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

9- Ship of the Month - cont'd. at the neighbouring yard of the Nicholson Terminal & Dock Company, and at this late point in time, we doubt that we ever will know what actually oc curred. We rather suspect that Great Lakes Engineering did the major struc tural work and that the Nicholson yard did the refitting that went along with it. After the conversion, CITY OF BANGOR and PENOBSCOT were painted a dark oli ve green, with white cabins and black stacks. On their bows appeared a large white ring with a white 'dot" at its centre. This design, although a bit unusual, was intended to represent an automobile wheel. The two near-sisters were successful in their new trade, but only PENOB SCOT would enjoy a lengthy career carrying autos. Unfortunately, CITY OF BANGOR fell victim to an almost continuous series of gales which swept Lake Superior from November 15 to December 2, 1926. Upbound for Duluth with a cargo of 24 8 brand new Chrysler cars in her holds and on deck, CI TY OF BANGOR sought shelter behind the Keweenaw Peninsula but she was ov erwhelmed by the seas and, helpless in the trough, she was swept ashore a few miles from Copper Harbor on November 3 0 , 1926. In the violent weather, CITY OF BANGOR's crew believed that they were lost, but succor came in a most unusual manner. The U.S. Coast Guard lifeboat from Eagle Harbor had been called out to assist the crew of the steamer THOMAS MAYTHAM, which had stranded in the same gale. Having rescued the MAYTHAM crew, and heading back to their base, the coast guardsmen happen ed upon the wreck of CITY OF BANGOR. The lifeboat took the MAYTHAM'S crew to Copper Harbor, and then managed to get the men off the BANGOR and into the safety of Eagle Harbor, despite the relatively inaccessible location of the wreck and the extremely nasty weather conditions. The lifeboat was commanded by Boatswain Anthony F. Glaza, who took a number of excellent photographs of the various wrecks around the Keweenaw in those years. The BANGOR, apart from being driven close inshore and stuck fast, seemed to be in no immediate danger, and so she was left where she lay for the winter in the hope that she could be refloated in the spring. The R. J. Kappahan Contracting Company was awarded a $ 35,000 contract to remove the autos, and over the winter an impressive auto salvage effort was mounted. The location of the wreck was so remote that it was only in winter, with the ground frozen, that there was any hope of getting the autos moving to ward civilization. The cars on deck had to be cut out of almost a foot of ice, and tractors were used to haul the cars across the ice to shore. They were then driven away on a makeshift road cleared for the purpose. In all, 230 Chryslers were taken off the ship, most of the remaining eighteen having been lost overboard or smashed during the storm which grounded the steamer. In fact, CITY OF BANGOR had been driven so far inshore that salvage proved hopeless, and in 1927 the ship was abandoned to the underwriters. The same year, the wreck was sold to salvor T. L. Durocher, of DeTour Village, Mi chigan, but he was unable to free her and the wreck was left to rust away. It would appear that no effort ever was made to remove CITY OF BANGOR's cabins or machinery as was done with the nearby ALTADOC during 1928. CITY OF BANGOR remained on the shore of the Keweenaw until 1944 when she, like ALTADOC, was cut up for scrap where she lay, her remains going to aid the production of new steel for the war effort. * * * Ed. Note: For the detailed histories of PENOBSCOT and HOWARD L. SHAW, re fer to Ship of the Month No. 139 and 141, in the issues of Mid-Summer and November, 1985, respectively. Two instalments of "Recollections of a Mas ter Mariner", being excerpts from the memoirs of Capt. Howard L. Shaw (who died at age 70 in 1936), can be found in the March-April and May-June 1980 issues of "Telescope", the journal of the Great Lakes Maritime Institute, Detroit.