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9. Ship of the Mon th - cont'd. sh utt le loads b e t w e e n Imper i a l ' s own Sarnia plant and the Polymer and Dow Che mi c a l facilities. But "every second load or so, we was h the old girl u nti l she shines, and head for Bay City w i t h benzene... The crew are just like na tiv es in Bay C i t y . . . " IMPERIAL C O R N W A L L ' S late 1963 duties were the subject of a "Fleet News" lament: "It's almost C h ristmas Eve and the I M P ERIAL C O R N W A L L is still 'hit ting', c a r ry in g gas to Wi ndsor and 'Bentz' (benzene) to Polymer and Dow. All the 'regular type ships' are long since tucked away for the Winter in dry dock or Winter Quarters, and their crews at home ashore. We think fondly of them as we co nt inue to battle Lake St. Clair ice, zero temperatures and f rozen 'Bentz', but I guess someo ne has to carry o n . . . " Her u p c o m i n g wi n t e r rest w ould be short, for IM PERIAL CORNWALL, along with I M P ER IA L SIMCOE and IMPERIAL WINDSOR, fitted out v ery e arly in 1964, and the C O R N W A L L was ru nn i n g by M arch 11th. She o f f i c i a l l y opened Sarnia, Windsor, Owen Sound and C o l l i n g w o o d harbours, while the WI NDSOR was first ar rival of the year at Bay City. All three of thesisters got into ice problems in the St. Ma ry 's River whilst bound for the Soo with furnace fuel, and IMPERIAL LO N D O N was in that ice battle as well. All of the ships r e q uired the a s s i s tance of va rio us C a n a d i a n and U . S. icebreakers. I M P E R I A L SIMCOE did not make it as far as the Soo, as ship's corre s p o n d e n t to "Fleet News", wheelsman Ro bert Thorpe, noted. "Our first trip was sch e d u l e d for Sault Ste. Marie, but upon ar riving at DeTour, we had to a nch or and wait for IMPERIAL C O R N W A L L to clear the ice. A fter w a i t i n g a day, we fi na ll y got un der way, but didn't make it too far till we were stuck fast in the ice. The U . S . C . G. N A U G A T U C K could not assist us, so we waited another night. "Next day, the (C . C . G . S . ) A L E X A N D E R H E N R Y came to our assi s t a n c e and got us m o v i n g again, but after d a m a g i n g one of our p r opeller blades, we spent a n o ther night in the ice. At daybreak, the A L E X A N D E R H E N R Y got us turned around and (was) do ing all she could to help us, but had to leave us to meet their schedule. We wa it ed out the day until the cutter M A C K I N A W came to our rescue and cl ear ed us to open water where we went to anchor and aw aited further orders. The fo l l o w i n g day, we re ceived orders to proc e e d to Owen Sound, where we d i s c h a r g e d our cargo and had repairs made to the p r o p e l l e r . " 1964 was the last year of o p e r a t i o n for IM PERIAL SIMCOE and, as we noted previously, she was scrapped in 1965 in Spain, cr ossing the A t l antic in a tandem tow wi th the muc h older IM PERIAL WELLAND. The two steamers had spent the wi nte r of 1964-1965 laid up side-by-side at Sarnia, and in the spring, they sailed down the lakes under their own power before c o mmencin g their tr a n sa tl an ti c tow. As might be imagined, "Imperial Oil Fleet News" carried a retrospect on the careers of these two ships at the time of their retirement, and it gave some i n t e r e s t i n g det ails conc e r n i n g the SIMCOE. For instance, it noted that S I M C OL IT E cr oss ed the A t l antic on her d e l i v e r y voyage in April of 1930, and ar ri ve d at H a l i f a x late that month. There she was joined by her lake crew, with Capt. O . D. W i l l i a m s o n as master and John Bulmer as chief engineer. She then st eam ed up to Quebec, then to Montreal, and e v e n t u a l l y on to Toronto. The art icle noted: "C analling these ships was an art in itself and dev e l o p e d a race of s h i p h andlers without equal anywhere in the world. The SIMCOE was an ideal canaller, as well as being an effi cient ship on the Coast and the Upper Lakes. This type was p r o b a b l y the most efficient all 'round ship the c om pa ny ever built, and our c om petitors use d the same design for seven of their ships. "The SIMCOE has been a r e m a r k a b l y trouble-free ship over the years... She was fitted at one time to carry casinghead, with sealed tanks and pressure gauges r e g i s t e r i n g in the wheelhouse, and had the first closed vent system. However, it was ne ver used to any great extent and was m o d i f i e d at a later date wh en the other ships of the fleet were fitted wit h vents and closed