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Ship of the Mo nth - cont'd. 12. appears to have been black, wit h a white or silver circle on w hich was pla ced a large letter 'H '. Black and white photos of the ship do not give us any clue as to wh et h e r any other colours formed part of the ship's livery. There also was an other change in the appearance of VU LC AN during her years of He l m ownership. Her old w o o d e n foremast by this time had been re pl ace d by a mu c h lighter steel pipe spar. The mainmast was unchanged. The next few years proved u n e v e n t f u l for VULCAN, and she seems to have served her owners well. On Monday, May 7th, 1917, however, V U L C A N was i n vo lve d in a c o llision w ith the much larger steamer DANIEL J. M O R R E L L off W hi t e f i s h Point at the far e a s t e r n end of Lake Superior, near the entrance to Wh i t e f i s h Bay. Fortunately, ne ither steamer s u s tained serious damage. On Wed nesday, Oc tober 30th, 1918, however, VULCAN ran into much more serious trouble wh ils t she was u p b o u n d wit h a cargo of 3 , 200 tons of a n thracite coal co ns ig ne d to Hancock, Michigan. The ship was on a course for the eastern entran ce to the Portage Ship Canal when heavy we ather drove her hard ashore on Point Abbaye, w hich is the point at the outer end of the small p e ninsula that separates the west side of H u r o n Bay from K e w e e n a w Bay, on the south shore of Lake Su perior some 22 miles from the ea stern side of the base of the K e w e e n a w Peninsula. Not only was the vessel so lidly aground but, to make ma tte rs worse, her wo o d e n p i l o t h o u s e was destroyed in a fire w hich oc cur red sh ort ly after the stranding. Tugs and other w r e c k i n g e q u i p m e n t were sent to the scene of the ac cident by the Great Lakes Towing Company, and VU L C A N was r e f l o a t e d successfully. She then was towed to her origi n a l d e s t i n a t i o n of Hancock, on the Portage Ship Canal, where her cargo of a n t h r a c i t e was unloaded. Un fortunately, however, as soon as the coal was removed, water began to come through the VU LCAN's p u n ct ur ed bo ttom plating in such volume that her w o o d e n tanktop was blown out and the steamer sank at her dock, with her bow down in 36 feet of water. As may be seen from the p h o t o g r a p h of the wreck w hich a ccompanies this a r ticle, only a po rtion of the stern of VULCAN r e m ained above water. The steamer not only was h e a v i l y down by the bow, but she had a ma r k e d list to s ta rbo ard as well. It was de te r m i n e d that any attempt to salvage VU L C A N w ould require the c o n s tr uct ion of a major c o f f e r d a m around the hull, at cons i d e r a b l e expense, and c on s e q u e n t l y the steamer was a b a n d o n e d to the u n d e r w r i t e r s as a total loss. The wreck lay where it was until the following spring, and on June 10, 1919, V U L C A N was p u r chased for $ 2 0 , 000 by the Ca nadian Towing and W r e c k i n g Comp a n y Ltd. The pur ch as e took place during the course of an auction w h i c h was held at Houghton, Michigan, by the underwriters' representatives, R. Parr y Jones & Company, of Cleveland. The only other bidder at the auction was James Clarke, who was r e p r e s e n t i n g James Playfair, of Midland, Ontario. Playfair, one of Ca nad a's most famous s h i p p i n g entrepreneurs, seldom let a n y t h i n g he wa nt ed escape him, but in this case VULCAN got away and wound up in the hands of Pla yf air's opposition. The new owner of VUL C A N set about salvaging the sunken steamer, and the e f fort was c o m pl eted s u c c e s s f u l l y under the direction of the famed salvage master, Tom Reid, who o p e r a t e d out of Sarnia and Port Huron. Reid raised the V U L C A N with the a ssistance of the big and powerful i c e b r eaking tug JAMES W H A L E N and the w r e c k i n g barge EMPIRE. After being refloated, V U L C A N was towed around to the shipyard at Collingwood, Ontario. Af ter being t ransferred to C a n a d i a n registry and e n r o l l e d at M o n t r e a l under officia l number 138859, the ship was rebuilt by the C o l l i n g w o o d S h i p b u i l d i n g Co mp a n y Li mi te d du ring the au t u m n of 1919 and the fol l o w i n g winter. It would seem possib le that this r e b u i l d i n g was done "on speculation", in the hope that a buyer for the vessel w ould be found once the r e c o n s t r u c t i o n had taken place. On the other hand, her eventual owner might well alre a d y have a c qu ir ed o w ne rs hi p of the steamer.