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3. Marine News - cont'd. On October 23, the "Windsor Star" quoted Bob-Lo Island manager Dave Brown as stating that, in a move to cut increasing red ink on the park's books, its Detroit dock was now closed and that the venerable passenger steamers COLUMBIA and STE. CLAIRE had run their last and were being offered for sale. Amusement park visitors are now expected to drive to Gibraltar, Michigan, or to Amherstburg, Ontario, and take small ferries to the park. It was said that it seemed likely that other operators would purchase the two big steam ferries, perhaps to operate them out of Wyandotte, and we sincerely hope that some means will be found to keep these historic vessels in service. Torontonians were treated to another visit from the Royal Yacht BRITANNIA this autumn, when she came to accommodate Prince Charles, Princess Diana, and the young Princes William and Harry on their Ontario visit. The yacht, accompanied by H. M . C . S. OTTAWA, arrived at Toronto on October 21st, mooring where she has on each of her visits, at the foot of Sherbourne Street. The two boys joined her on the 22nd, while Charles and Diana went aboard the next evening, to the accompaniment of a truly thunderous 21-gun salute from OTTAWA (not appreciated by many downtown and Island residents). BRITANNIA and her special passengers left Toronto for Kingston on October 27. On the 26th, Prince Charles visited the Royal Canadian Yacht Club on the Islands, making the trip over from BRITANNIA aboard the venerable (1895) R. C. Y . C. tender HIAWATHA. The Canadian Coast Guard announced on October 17 that C. C. G . S. K E N O K I , sta tioned at Amherstburg, will be decommissioned as part of a fiscal cutback. Efforts will be made to accommodate the crew aboard GULL ISLE, which is being transferred from Parry Sound to Amherstburg, and on GRIFFON, which will spend more of her time in the area in the future. An advertisement in "The Globe and Mail", Toronto, on October 15, offered for sale the self-propelled dredge CHARLES R. HUNTLEY, "as is" at Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Offers to purchase were solicited by Gibson Shipbrokers Ltd., Montreal. The HUNTLEY was last operated by Alexander Hume Inc., Etobicoke, and to the best of our knowledge was the last of the former Eastern Steam ship Company canallers operating under her own (if not original) power. On October 14, the Polish salty ZIEMIA GNIEZNIENSKA struck the east wall of Welland Canal Lock Seven near the upper gate, disabling the gate and closing the canal until the afternoon of the 15th when repairs were completed. There was only minor damage to the ship. There is so much winter repair and maintenance work to be done, not just at this location but throughout the Welland, that the Seaway Authority has announced plans to close the canal for the season on the early date of December 15th. As previously suggested, Misener Holdings Ltd. has renamed its steamer J. N. MCWATTERS (II) as (b) SCOTT MISENER (IV). The ship left her temporary summer lay-up at Sarnia on September 21, and proceeded upbound to load a cargo of grain for the St. Lawrence River. In June, the press reported that the Buffalo excursion boat AMERICANA (II) was to be sold to Caribbean parties as a result of M & T Bank foreclosure proceedings against her former owner. However, it was not until August 8 that AMERICANA, reregistered in Panama, passed down the Welland Canal. The identity of her new owner has not yet been revealed. There is progress in plans which may result in two new ferry crossings of the upper St. Lawrence River. A service between Morristown, New York, and Brockville, Ontario, may begin as early as the spring of 1992; a twelve-pas senger boat has been acquired by Morristown Town Supervisor, Ronald R. Wright, and is being refitted for service. On August 7, New York Governor Mario Cuomo signed a bill allowing ferry service within 25 miles of the Prescott-Ogdensburg bridge; this would allow Canadian entrepreneur Duncan Edmund to proceed with plans for a 16-vehicle boat to run between Waddington, New York, and Morrisburg, Ontario. * * * * *