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G R EETINGS OF THE SEASON 2. Every year at this time, w i t h the C h r i s t m a s Holid a y s d r a w i n g near, your E d i tor is happy to be able to take the o p p o r t u n i t y to have an informal chat wit h all of our memb ers in these pages, and to pass along those ver y special wishes w hich are exc h a n g e d amongst friends at this w o n d e r f u l time of year. In no other issue of "Scanner" can we spare the space for these ramblings, but because we consider all of the m a n y memb e r s of the Toronto Marine H i s t o rical Society to be one big h a p p y family of friends, we make a b s o l u t e l y c e r tain that we have space a v ailable in the D e c e m b e r issue. We have here a chance to look back on the year that we have just survived (as it were), and to make a few very subjective comments on the various d e v e l o p m e n t s of importance that have taken place on the ma r i n e scene since last we chatted. As dif f i c u l t as it is for us to believe it, this is the t w e n t y - s e v e n t h time that your Editor has pe n n e d such h o l i d a y season thoughts for you, our readers. We hope that y o u feel the same impor t a n c e of this m o ment that we are experiencing. This has been a momentous year on the Great Lakes, filled w ith a plethora of important anniversaries, some of w h i c h a l r e a d y have been rela t e d in these pages. 1995 was the 100th a n n i v e r s a r y of the launch and c o m m i s s i o n i n g of the Royal C a n a d i a n Yacht Club 's beloved tender HIAWATHA, on w h i c h m any of us enjoyed a special c o m m e m o r a t i v e e x c u r s i o n in September, complete with the tragic but s pectacular crash of a B r i t i s h Ni m r o d s u b m a r i n e - c h a s i n g airplane during the cour se of the trip. The 1995 n a v i g a t i o n season also saw the 60th a n n i v e r s a r y of the c o m m i s s i o n ing of the Toronto Isla nd ferry W I L L I A M INGLIS, (a) S H A M R O C K ( I I ) (36), and the 50th a n n i v e r s a r y of the end of W o r l d War Two, a conflict w h i c h very greatly a f f e c t e d lake shipping. That war claimed m any of our old familiar canal steamers, which fell v i c t i m to enemy action on u n f a m i l i a r waters, but also saw the i n t r o d u c t i o n to lake trade of some most s ignificant o r e - c a r r y ing steamers of r e v o l u t i o n a r y design, and two of those were r e t u r n e d to a c tive service during this 50th a n n i v e r s a r y year. 1995 also saw the 55th a n n i v e r s a r y of the A r m i s t i c e Day storm of November 11, 1940, a storm which caused incredible havoc to shipping, p a r t i c u l a r l y on Lake Michigan. Strangely, Novem b e r 11, 1995, saw its own d isturbance of major proportions, only this time its v i c t i m was on Lake Ontario. More about this later. 1995 also saw the 30th a n n i v e r s a r y of the retirement of Canada's last six i nlan d - w a t e r s overnight pas s e n g e r vessels, KEEWATIN, ASSINIBOIA, TADOUSSAC, RICHELIEU, ST. LAWRENCE and KEENORA, all victims of the new s a f e ty-at-sea re g u l ations that would kick in during 1966. It also saw the 20th a n n i v e r s a r y of the loss of the 729-foot lake steamer EDMUND F I T Z G E R A L D in a N o v e m b e r gale on Lake Superior, and during 1995, the F I T Z GERALD'S bell was r e c o v e r e d from the wreck, to be a lasting memorial to the 29 crew memb e r s who lost their lives in the tragic accident. Twenty years after the loss of the FITZ, o f ficials seemingly are no closer to d e t e r mining why the ship foundered, a l t h o u g h we still feel that the physical evidence visi b l e about the w r e c k and w r e ckage ashore tells us exactly why and how the ship met her doom. This year has seen the s e t t l i n g - i n of the s e c o n d - s e a s o n o p erations of Seaway Bulk Carriers, oper ating the s t r a i g h t - d e c k e r s f o r merly in the C . S . L., Upper Lake s Shipping, Algoma Central, Misener and Pioneer fleets. The grain business was r e m a r k a b l y good, despite the ending of the Crowe grain shipping subsidies, and the C a n a d i a n grain fleet stayed busy, a l t h o u g h it did lose a few "fringe" vessels w h i c h were sold for scrapping. Iron ore b a ckhauls up the Seaway have been strong, sufficient that Dofasco at H a m i l t o n r e q u i r e d an i n novative re p l a c e m e n t for one of its ore bridges that col l a p s e d during the spring. This p r o duced the r e a c t i v a t i o n of the idle