug. We have received no reports concerning the feasibility of salvaging the tug from such a depth of water. The McKeil Marine Ltd. deck barge (and former carferry barge) OGDENSBURG will not be seen on the lakes again. Recently chartered by McKeil to a contracting firm, the big barge was being used in the Strait of Belle Isle, on the east coast, when on September 27th she was caught in a severe storm. The barge broke tow and stranded on the rock face of an island. She tore out one side, and then capsized and sank in about thirty feet of water. OGDENS BURG is a total loss as a result of the mishap. We understand that McKeil fleet. The new addition formerly owned by Pitts upbound in the Seaway on and bound for Ashtabula. Marine has acquired yet another tug for its large is the 98-foot, 1957-built, 1, 400 h. p. KAY COLE, International Inc., of Scarborough. KAY COLE was October 14, towing the McKeil barge BLACK CARRIER, Last issue, we mentioned the August departure from Montreal of the former Paterson bulk carrier CANADOC (II), in tow of the deep-sea tug DALMAR SPIRIT. At that time, we were unaware of the intended destination of the scrap tow, but we since have learned that CANADOC was bound for a scrapyard at Cartagena, Colombia. As yet, we have no confirmation of an arrival date for the tow.