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

3. M arine News - cont'd. facility. Taking M A P L E H E A T H ' s place as lighter stationed at V a l l e y f i e l d is McKeil's D. C. E V E R E S T (which we i n c o r r e c t l y showed as laid up at Hamilton), w h i c h now bears that name of R e m o r q u e u r s & Barges M o n t r e a l Ltee, painted in large letters d o w n her sides. A not h e r i n t e r e s t i n g McKeil vessel is the t u g / s u p p l y vessel ARCTIC TUKTU, w h i c h the fleet acqui r e d late in 1993 and brought to Hamilton. The big tug has been renamed JOHN SPENCE, an unus u a l d e v e l o p m e n t in that the McKeil fleet v ery seldom renames vess e l s that it acquires. She e n t e r e d service ver y e arly in the 1994 season for her new owner. For the last twelve years, the tug Q U E E N C I T Y (formerly M A C A S S A [II] and JALOBERT), has bee n serving as a restaurant at Dieppe Park on the Windsor waterfront, u nder the own e r s h i p of H a n k Van Aspert. Late last year, Windsor city authorities began efforts to remove the tug from the waterfro nt, and those efforts n o w have succeeded. On A p r i l 5th, the McKeil tug STORMONT took QUEEN CITY in tow, and m o v e d her seven miles d o w n s t r e a m to Hotte Marine, at LaSalle. There she will remain until her owner decides what to do w i t h her. An early open i n g of the 1994 n a v i g a t i o n season on the lower lakes was p r e v e n t e d this spring by severe ice conditions. C . C . G . S. PIERRE R A D I S S O N was sent up the S e a w a y long befo re the canals opened to c o m m e r c i a l traffic in order to break ice where needed. As well, C . C . G . S. GEORGE R. PEARKES was sent in to work the Seaway area itself. The St. L a w rence canals opened on April 5th, and the first ship of the season, as well as the first salty, was LAKE CARLING, r e g i s t e r e d in the M a r s h a l l Islands, w h i c h pas s e d up w ith a cargo of steel for Burns Harbor. The first passage through the Well a n d Canal was HALIFAX, w h i c h made the transit on April 5th. The "official" first ship at the Well a n d was H. M. GRIF FITH, upbound. Toronto Harbour n o r m a l l y is "opened" du r i n g M a r c h (or perh a p s even earlier whe n there was a s ubstantial tanker trade into the port), but ice conditions pre v e n t e d an e a r l y opening in 1994. The cement carrier S T E P H E N B. ROMAN, w h i c h w i n t e r e d at Toronto, was the first inbo u n d ship late in the first week of April, while the first salty, the C r o a t i a n OMISALJ, a r r i v e d with a cargo of sugar on April 12th. An early season c a s u a l t y was the Paterson s t r a i g h t - d e c k bulk carrier P A T E R SON, w h i c h ran a g r o u n d on A pril 13 in the w e s t e r n end of Lake St. Francis, whilst upbound w i t h a load of ore for South Chicago. P a t e r s o n was l i g htered by McA l l i s t e r ' s P . S. BARGE NO. 1 out of Montreal, a s s i s t e d by the tugs JERRY G. and W. N. TWOLAN, and was on her w a y u p b o u n d through the A m e r i c a n locks on April 17th. The Erie Sand s e l f - u n l o a d i n g steamer R I C H A R D REISS suffered a br oken u n l oading boom in an accident which o c c u r r e d at Fairport, Ohio, on April 13th. Her boom c o l l a p s e d and fell over the wharf. The REISS was taken to Port Weller Dry Docks, and there she was fitted with the boo m which, several years ago, was remo v e d from the n o w - s c r a p p e d HOCHELAGA. That boom had been intended for a s e l f - u n l o a d e r c o n v e r s i o n that never took place, and r e m a i n e d in the ship yard ever since. * * * * * SHAMROCK REVISITED Member Geor ge A y o u b has w r i t t e n to advi se that one of our Ships of the M onth for February, SHAMROCK, was given C a n a d i a n official number 41614 w h e n she c arried the name ST. JEA N BAPTISTE. The number appears in t h e first C a n adian List of Shipping, w h i c h was p r o d u c e d in 1873. Her owner in that year, and also in 1874, was listed as Isaac de L. Purkis, of Grenville, Q u e bec, but by 1877, John Turner, Toronto, was shown as owner. The name change from SADIE to S H A M R O C K o c c u r r e d on April 9, 1894. The tonnage of 116 Gross, 73 Net, was chan g e d to 208 Gross, 127 Net, in the 1877 register. * * * * *