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Ship of the Month - cont'd. Ltd., the towing firm w hich had been formed in 1929 by a merger of the ven er ab le Sincennes M c N a u g h t o n Line Ltd., Montreal, with several other towing and salvage companies. The new firm, unfortunately, soon e n c o u n t e r e d some very serious financial difficulties. It was from Sin-Mac, after she had lain idle several years, that Russell cha rt er ed M U S C A L L O N G E in 1934, origi n a l l y to tow ROY K. RUSSELL. The "Muskie" took both barges brie f l y after the HU D S O N came out in 1935, but later left one at Prescott while taking the other up the lake alone. Then, MUSCA LLO NGE , while towing the HU D S O N up Mo ntreal Harbour, lost control in the current and rubbed the rock bank on the south shore. The barge, which had been lashed on the tug's starboard side, went adrift and only the efforts of two nearby harbour tugs saved her from being swept against an abutm ent of the Jacques Cartier Bridge. The "Muskie" had to go to Sorel for repairs, and it was then (October of 1935) that ETHEL was chartered to tow BRUCE HUDSON. Meanwhile, the little AJAX was towing ROY K. RUSSELL back and forth in a daily trade be tw e e n Port Credit and Toronto. The 1935 season was to be the RUS SE LL 's last, however, for late that year she grounded off Port Credit and it was not until the spring of 1936 that she could be refloated. She never ran again, and M U S C A L L O N G E then spent her time pu lling the HUDSON, al tho ugh in July of 1936 (probably while the HU D S O N was tied up under seizure), M U S C A L L O N G E took time out to tow ROY K. RUSS E L L up the lake to the scrapy ard at Hamilton. Time, however, was running short for the venerable M U S C A L L O N G E herself. At about 1: 00 a. m. on Saturday, August 15, 1936, M U S C A L L O N G E was upbo u n d in the St. La wre nce River just below Brockville, under the command of Capt. Steve Ah ern and with Dorman Arb our as chief engineer. BRUCE HUDSON, with a full load of crude aboard, was lashed alongside the "Muskie", and on the other side of the barge was tied the little AJAX, whose master, Capt. Les Pickard, was asleep in his cabin due to the late hour (even though he us ua ll y bu nke d aboard the "Muskie" when AJAX was shut down after clearing the c a n a l s ). Su dde nly there arose a cry of " F i r e ! ", and it could be seen that flames were coming from the galley area of the big cabin of M U S C A L L O N G E and were leaping up ar ound her tall funnel. Capt. Ahern immedi a t e l y called the tug's crew and ordered that all, except for himself and Chief Arbour, should go aboard the HU D S O N (it being so convenient that she was tied right alongs ide the tug). On Ahern's orders, the towlines were chopped by w h e e l s m a n Jerry Henry, who had been at the wheel when the fire broke out and had been sur prised to see flames r e flected off the inside of the front pil ot ho us e windows). The HUDSON, with AJAX still alongside, began to drop back d o w n s t r e a m in the current once she was loose. M U S C A L L O N G E cont inued on at full speed (her e n g i n e r o o m could not be reached by this time due to the rapid progress of the fire), and Ahern steered her for a light that could be seen in a cottage on the shore. Capt. Pickard, roused from his slumbers aboard AJAX when the first cries went up, set about raising steam on the tug, his efforts being easier in that he had been i n structed to leave her coal fires banked that night, instead of dr aw ing them as usual once out of the canals. Nevertheless, by the time AJAX had enough steam to do anything, the H U D S O N was almost two miles downstream. Once BRUCE H U D S O N was safely anchored, AJA X rushed upri v e r to assist the men aboard MU SCALLONGE. The burning tug e v e n t u a l l y re ached shore and hit with a re so u n d i n g wallop. Much to the surprise of A hern and Arbour, there then eme rged from below the tug's cook, Hugh Lawson, who somehow had m an a g e d to sleep through all the hubbub and only was a w a kened by the impact w hen the "Muskie" hit the beach. The three men then left the tug as qu ickly