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7. Marine News - cont'd. Two of the Imperial Oil Limited east coast tankers, both of which previous ly had operated into the Great Lakes, ran into trouble during the spring of 1990. IMPERIAL ACADIA suffered damage when storm winds blew her up against a dock at the island of Miquelon, and on February 2nd she sailed for the shipyard at Marystown, Newfoundland, for the necessary repairs. It was de termined, however, that she could not fit into the small drydock at Marys town, and that she would have to be taken to Halifax for docking. She was unable to sail that far under her own power because the 1 2 0 -foot hole in her side rendered her unseaworthy for such a trip. Accordingly, the semisubmersible heavy cargo vessel MIGHTY SERVANT I was called over from the Netherlands and, on March 16, she arrived at Halifax with IMPERIAL ACADIA resting on her deck, just as if she were in a floating drydock. The ACADIA was repaired in due course of time at Halifax. Then, on June 1 3 , while pro ceeding light from Goose Bay to Dartmouth, IMPERIAL BEDFORD encountered heavy ice and anchored overnight near Hamilton Inlet. The next day, she was in contact with a sharp piece of old ice which pierced her hull. Pumps were placed aboard, allowing temporary repairs to be made before the BEDFORD sailed for the shipyard at Halifax. When the warship H.M.C.S. SAGUENAY made her voyage into the Great Lakes this summer (she was moored at Toronto's Harbourfront from June 13 through the 18th), she was on her final tour of duty. The venerable SAGUENAY, one of the oldest operating Canadian warships and part of the post-war building programme, was to b e decommissioned and sold for scrapping after her return to her home waters on the east coast. One of the Great Lakes' most recent "hard luck" ships has been the Socanav Inc. tanker NANCY ORR GAUCHER, (a) LANA (8 8 ), (b) NEW ORLEANS (8 9 ), which had a rather inauspicious first season on the lakes in 1 9 8 9 . Her troubles continued into 1990 when, on July 4th, whilst on a voyage from Sarnia to Port Colborne, the ship ran aground in the Livingstone Channel of the De troit River, after allegedly losing power. The vessel's outer hull was hol ed, but her cargo tanks remained intact and there was no spill of her oil cargo. The ship was taken to anchor in Lake Erie, where the damage was sur veyed before the ship was permitted to continue on her way. As might be ex pected, the incident caused much consideration by officials and also by the press concerning the potential for a major oil spill in the lakes, where environmental damage could be extensive. The 1 9 9 0 navigation season has been a good one so far on the U.S. side of the lakes, where ore movements, as well as coal, stone, etc., have been strong. On the Canadian side, however, things have been rather different. The season started out with a reasonable grain movement which lasted a bit longer than it has in recent years. A few ships laid up in June or early July, but it was not until the third week of July that large numbers of Ca nadian straight-deck bulk carriers were laying up for the summer doldrums. As an example, CANADIAN MARINER, SEAWAY QUEEN and CANADIAN EXPLORER all laid up at Pier 35 in Toronto during this period. Also with them was BAIE ST. PAUL, which arrived much earlier (May 1 0 ) but which had sustained bottom damage. CANADIAN MARINER was reactivated during August, but the others were still laid up at the time of this report. Helping to keep some of the bulk ers in operation, of course, was the Algoma Central - ULS consortium of straight-deckers which was arranged to carry Quebec-mined ore up to the Do fasco plant at Hamilton. A rather good grain harvest has been anticipated for 1990, but there remains considerable doubt as to whether the Wheat Board will make any major grain sales and, if it does, whether the grain will be shipped out via the lakes or through the west coast ports. If sig nificant grain sales are consummated, then there should b e enough grain to move this autumn to keep the available Canadian bulk carriers in service through to the end of the season. Most were still laid up during the first week of September, but it was hoped that the grain traffic situation would be clarified by the middle of the month so that fleet reactivation could get under way.