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Phelan Revisited - cont'd. Mr. P a l m e r r e c a l l s that so me 400 feet of cable, at a wi d e an gle f rom her side, w e r e l a id out f ro m the P H EL A N ' s bow to an a n c h o r a g e atop the high ban k as ho r e. T hi s c a b l e a n c h o r c o n s i s t e d of a deep hole cut into the top of the b a n k an d c r i b b e d w i t h r a i l r o a d ties, wi th the 1 1 / 2 -inch ste el cable bro u g h t in a nd w e i g h t e d d o w n wi t h se ve ra l large boul der s. Palmer, however, tells us hat "for me, the b i g star in the wh ol e show was the old ( wrecker) COR N W A L L . W i t h her h u ge s i d e w h e e l s and two smokestacks, she was quit e a sigh t a r r i v i n g f r o m d o w n r i v e r pu l l i n g a c ou pl e of scows". In our feature, we m e n t i o n e d that the wet gr ain fr om the P H E L A N was "pum p ed " i nto the a t t e n d i n g barges, but Mr. Palmer takes issue w i t h this. He r e c a l l s that the g r a i n was c l a m - s h e l l e d up out of the w r e c k u s in g C O R N W A L L ' s bi g crane, a nd wa s d u m p e d into the b a rg es w h i c h we re l as hed in turn a l o n g the o u t e r side of the PHELAN. This fact also tends to co n f i r m Pa l m e r ' s b e l i e f that P H E L A N w as cl ose r than 400 feet offshore. The river was ve r y n a r r o w at the w r e c k site, and if she had be en that far out, the m o v e m e n t s of C O R N W A L L , the tugs and scows a ro un d the w r e c k w o u l d c e r t a i n l y have impeded downbound t r af fic, and Pal me r d e f i n i t e l y r e ca ll s that the l i g h t e r i n g a c t i v i t i e s d id take place on the oute r r at he r than the ne ar side of the w reck . "Why the y d i d n ' t take all the grain out of the boat is a m y s t e r y to me. The gr a i n w as wet, t h e r e ' s no d oubt ab out that, and the stink was g e t t i n g s tr o n g e r and s t r o n g e r as e a c h day passed. But that w o u l d h a r d l y h ave been s u f f i c i e n t e x c u s e to l e a v e 1 0 , 000 b us he ls of it still in the holds. When the b a r g e s w e r e fi ll e d, C O R N W A L L p u l l e d them the ha l f mile or so do wn to the lo ck of the C a r d i n a l C ana l, and then up and away to Ki ngston. "It c o u l d be that D o n n e l l y had other c o m m i t m e n t s to take care of and was a nx i o u s to get this job o v er with. I re ca ll that the C O R N W A L L n e v e r came back, a n d that the two t u g b o a ts b e ga n try i n g to pull the P H E L A N of f p r et ty soon. It 's my r e m e m b r a n c e that the b e t t e r part of three days was spent in the f u t i l e ef f or t , one tug p u l l i n g and the ot her w o r k i n g on the P HE LAN 's out e r side, to w o r k the w r e c k off u p s t r e a m , a g a i n s t the curren t. A ft er that, D o n n e l l y p u l l e d out, l e av in g the P H E L A N to her l o ne ly fate. "Then m y b r o t h e r a nd I h a d to r e t u r n to the U . S. of A. to get b ack to school. We w e r e m i g h t y s u r p r is ed , the next summer, to find the P H E L A N gone. A s k i n g a r o u nd , we s o o n l ea rn ed that a n ot he r w r e c k i n g c o m p a n y (John E. Ru s s e l l , out of T o r o n t o - E d . ) had t ak en over in the late fall and p u l l e d the P H E L A N d o w n s t r e a m , a p p a r e n t l y as eas y as you please, off the shoal. Now w h y d i d n ' t D o n n e l l y t h i n k of t h a t ? " As an i n t e r e s t i n g a s i d e to the story, W i l l i a m P al mer r ec al ls that onl y the mos t p o w e r f u l s t e a m e r s ( s u c h as WINON A, G L E N A F T O N and the R A PI DS p a s s e n g e r ste a m e r s ) w er e ab le to s t e a m u p b o u n d in the o ut si de pa s s a g e past Ir oq uo is Point. In A u g u s t of 1921, the old p a c k a g e f r e i g h t e r CI T Y OF H A M I L T O N (the for m e r A n c h o r L in e " t r i p l e t " JAPAN) tried it w h i l s t r u n n i n g up light. She d id n ' t m a k e it and g r o u n d e d in al mo s t the same spot as the PHELAN . Again, D o n n e l l y w a s c a l l e d to the s c ene and he tried to pull her off w i t h his tug F RO N T E N A C . On c e more, he t r i e d to pull u p s t r e a m i n s t e a d of down, an d all he m a n a g e d to a c c o m p l i s h w a s to c ap s iz e F R O N T E N A C over on to her s t a r b o a r d side on the shoal. She a n d C IT Y OF H A M I L T O N wer e still lying th ere wh e n Pal m e r h a d to l ea v e to go b a c k to sc hoo l at the end of summer. We h a ve e n j o y e d b e i n g a b l e to b r in g this a d d i t i o n a l i n f o r m a t i o n to our read e r s , a nd we e x t e n d our m o st s in cer e thanks to M e s s r s Palme r and L ab adi e for m a k i n g it a v a i l a b l e to us. * * * * * To c l o s e out h is issue, we s h o ul d like, once again, to r e mi nd m e m b e r s that we w o u l d a p p r e c i a t e r e c e i v i n g their m e m b e r s h i p re ne wal s, and to than k those who a l r e a d y h a v e rene we d. * * * * *