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Marine News - c o n t 'd . In past issues, we have m e n t i o n e d the T o r t o l a - r e g i s t e r e d hydr ofoils SUNRIS E I and SU NRI SE II which were brought to Toronto in May of 1992 for a c r o s s lake pa s s e n g e r service p r o po sed by Canad i a n Lake Express. Neither vessel ever made a revenue trip, however, and while SUNRISE II has been reposing since last au t u m n on a cradle atop Pier 52 at the Toro n t o East Gap, SUNRISE I has been u nd er arrest at Port Weller. The Toronto "Globe and Mail" of July 8, 1993, ca rr ied a notice to the effect that there w ould be a sheriff's sale of SUNRIS E I, ordered by the Federal Court of Canada to satisfy claims against the ship and against Sunrise One Ltd. and G i b r a l t a r H o l d i n g s Ltd. Sealed tenders for the ship were to be filed by August 16th, wit h the bids to be opened on September 8th. The adver t i s e m e n t gave the following i n f o r m a tion: "The vessel is a passenger h y drofoil classed by Det Norske Veri t a s as 1A1 HSLC R 5 , built in Feodosiya, Ukraine, in 1990 as a V o s khod- 2 Model... Length ov era ll 2 7 . 6 m., Beam 6. 4 m. Carries up to 67 p a ssengers and a crew of 3. Full load dis p l a c e m e n t 28 . 4 tonnes. Gross To nnage 67. Speed up to 60 km/hour. Di ese l engine m a x i m u m power at 1600 rpm, 810 k w . Port of Registry, Road Harbour, Br itish Vir g i n Islands. Official Number 720516 ( 3 8 / 1 9 9 1 ) . " The court order for the sale was d i r ected to Patricia Clark, Sheriff, M u n i c i p a lity of Ni ag a r a North, St. Catharines. As yet, there has been no notice of any similar ac tion c o n c e r n i n g SUNRISE II, although we suspect that her d i s p osi tio n will sh ortly follow that of her sistership. A no the r forced sale of interest to marine h i storians was to be held on A u g ust 31st at Beaumont, Texas, c o nducted by the United States Marshal for the Eastern Di str ict of Texas, pursuant to court order, to foreclose pre f e r r e d ship m o r t g a g e s held by the General Electric Capital Corporation. For sale in di vi du al ly or as a set (whichever would bring the best price at auction), with an a g g re ga te m i n i m u m bid of $6 million, were what lake o b servers knew as "the O n t o n a g o n tug and barge". They were o r i g i n a l l y designed for Lake M i c hi ga n c a r fe rry service and were built by the i l l - s t a r r e d and now defunct UPSCO shi py ard at Ontonagon, Michigan, a sinkhole for state taxpayers to the extent of $44 million. The tug, e v e n t u a l l y to be n amed THUNDER, and her barge, LIGHTNING, were towed, uncompleted, from the shipyard in 1989, and finally were a c t ivated on salt water by Texas owners in 1991. THUN D E R was comple ted w i t h a lowered bridge structure, while the barge was fitted with a hinged Ro-Ro bow, and during the winter of 1992-1993, the pair were hauling vegeta ble oil to Africa, a l t hough even then both were n oted to be for sale for the right price. The owner continues to operate the rest of its fleet, but appears to have aba n d o n e d THUN D E R and L I G HTNING to the mortgagee, no doubt as a result of recent economic conditions. For the benefi t of hist o r i a n s who have not been able to get s t atistics on these two vessels, we present the following, taken from the Mars hal's Notice of Public Auction: TH UNDER (U. S . 997014) is 1 1 7 . 8 x 4 4 . 0 x 2 9 . 5, 1213 Gross. She is po we re d by two MAK 6M551AK Turbo diesel engines of 8, 400 h . p., and has two Kato 400 kw g e nerators eq uipped with CAT 379 8-cy linder engines. LI GH TN IN G ( U . S . 973127) is a "Roll On / Roll Off vehicle cargo barge", 3 9 7 . 9 x 6 4 . 6 x 4 5 . 6, 8123 Gross, e q u ipped with a b o w t h ruster and fitted w ith 27 main ballast compartments. It will be i nteresting indeed to see what becomes of TH UND ER and LIGHTNING. In the May issue, we m e n t i o n e d the April 12 grounding of M E L I S S A DESGAGNES, (a) ONTADOC (II)(90), above the E i senhower Lock in the St. Lawrence Seaway. We re por ted that she was r e f l oated on May 15 and was allo w e d to proc e e d on her way, dow nbound. In fact, it was on the 16th that she was p e r m i t t e d to proceed, but she did not get far, for on that day the Maltese salty SO LTA grounde d b el ow Cote Ste. Catherine and blocked all Se a w a y traffic for some 28 hours. M E L I S S A D E S GAGNES was the second ship in line in the blockade, and had to wait whilst SO LTA was ligh tered by P . S. BARGE NO. 1, w hich earlier had lig ht er ed the DESGAGNES. A Month later, MELI S S A D E S G A G N E S again was d e layed in the Seaway. Late on May 15th, FEDERAL FRASER, up bound for C l e v e land, struck a fender at St. Lambert and it took 15 hours for repairs to be put in hand. M E L I S S A DESGAGNES, dow n b o u n d for Sorel, had to tie at Cote Ste.