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Ship of the Month - cont'd. 12. out of Duluth in the early morning hours of June 17, 1 9 8 8 . With aid from WILFRED M. COHEN, the tow passed down through the Poe Lock at the Soo on June 19, and was outbound into Lake Huron at DeTour on the 20th. SALVAGE MONARCH and HELEN M. McALLISTER brought FAIRLESS down the Welland Canal on June 23. The tow was in the Seaway, approaching the Eisenhower Lock, on June 25th, when the vessels were struck by a sudden and brief but powerful storm. One of the towlines snapped and the FAIRLESS was blown against the bank on the south side of the lock approach. There was no damage sustained, and the tow was able to continue. HELEN M. McALLISTER and CATHY McALLISTER arrived at Quebec with the FAIRLESS on June 28th. Unlike the other "Supers", FAIRLESS and OLDS were not headed for Turkish breakers but instead a much longer trip was planned for them. Marine Salvage had sold the steamers to far eastern buyers, and a subsequent report indica ted that FAIRLESS was resold by Chinese interests to Taiwan scrappers for $ 168 U. S. per light displacement ton, and that OLDS, owned by "China Panama" (whatever that might have been), also was resold to Taiwan breakers for the same price. The tug OSA RAVENSTURM cleared Quebec on July 9 , 1988, with BENJAMIN F. FAIR LESS and IRVING S. OLDS in tow, and after a very long voyage via the Panama Canal, the two old lakers finally arrived at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where they were broken up by the Sing Cheng Yung Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. The dismantling of OLDS was begun on November 24, 1988, while the scrapping of FAIRLESS was started on December 8th. No doubt the breakers did their work quickly. Meanwhile, with all her sisters gone to the scrappers, LEON FRASER continued to lie at Lorain, with no evidence that she ever would be included in any re development of the AmShip yard site. During the autumn of 1989, however, the steamer's future began to look up, as she was sold by Spitzer Management to Fraser Shipyards Inc., of Superior, Wisconsin. It was suggested that, in due course of time, the FRASER would be converted by the shipyard into a cement carrier for the Lafarge Coppee interests, to whom she would be sold upon com pletion. She then would be operated as part of the "Huron Cement" fleet by Inland Lakes Management Inc. TUG MALCOLM was dispatched to Lorain to pick up the FRASER, and the Soo tug CHIPPEWA met the tow off DeTour Passage at 4:00 p. m. on October 24, 1989, to lend a hand with the St. Mary's River tow. The trip arrived on the pier be low the Poe Lock at 11:30 p. m. Fog closed the river that night, but the tow was allowed to lock upbound about 1: 00 a.m., and then spent the of the night on the upper pier. The river was reopened late the following morning and the tow got under way at 11:30 a.m. on the 25th, with CHIPPEWA assisting as far as Gros Cap. LEON FRASER and TUG MALCOLM arrived off the Superior entrance on the afternoon of October 27, but were forced to anchor as a result of stormy conditions. The winds abated about five hours later, and the tow ar rived at the Fraser yard just before midnight. By October 31, 19 8 9 , the FRASER's stack had been painted all black, thus ob literating the famous U. S. Steel colours. In the interim, however, nothing more has been done to the ship. It had been suggested that the steamer was to be shortened by some eighty feet and operated under her own power in the cement trade, but the success of other tug/barge combinations (with signifi cant savings in crew costs) would seem to be fairly compelling reasons to expect that FRASER might eventually wind up as a barge. Consultants are en gaged still in drawing up plans for the conversion, but a slowdown in the construction trade and resultant softness in the cement shipping business would seem to indicate that there will be no early start on the conversion of the FRASER. It is hoped, however, that this, the last of the famous "Su pers" will be spared the dismal fate of her sisterships. The "Supers" truly were significant vessels. They sported classic lines, with a sweeping sheer to their decks and the most handsome counter sterns seen on the lakes in many a year. Their large forward cabins, with broadly rounded texas and pilothouse, were a great step ahead, while their ancestry was amp-