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Marine News - c o n t 'd . It has been r e p o r t e d that, during July, d i s m a n t l i n g oper a t i o n s wer e under way at Stu rg eo n Bay on the remains of the former K i n s m a n steamer GE O R G E E. SEEDHOUSE, (a) W I L L I A M J. OLCOTT (70). The 1910-built steamer, o r i g i n a l l y part of the fleet of the Pitts b u r g h S t eamship Company, was sold by Ki nsman in 1975, and her hull was used as a parts storage w a r e h o u s e and f a b r i c a t i o n shop at the Bay S h i p b u i l d i n g yard at S t u r g e o n Bay. When she was no longer ne e d e d for this purpose, the shipyard reduced the S E E D H O U S E to a de c k barge. Now, however, she appears to have outlived any possible u s e f u l n e s s and her 83- year life has r e a c h e d its end. Du ri ng August, the Law D e partmen t of the Cit y of Detroit took ac t i o n to r e cover more than $ 3 0 0 , 000 in over due dockage and license fees as well as u t i lity charges ow ed by the operators of the Baja Beach Club, which has been o p e r a t i n g ab oar d the former c a r f e r r y LA N S D O W N E on the De troit waterf ront. In ea rl ie r issues, we d o c u m e n t e d the changes in own e r s h i p and m a n a g e m e n t of LA N S D O W N E in her rather c h equered second career as a float i n g rest a u r a n t and bar, con trol most r e c e n t l y i n vol ving a firm known as Ca pital Gaines Inc., of Fo wl erv ill e, Mic hi gan. This same company la tterly a c q u i r e d contro l of the former Boblo s t e a m e r s C O L U M B I A and STE. CLAIRE. Despite the d r y d o c k i n g of CO L U M B I A for r e p a i r s and inspe c t i o n at Ni c h o l s o n ' s e arly in 1993, neither steamer has made even one of the excursions that were promised. On August 6, the city filed a lawsuit in Wayne County Ci rcuit Court, seeking to seize the asset s of L a n s d o w n e Enterp r i s e s Limited P a r t n e r s h i p (a c o n s o r t i u m of four c or p o r a t i o n s w h i c h r e p o r t e d l y are involved in the L A N S D O W N E ' s n i g h t c l u b o p e rations), and Gr eat Lakes Steamships Inc., the firm a l l e g e d l y in c ontrol of C O L U M B I A and STE. CLAIRE. Detr oit police and a county ba iliff r e p o r t e d l y a t te mp te d to close the n i g h t c l u b on August 6th, but a court stay was secured by cou nsel for E d w a r d Gaines, CEO of Capital Gaines Inc. Gaines was re ported by "The De tro it News" as deny i n g that the firm owed the city anything. LA N S D O W N E ' s o p e r a t i o n s were re p orted as ha v i n g produced gross r e c eipts of close to $3 m i l l i o n in 1992! A June, 1993, re port from the World Ship So ciety in d i c a t e d that the scrap tow of the former Canada S t e amship Lines ve ssels STA D A C O N A and W H I T E F I S H BAY had re ach ed its i n t e n d e d destination, Z h a n g j i a g a n g , China, sometime prior to F e b ru ar y 28, 1993. WH I T E F I S H BAY had d e p a r t e d Sorel, Quebec, on Sept ember 30, 1992, in tow of the Russ i a n tug U M K A , and the tow stopped b r i e f l y at P o i n te -a u- Pi c to pick up STADACONA. Original plans were for the tow to call at Argentia, N e w f o u n d l a n d , to pick up scrap metal cargoes for the two former lakers, but we have no c o n f i r m a t i o n that this stop a c t u a l l y was made. (We suspect that it was n o t . ) The tow did stop en route off Honolulu, Hawaii, on J a n u a r y 4, 1993. The two steamers were sold via Jimmy S. Y. Chen, of ChencoInter Pac Trade, of Puyallup, Washington. The summer of 1993 has not been a very h a p p y one for the m u s e u m ship WILLIS B. BOYER, (a) COL. JAMES M. SCHOONMAKER (69), latterly a member of the nowdefunc t C l e v e l a n d - C l i f f s S t e amship Company fleet, and more r e c e n t l y on d i s pl ay at Toledo, Ohio. Some 18 months ago, incidents of v a n d a l i s m ag ainst the ship and against the p r o perty of museum employees have been reported. In addition, the (now former) executive director received a death threat at her office. Then, in June, three homemade bombs exploded ou tside the home of one of the mu seu m's officials. Dur i n g July, graffiti was pain t e d on the ship's hull, displa ys a b o a r d the BOYER were damaged, and e l e c t r i c a l and telephone lines were severed. News reports indicated that Toledo City Council had r e q u e s t e d an i n v e s t i g a t i o n into the problems. It was s u g g e s t e d that some of the damage might have been cause d by some d i s g r u n t l e d former emplo y e e of the museum. We s i n c e r e l y trust that the problems can be ha l t e d and that the ha nds ome BOYER m a y c o n tinue on public di splay as a r e m inder of the hey d a y of s t e a m - p o w e r e d f r e i g h t e r s on the Great Lakes. The BOYER was built in 1911 by the Great Lakes E n g i n e e r i n g Works at Ecorse. * * * * *