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7. Ship of the M o n t h - cont'd. tened, respectively, ALGO N Q U I N S and SIOUX, n a m e d for N o r t h A m e r i c a n native tribes, and they were of g e n e r a l l y the same design as other canalle rs then being built for the Paterson and Sarnia S t e a m s h i p s (Misener) fleets. The May, 1929, issue of "Canadian Rail w a y and Marine World" reported, on the same page that m e n t i o n e d the March 26 and A p r i l 6 launches of A L G O N Q U I N S and SIOUX, that the "Inl and S t e amship Co Ltd., of Winnipeg, Manitoba, has had two steamships, IMARI and PHENICIA, built by Swan, Hunter & Wi g h a m R i c h a r d son at Wal l s e n d - o n - T y n e , England". Desp ite the r e putation for accur a c y m a i n tained by this august journal, this p a r t i c u l a r report was somewhat less than correct in several respects. In fact, the ven e r a b l e and famous Swan, H u n t e r firm tried to cash in on the demand for c a n a l - s i z e d steamers for the C a n a d i a n lake trade, and in 1929 built four such ships "on speculation", h o p i n g to peddle them after c o m p l e tion. They were named for anci ent civilizations, being christened PHENICIA, IMARI, D A M I A and SARACEN. These were the s h i p b u i l d e r ' s Sunderland, England, Hulls n u m b e r e d 1367, 1383, 1395 and 1397, respectively, l a u n c h e d in M a r c h of 1929. The four "spec" stea mers were not picked up by any of the big C a n a d i a n canal-ler operators, but inst ead appear to have been p u r c h a s e d by K e n n e t h A. Scott, of Cleveland, Ohio. As near as we can guess (in the absence of d o c u mentation), Scott must have run into difficulties, for the first two ships, PH E N I C I A and IMARI, appe ar to have been r e p o s s e s s e d by Swan, Hunter & W i g h a m Ri c h a r d s o n Ltd. A new company, Inland Lines Ltd. (and not Inland S t e a m s h i p Co. Ltd., as earlier ment ioned), w ith offices at Winnipeg, was r e p o rted in July of 1929 as h a v i n g been formed to take over from K e n n e t h A. Scott, Cleveland, his interest in the stea mers D A M I A and SARACEN. R e aders might be inter e s t e d to note, however, that the p r e s i d e n t of Inland Lines Ltd., w hich took over D A M I A and S A R A C E N from K e n n e t h A. Scott, was A. E. Spendlove, Winnipeg, while the v i c e - p r e s i d e n t of the company was none other than the same K e n n e t h Scott. The report of this was carried in the June, 1929, issue of "Can adian R a i l w a y and Mar i n e World". It also i n d i c a t e d that S A R A C E N had been launched on March 26, 1929, and D A M I A on April 17th. Interestingly, we n e v e r have seen dates r e p o r t e d for the launch of P H E N I C I A or IMARI, nor were the dates of their a r r i v a l in Canada reported, to the best of our knowledge. (Perhaps it is a bit too early in this n a r r a t i v e to m e n t i o n this fact, but of PHENICIA, IMARI, DAMIA, SARACEN, A L G O N Q U I N S and SIOUX, all but one would finish out their days under the o w nership of the Paterson fleet, so five of the n e a r - s i s t e r s h i p s w o u l d e v e n t u a l l y be r e u n i t e d . ) In any event, P H E N I C I A and IMARI were a c q u i r e d by St. L a w r e n c e S t eamships Ltd. (thus joining A L G O N Q U I N S and SIOUX), and they made their way safely across the N orth A t l a n t i c to Canada. All four of these steamers were in s e r vice in the grain trade by the late spring of 1929. P H E N I C I A was 2 5 2 . 8 feet in leng th between p e r p e n d i c u l a r s , 4 3. 4 feet in the beam, and 1 7 . 8 feet in depth, and her tonnage was 1938 Gross and 1157 Net. She was powered by a triple e x p a n s i o n engine w i t h cylinders of 15, 25 and 40 inches diameter and a stroke of 33 inches, w hich p r o d u c e d 92 N o m i n a l Horsepower. Steam at 180 p . s . i. was produced by two coal-fired, s i n g l e - e n d e d Scotch boilers w h i c h m e a s u r e d 1 0 ' 1 " by 10'9", and which had a grate surface of 64 square feet and a heating surf ace of 2 , 136 square feet. The engine and boil ers were built for the ship by MacColl & P o l l o c k Ltd., of Sunderland. P H E N I C I A was a typical canaller of Swan, H u n t e r build, one of the most p r o lific of the canal boat designs. She had a s t r aight stem and counter stern, a step in her deck, and almost no sheer to her hull. Her anchors were c a r ried in pock ets with low, rounded tops, set nea r the stem just below deck level. There was a h a l f - r a i s e d forecastle, ente r e d by d e s c e n d i n g several