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9. Ship of the M onth - cont'd. W i l l i a m Mulock (who at one time was Cana da 's Po st master General, the first federal M i n ister of Labour, and later Ch ief Justi ce of the E x chequer Division of the Supreme Court of Ontario), Caw th ra Mu l o c k was a y oung man endo wed with all of the a d vantages most of us wish we had, but w h i c h few possess. In 1905, at the age of 23, he led a syndi ca te (of w hich he was the major shareholder) which set about b u i lding a w o r l d - c l a s s play ho us e for Toronto, and in 1907 this sho wp ie ce of the city op ened as the Royal A l e x a n dra Theatre. One of Ca wthra M u l ock's pa rtners in the synd ic at e was longtime "Royal Alex" manager, Lawr en ce ("Lol") Solman, who also was propr i e t o r of the Toronto Ferry Company, the amuse me nt park and b a l l p a r k on Ha nlan's Point and the Toronto Maple Leaf t r i ple-A b a s eball club w hich played its games in the stadium on the Island. R e s u r r e c t e d just before it was to be d e m o l i s h e d for a p a r k i n g lot in 1962, the r e s tored Royal Ale x a n d r a The at re today is one of the gems of the Toron to scene, and is one of Ca nada's most be autiful, most respected, and most s ucc es sful live theatres. Ca wthra Mulock, however, was desti n e d to be carried off, on December 1st, 1918, at the age of 36, by the Spa ni sh I n f l u enza, with w h i c h he had be come in fected whi ls t on a bu siness trip to New York City. One of you ng Cawt h r a M u l ock's bu siness assoc i a t e s in resp ec t of the Natio n a l Ste amship Company, was Capt. James B. Foote, a w e l l - k n o w n Toron to vesse l operato r who had bee n and was to be in volved in a num be r of local sh ipping enterprises. His name has been m e n t i o n e d in the pages of "Scanner" on n u m e r ous occasions, most nota b l y in conn e c t i o n wit h the op er ations of the Toron to Ins urance and Vessel Ag e n c y and the U nion Trans it Company. N A T I R O N C O was used to haul pig iron into the Toron to pipe plant, but that was not the entire scope of her operations. Indeed, she carried almost every type of cargo available, in c l u d i n g grain, for w hich she was said to have a capac i t y of 9 0 , 000 bushels. That she was i n v olved in c a r r y i n g such a wide v a r i e t y of cargoes, and not sim pl y raw m a t e r i a l s and pro du ct for her owners, can be e x p lained by the fact that, altho u g h the N a t i o n a l St eamship C o m p a n y r e t ained own e r s h i p of NATIR ON CO , she seems to have been opera t e d for them by C an ada Steamship Lines Ltd., and its Mer c h a n t s Mu tual Line division. NA T I R O N C O seems not to have taken on C . S . L. colours, however. The only kno wn photo of the ste am er at this stage of her career appea rs to show her w i t h a black hull, w hite cabins and an al l - b l a c k stack. Her name was p a i n t e d in large white letters, well back on the fore c a s t l e rail, and as f r e q u e n t l y was done in those days, a per io d was (for no v alid g r a m m a t i c a l reason) pla ce d after the name. The photo, a l t h o u g h poor, does not show any sign of the fo rward deck crane on the st a r b o a r d br idge wing, so per ha ps it ma y have been removed. The p e r s p e c t i v e of the photo, however, w hich was taken from close on the port bow, might not show the crane if it were there, a l t h o u g h the other two cranes are p l a i n l y visible. Perhap s Natio n a l Iron had d e c i d e d that the cost of m a i n t a i n i n g its o n e - s h i p fleet was not justif ia bl e, and that other ve ssels could be use d as required. In any event, N A T I R O N C O was sold ear ly in the 1917 sea so n to the A. B. M a c k a y S t eamship Company, of Hamilton. It was at this point in time that the st eamer's luck took a turn d e c i d e d l y for the worse, and it was not long before she got h ers e l f into serious trouble. On Thursday, May 3rd, 1917, N A T I R O N C O carr i e d away the upp er gates at Lock Three, on the old W e l l a n d Ca nal above Port Dalhousie. We have no de tails of the accident, but w o u l d as sume that it o c c u r r e d in the same mann er as most simila r events, w h e n a d o w n b o u n d vessel, a p p r o a c h i n g a lock that was not yet r ea dy to receive her, fai le d to stop in time and ran up against the gates. Such an accident could have disa s t r o u s resu lt s if the lock were e mpty and the lower gates open at the time... NATIRONCO does not seem to have su ffered any maj or dam ag e in the incident,