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Courier 18 July 1901; Buffalo Evening News 18 October 1906; Canadian Railway & Marine World October 1919; Detroit Marine Historian February 1953; Marine Review February 1916; Scanner October 1993; Schell "Canada Steamship Lines" Belgian Shiplover 2/73. WALKER see JAMES A. WALKER WEAVER see R.G.A. WEAVER 61 WESTERIAN iron bulk carrier ex package freighter/passenger vessel ex CITY OF MONTREAL ex CHINA (C 117073 ex U 5972) (Canadian signal letters TPKL). 1917-1918. Original: 1,239.46 tons gross, 931.61 tons net, 210.5' (between perpendiculars), 220' overall. As remeasured Canadian in 1904: 1,554 tons gross, 868 tons net. As rebuilt in 1913: 988 tons gross, 672 net, 217.5'. Lloyd's Register 1924 said 972 tons gross, 561 tons net, 216.8'. Launched on 19 September 1871 as a passenger/freight steamer by Gibson & Craig (aka Craig Shipbuilding), at Buffalo New York, who were subcontractors for the King Iron Works. Yard #6. Iron hull with wooden upperworks. Overlapping hull plates. Round stern. Electric light fitted in about 1885. Her original single-cylinder engine = 130 nominal horsepower was compounded (fore & aft) in 1906 = 550 indicated horsepower, 81 rated horsepower. 1913-14 insurance rating = 90. 1917 value $90,000. 1918 value $78,750. From 1871 to 1904 CHINA ran in the "Anchor Line", initially while owned by Eastern & Western Transportation Co. (Pennsylvania Railroad) of Erie Pennsylvania. Her managers during that period were the Lake Superior Transit Co. She was aground in the St. Clair River Flats in June 1872. On 4 August 1872 she was aground in the Neebish Channel of the St. Mary's River. She sank at Sault Ste. Marie Michigan in November 1872. She got new upperworks in January 1890. In October 1891 she was aground on Pancake Shoal in Lake Superior. CHINA was bought by Montreal and Lake Erie Steamship Co. (H.L. Hurdman) and brought to Canadian registry in 1904. She left Buffalo New York in 1905 under tow of the American tug MASON en route to Toronto. That was where her engine was compounded. She also got a new boiler and was refitted. At that point there may have been a name change to H.L. HURDMAN but only one source that was consulted noted that. She was soon renamed CITY OF MONTREAL and was part of the "Merchants Mutual Line" running MontrealToledo Ohio-Cleveland Ohio-Windsor Ontario-Detroit Michigan. She was damaged by fire at Montreal on 24 March 1913 and was then cut down and rebuilt as a bulk carrier at Kingston Ontario. She was bought by Westerian Transportation Co. Ltd (James H. Hall) of Ottawa in 1913 and was renamed WESTERIAN. The Canadian Railway and Marine World reported in September 1914 that Westerian Transportation Co. Ltd. had been incorporated with $100,000 capital. Montreal Transportation Co. bought the steamer in 1917 for 87