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Marine News - cont'd. free the salty, w h i c h had buried some 400 feet of her hull in the soft, m u d dy bottom. A ft er two Purvis Marine tugs were sent to help, FE DERAL ST. L A U RENT fi na ll y was w r e n c h e d free of the mud at about 7: 00 a . m. on July 10. The ship was inspected after she went to anchor in Waiska Bay, and when she was found to be u nd am aged, she was a llo w e d to proc e e d on her way. An earlie r ac ci d e n t near the Soo was p o t e n t i a l l y muc h more serious. At about 6 : 10 a . m. on Wednesday, June 9th, the Upper Lakes Shipp i n g s e l f un l o a d e r C A N A D I A N OLYMPIC was d o w n b o u n d in the n o r t h e r l y appr o a c h e s to the West Ne eb i s h C h a n n e l ' s narrow Rock Cut. The OLYMPIC had passed d o w n b o u n d at the Soo just be for e midnight Tuesday, but had to secure b elow the locks when the river was cl os ed as a result of fog. The fog later lifted and the river was r e o pe ne d sh or t l y before 4 : 00 a. m. Apparently, however, the fog was c l o s ing in again as the OLYMPIC a p p r o a c h e d the head of the Rock Cut, and she g r o u n d e d in a most p r ecarious position, only some 500 feet above the Neebish Island ferry crossing. The ship's fo repeak was holed and she took on water. A lmost im m e d i a t e l y after the grounding, the Coast Guard closed the river to traffic again be cause of the fog and, of course, d o w n b o u n d traffic could not have passed the area in w h i c h the OLYMPIC was in trouble anyway. When at last the river was reopened, tugs and a lighter were d i s p a t c h e d to the scene but, as it turned out, they were not needed. The crew of the OLYM PIC b a l lasted the ship down by the stern, and with the help of a f o rtuitous s o u t h w e s t e r l y 35 m . p . h. gust of wind, the vessel floated free without the tugs du r i n g the late afternoon. The wind, in fact, blew the ship all the way a ro u n d so that she actually was facing up bound in the d o w n b o u n d - o n l y channel! Once the ve sse l was r e b a l lasted properly, she was m oved u p r i v e r to a nchor in Lake Nicole t for inspection, w h i c h r e v ealed the e x tensive nature of the d a mage to the OLYMPIC. Air c o m p r e s s o r s were used to expel w ater from the f o r e peak, and the ship then was cl eared to proceed on to N a n t i c o k e w ith her c a r go of coal. Re pa i r s were to be done at Port Weller Dry Docks. On J ul y 2nd, a brand new business opened at the site of the former Port A r thur S h i p b u i l d i n g Co mpany Ltd. yard at Thunder Bay. On that day, P A S C OL Engin eer ing , a new division of C a n a d i a n S h i p b u i l d i n g and E n g i n e e r i n g Ltd., began operations. (Its name is an ac ronym formed from the initials of the old s h i p b u i l d i n g f i r m . ) The new comp a n y will employ from 40 to 60 workers, and will ha ndl e repairs to ships afloat as well as vari o u s other m etal f a b r i c a t i o n c o n tr ac ts for industry. PASCOL, i n h e r i t i n g its p r e d e c e s s o r ' s p r o perties, st art ed life totally d e b t - f r e e and plans were afoot to ensure its fin an ci al vi abi lity. Many of the old shipyard b u ildings which are obsole te and u n n e c e s s a r y will be demolished, and the dr ydock will no longer be used. Only the office building, m a c h i n e shop and f a b r i c a t i o n plant are to be r e tained by the new operation. In prio r issues, we made m e n t i o n of the fact that the Inland Lakes T r a n s p o r tation Inc. 1927-b uilt, s t e a m - p o w e r e d cement carrier S. T. CRAPO had been sc h ed ul ed to go into the yard of the Bay S h i p b u i l d i n g C o r p o r a t i o n at S t u r geon Bay, Wis consin, on June 1st for the removal of her steam p r o p u l s i o n m a ch in e r y and the i n s t a l l a t i o n of diesel power. As has been quite evident to a n y b o d y o b s er vi ng the lake s h i pping scene, however, the CRAPO did not keep her date at S t u r g e o n Bay, and has been hard at work in the cement trade all summer. It is our u n d e r s t a n d i n g that the r e p o w e r i n g of the C RAPO has been o c c a s i o n e d by an u p s w i n g in the demand for cement w hich has p r o m p t e d I. L . T. to keep the C RA PO in service, as well as runn i n g ALPENA, PAUL H. TOWNSEND, the r e c e n t l y - r e f u r b i s h e d J. A. W. IGLEHART, and the v e t e r a n steamer E. M. FORD. Only the ste amers J. B. FORD and LEWIS G. H A R R I M A N have r e m a i n e d idle, both now consigned to "permanent" duty as storage hulls. While most h i s t o r i a n s have r e j oiced in the con t i n u e d op e r a t i o n of CRAPO as a steamer, we wonder ho w long she can operate e c o n o m i c a l l y as the last c o a l - f i r e d f r ei gh te r on the lakes. We will be inter e s t e d to see w h e t h e r the repow e r i n g is r e s c h e d u l e d and, if so, from wh e n c e her "new" power wil l come.