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Marine News - cont'd. 4. A major ruckus erupted in the Niagara Peninsula on M arch 5th, when the St. Lawrence Seaway Au t h o r i t y announced that it planned to close, in some six to twelve months, the narrow Peter Street bridge at Thorold. This bridge over the CN Rail line connects Chapel Street w ith Government Road at the head of Lock 7 of the Welland Ship Canal, and used to lead directly to Bridge 7 which crossed the canal above the lock but was removed some years ago. At present, the Peter Street bridge provides the only public access to the upper end of Government Road, and is essential for public entrance into the Flight Locks area of the canal. The Seaway contends that the 60-year-old bridge requires some $ 3 0 0 , 000 in repairs, a sum it is u n w illing to expend because "we're in the shipping business and we're not in the roadway business". With the Peter Street bridge closed, the Seaway w ould make Government Road a private road all the way up from Glendale Avenue (Bridge 5, Merritton), denying access by the public to the Flight Locks. The mayor of Thorold contends that the Seaway has a re s p o n s i b i l i t y to keep the Peter Street bridge open, and that the city w ould not take over the structure. The whole affair has locals up in arms because it would mean the end of any plans to develop the Lock 7 area of Thorold as a tourist zone, and e sp ecially hard-hit would be the Lock 7 Motel and Restaurant on Chapel Street, a spot familiar to m any T. M. H . S. members. On M arch 9th, the mayor of T horold announced that there was to be a meeting of the mayors of the five m u n i c i p a l i t i e s situated along the canal, as well as a represe n t a t i v e from N iagara Region, to see what might be done about the problem. There is concern not only for the potential loss of tourist dollars, but also because the bridge closure would cause additional traffic problems on the alternate route via Glendale Avenue and Merritt Street, and w ould also affect the ability of e m ergency vehicles to provide p r otection in the area. After her 1991 sinking at Ogdensburg, the former St. Lawrence Seaway D e v e l opment Corp. tug M E N A S H A is now at Sarnia, where she serves the new owner who raised the sunken tug. Readers may well have w o n d e r e d what h a p p e n e d to M E NASHA's sister-tug, MASCOUTA, w hich also was sold by the S. L . S . D . C. when the r efurbished ROBINSON BAY came back on duty. We reported at the time that MASCOUTA, o r i g i n a l l y built for the U . S. Nav y at Philadelphia, had been acquired by a Bill MacLean, but we knew noth i n g more than that. We now learn that in 1992, MacL e a n renamed the tug (c) EDDIE-MAC 1, and hoped to get work for her at the New Brunswick International Paper Cp. facility at Dalhousie, New Brunswick. Such was not forthcoming, and after a period of idleness, the tug is now o p e rating at Belledune, New Brunswick, where a power p l a n t and an ore dock are located. The owners of the Toronto sail excursion vessel EMPIRE SANDY, (a) EMPIRE SANDY, (b) CHRIS M., as well as WAYWARD PRINCESS, (a) CAYUGA II, and also several other non-active hulls, are p l a nning on conv e r t i n g a barge into a two-decked wharfboat to assist with the e x cursion business. The small barge, already owned by the Rogers interests, is being rebuilt at the Toronto Drydock, w hich operates in the hull of the former coaster MENIER CONSOL, located in Toronto's Leslie Street slip off the Turning Basin. We u n d e r s t a n d that the wharfboat, to be used at the foot of Jarvis Street, EMPIRE SANDY's usual docking spot, is to n amed BLOODSHED! It has been reported that a former lake tanker has been renamed. Now operating under the Pana m a n i a n flag, PATRICIA II, (a) IMPERIAL C O L L I N G W O O D (79), (b) SEAWAY TRADER (87), was renamed (d) BALBOA TRADER during 1992. Built at C o l l i n g w o o d in 1948 as the yard's Hull 137, she saw service on the lakes and east coast for m a n y years before departing for the Gulf of Mexico. Her sistership CONGAR (III), (a) IMPERIAL LO N D O N (78), (b) T E G U C I G A L P A (80), has been lying idle at Toronto since 1981, and the derelict presents a most forlorn a ppearance in her resting place along the west wall of the Turning Basin. * * * * *