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Ship of the M o n t h - cont'd. 8. was an open rail aroun d the top of this "q uarterdeck", and on each side was a large lifeboat, wor ke d from radial davits. The w e l l - r a k e d stack, of medium height and s urrounded by vent i l a t o r cowls, rose fa irly near the fo rward end of the boat deck. There was a tall flagstaff, not set right aft at the fantail but rather a bit farther forward. As built, PIO NE ER did not carry an after mast. PIONEER'S hull was painted black, and there was a l i g h t - c o l o u r e d boot-top, wh ich may have been grey. The bridge structure and the forward b u l k h e a d of the after cabin were pain t e d in the d usty pea - g r e e n shade which, as the years passed, was to become a C l e v e l a n d - C l i f f s mark of distinction, totally unique to that fleet and its affiliates. The mast was buff, and the stack was all black. The ship's name, in white letters, curved over the owner's name near the after end of the forecastle rail. The PIONEER did not unde r g o man y changes dur in g her years of o p e r a t i o n in the Cliffs fleet. Her big pole mast was pul le d out of her eventually, most likely because wit h its gaff and styli sh rake, it w ould have inter f e r e d with the h a n dling of cargo throu gh the secon d hatch. It was r e p laced wit h a scrawny little pipe mast, w h i c h was muc h shorter and had almost no rake at all; in fact, it even a p p e a r e d to bend forw ar d a bit! A new m a i nmast was stepped well abaft the smokestack, but it also was less than i mpressive in both size and rake, and did no thing for the ship's appearance. The only other apparent change was the repai n t i n g of the ship's name in a straight line on the fore ca st le rail, no doubt to avoid the extra time and effort n e c e s s a r y to repaint the name in its or iginal curved configurat io n. PIONEER seems to have o p e rated r e l a t i v e l y successfully for Cliffs, as a p p a r e n t l y also did CADILLAC, al though we have no rep or ts on how well those funny little deck cranes performed. Aft er some two deca de s of service, h o w ever, the ships were b e c oming vi ctims of their own design. They had been far surpassed in size and e f f i c i e n c y of o p e r a t i o n by the m a n y new steamers which had been adde d to the Cl iffs fleet, and they just could not be run ec o n o m i c a l l y in the trades w h i c h their owner had av ai lable for them. On Dec ember 3rd, 1912, PION EE R and CA DILLAC were both sold. CA DILLAC was ac qu ired by Capt. J. W. Norcross, who placed her un der the ope r a t i o n of the Ca na dian In terlake Line Limited. PIONE ER also became part of the Ca nadian Interlake Line fleet, but her actual p u rchaser was Roy M. Wolvin, who was a "partner" of Capt. No rcross in a nu mber of shipp in g en te rprises. It is not known whet h e r either steamer op erated for the new ow ners in 1912, but they both were pla c e d in service early in 1913. Ea rly that same spring, the comp a n y was r e o r g a n i z e d as the Canad a Inte rl ak e Line Ltd. CADILLAC r e t a i n e d her old name, and pass ed to the o w n ership of Canada Steamship Lines Ltd. whe n that immense fleet was forme d duri ng June of 1913. She was rena m e d (b) M A P L E H U R S T in 1919, but stran de d to a total loss on Lake Superior in 1922. PIONEER, however, had been pla ce d on the C a n adian regi st er under Of ficial Number C . 133741, e n r olled at Toronto, and on Apr il 26, 1913, she was fo r mally rena m e d (b) NATIR ON CO . The D o m i n i o n List of Shipp in g sh owed her m e a s u r e m e n t s to be 2 2 5 . 0 x 3 5 . 0 x 1 3 . 7, 1079 Gross and 542 Net. On Au gust 23, 1913 ( a p p a rently som ew ha t belat ed ly ), her o w n e r s h i p was officially tr a n s ferred from Canad a In terlake Line to the C a n a d i a n Bond Comp a n y Ltd., Toronto. Two days later, on Augus t 25th, she was f o r m a l l y t ransferred to the ow n ership of the N a t ional S t eamship Comp a n y Ltd., Toronto, w h i c h was a subsi d i a r y of the N a t i o n a l Iron Comp a n y Ltd. Despi te the dates of transfer, however, it seems evident from the ear li er re naming that she had, in fact, been ope r a t i n g for Natio n a l Iron since the early part of the 1913 season. The Na tional Iron Co mpany Ltd., Toronto, had been for me d a few years earlier by a group of fin anciers he a d e d by the y oung "w hiz-kid" of the c o n t e m p o r a r y Toronto business scene, Ca wthra Mulock. The you ng er son of the Hon. Sir