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3. Marine News - cont'd. In the April issue, we mentioned the March 29 christening of JAMES L. KUBER, the former RE­ SERVE, after her conversion to a self-unloading barge at Menominee. Pushed by her tug VIC­ TORY, the KUBER left Menominee on her maiden voyage on April 13, bound for Port Inland to load limestone. As she sailed, the barge still bore the name RESERVE on her hatch crane, perhaps to retain it as recognition of her 54 years of service as a steamer under that name. The stern-less barge WINDOC (ii), (a) RHINE ORE (76), (b) STEELCLIFFE HALL (88), the victim of the infamous 2001 Allanburg Bridge incident, has been lying for some time now at the In­ ternational Marine Salvage scrapyard at Port Colborne, where over the winter her severely damaged stern section was cut away. She is owned jointly by Algoma Central and Upper Lakes Shipping, and there has been much speculation as to whether there is any hope of a return to service for the ship. On April 24, the tugs WYATT M., VIGILANT 1, LAC MANITOBA and VAC towed WINDOC stern-first down the Welland Canal to the Seaway Marine & Industrial shipyard at Port Weller, where she will be secured until such time as Seaway Marine Transport de­ cides what is to become of her. It is expected that within six months, a decision will be made as to what will be done with her, the two major possibilities being fully converted to a barge or else rebuilt with a "new" stern section. The future seems much brighter for her with WINDOC lying at the Port Weller shipyard rather than at the Port Colborne scrapyard! Another barge, however, has come to the end of her long lifetime. She is the 1884-built former steam sidewheel river carferry LANSDOWNE, best known for many years of Grand Trunk - Canadian National service between Windsor and Detroit. She latterly has been languishing as a failed restaurant barge at various places, most recently at Buffalo and in a sorry state of disrepair. The City of Buffalo recently ordered her owner, Specialty Restaurants, to remove her from the South End Marina, and Specialty, with no hope of restoring the old hull to any useful purpose, sold her to Wargo Enterprises, which began cutting up LANSDOWNE in early April. The skeletons of the two historic railroad cars that were on LANSDOWNE's deck were removed for possible preservation, and there was some hope that the old steamer's en­ gines might be preserved as well. How well we remember riding LANSDOWNE on winter crossings of the Detroit River and watching those horizontal engines in action. The end of the line has come for another ferry, the AGOMING (C. 150338), built at Colling­ wood in 1926. She was built for the International Transit Co. Ltd. and ran across the St. Mary's River at Sault Ste. Marie until the opening of the highway bridge, and she was sold in 1963. She finally became a salvage barge at Thunder Bay but was inactive for many years. Most recently owned by Thunder Bay Tug Services Ltd., she has been sold for scrapping and on May 6 was towed to Harbour Metals at Thunder Bay. When in the April issue we reported on the spring opening of the St. Lawrence canals, we made an error. Although the first transit was begun March 22 by the upbound CANADIAN MINER, the second upbounder was not PINEGLEN, but rather her fleetmate CEDARGLEN. The first downbound vessel at Iroquois Lock was the tanker ALGOSEA on March 26. The first saltwater ship to pass up the canals was CLIPPER LEANDER on March 24, bound for Clarkson. Most of the icebreaking in the Seaway was done by C. C. G. S. MARTHA L. BLACK and U. S. C. G. PENOBSCOT BAY. The necessary dredging of the Genesee River at Charlotte will be done this summer by Ryba Marine Construction Company of Cheboygan, and it will eventually allow STEPHEN B. ROMAN to trade back to Charlotte (Rochester) with cement for the Essroc plant there. Meanwhile, on the last day of April, Essroc's barge METIS arrived in the Genesee in tow of EVANS McKEIL, bringing cement from Essroc's Toronto plant. Ryba will also be dredging Oswego harbour. * * * * * KNOW YOUR SHIPS 2008 This year's edition of the annual lake shipping directory is now available. The 152-page softcover generally follows the usual format but is even more attractive than ever with dozens of new colour photos and a smashing front cover featuring CALUMET in her last season of service. Want lake ship information? Here's where to get it! The book is available for U. S. $16. 95 from Marine Publishing Co., P. O. Box 68, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan 49783. Phone (734) 668-4734 or order online www. knowyourships. com and for the convenience of those ordering online, PayPal is accepted. Incidentally, back issues for 1978-1979 and 1982-2007 are available for $7. 50 each. * * * * * http://www.knowyourships.com