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3. Season's Gre et in gs - cont'd. vey and inspection, whi ch bot h passed, thus boding well for their c o ntinued operation. U . S. operat or s dabb l e d a bit in the export grain trade for the first time in m a n y years, as both A M E R I C A N MARI N E R and J. L. MA U T H E made trips down to M o n treal wit h grain which had been loaded at Toledo. Some other older un its of the U . S. fleet con t i n u e d in activ e service. A m e r i can Steamship C o m p a n y co nt inued to run the steamer JOH N J. BOLAND, w h i c h was re a c t i v a t e d in 1992 after m any ye ars of idleness. Inl an d Lakes T r a n s p o r t a tion i n d e f i n i t e l y pos t p o n e d the repow e r i n g of S. T. CR APO becau se the cement trade was such that the fleet could not spare her, and the ven e r a b l e E. M. FORD, built in 1898, not onl y saw summer service for I. L . T. but r e m a i n e d in commi s s i o n deep into the autumn. The U . S. tanker fleet r e m ained small and u n i m p r e s s i v e , and we look back wi th fondness to the ye ars wh en the big tankers of the St andard Oil and C l e v e l a n d Tankers fleets were co mmon sights aro un d the lakes. Today, all one n o r m a l l y sees is barges, just like on the inl an d rivers! One of the maj or selfpro p e l l e d tankers, GEMINI, own ed by C l e v e l a n d Tank er s (1991) Inc., but m a r k e t e d by E n e r c h e m US A Inc., not only spent m uch of her time in idleness, but spent that time not at an A m e r i c a n port but rather in the N orth Slip at Point Edward! The package freight trade on the Great Lakes is well and truly dead, it seems, and no major lake vesse l was en gaged in this service dur in g 1993. The last of the big pack ag e f reighters r e maining in the system, albeit idle for man y years, was sold for scrapping, as the former Cana da S t eamship Lines' FORT ST. LOUIS made her wa y to a Col o m b i a n s h i p b r e a k i n g yard. There was little pas senger boat a c t ivity on the lakes in 1993, apart from the services p r o v i d e d by the small local exc u r s i o n vessels, a l t hough the hi storic SEGWUN c o ntinued to do well on the Musk o k a Lakes. It seems li kely that an i n t e r e s t i n g new p a s s e n g e r service m a y beg in on the lakes in 1994, a l t hough the ship to be use d wi ll be a small one, but the 1995 season seems likely to see the arriv al of a maj or pas s e n g e r ship in lake service, if present plans come to fruition. Perhaps those of us who have been y e a r n i n g for the p o s s i b i l i t y of sta nd in g once again on the decks of a big pas s e n g e r boat as we cross the lakes and transit the rivers and canals may see our dreams come true. In the me antime, we must let our imag i n a t i o n s take us ba ck to those days w hen the D & C, Great Lakes Transit, G e o r g i a n Bay Line, Can ad a Ste a m s h i p Lines and C a n a d i a n Pa cific R a i l w a y steamers car ri ed us around the lakes, and those of us who a c t u a l l y e x p e r i e n c e d fir s t h a n d A N Y of those opera t i o n s are the lucky ones, even though our nu mbers de crease wit h the pa ssing of each y e a r ... On a more plea sant note, 1993 was a good year for s h i p w a t c h i n g around the lakes, at least as res pe ct s the weather. The rest of the co ntinent may have e x p e r i e n c e d w e a t h e r that was the pits, w ith maj or floods, fire storms, or cold and damp weather, but we had almost pe rfect co nditions. True, wat er levels were u n u s u a l l y high in the spring due to run -o ff fr om the m ajor snows of last winter, but even th ough Ward's Is landers had to sandbag their homes and install pumps to keep the wat er s of Lake Ont ar io at bay, the w ater drop p e d early and quickly, and we then e n j o y e d a long, hot and sunny summer. Even Lake Ontario off the Toro n t o be aches beca me war m en o u g h and (dare we say i t ? ) clean en o u g h that peop le floc ke d to the water to swim. It se emed almost as if the "good old days" had returned, but as Ye Ed. swam at the Ward's Island b each (or what rem ai ns of it), he was not able to cat ch even the briefest glimps e of a N i a g a r a p a ssenger boat comin g or going through the East e r n Gap. Where on e arth went those three o p e rators who wer e so e n t h u s i a s t i c a short while ago conc e r n i n g their plans to run c r oss-lake p a s senger services in 1993? And the late Ala n H o w ard's b e l o v e d CA Y U G A was n o where in sight, no matter ho w ha rd we tried to conjure up her image!