The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

3. Marine News - cont'd. One of the most sad sights along the Toronto waterfront was moved in late August from her longtime mooring on the west wall of the Turning Basin and soon will be reduced to scrap. The tanker CONGAR (III) had been idle since July 25th, 1981, and her decade and a half of languor showed in her appear ance, for not only time but the extensive efforts of vandals had taken their toll on the once-handsome steamer. She was built for Imperial Oil Limited in 1948 as Hull 138 of Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., and was christened (a) IMPERIAL LONDON. Originally of canal dimensions, she was lengthened in 1961 with a new midbody, and then again in 1969 with a modern bulbous bow and ex tended transom stern. She was sold in 1977 and a Honduran firm, Fletmar S. A., renamed her (b) TEGUCIGALPA, but she never left the lakes. She reposed in the Marine Salvage scrapyard at Ramey's Bend for several years and in 1979 she was acquired by Johnstone Shipping Ltd., Toronto, which renamed her (c) CONGAR (III). She ran only sporadically and briefly for that company which eventually foundered in a financial morass. Sandrin Brothers Ltd., of Sarnia, reportedly owned the ship from 1984 until 1996, but she now has been acquired by Compressed Metals Limited, which operates a scrapyard on the north side of the Leslie Street Slip off the east end of the Turning Basin. CONGAR has now been moved from her longtime resting place to a spot on the south side of the Ship Channel, at the west end of the Hearn Generating Plant, where she apparently will be dismantled. We do not like to see a ves sel of her type disappear, but in her case, the scrappers will most certain ly be doing a kindness by putting the sad old ship out of her misery. A brand new overnight cruise vessel will be operating on the Great Lakes in 1997. To be named GEORGIAN HERITAGE, the ship will be owned by Heritage Cruise Lines, and she currently is under construction at the Duratug shipyard at Port Dover, Ontario. She will be taken to Port Dalhousie for the fitting of her interior furnishings, which are to include ten two-berth ca bins on the main deck and lounge and dining facilities on the upper deck. It is anticipated that GEORGIAN HERITAGE will be ready in the spring to start running cruises of 3 to 5 days duration on Georgian Bay. The ship will be 78 feet long, with a beam of 25 feet, and she will draw 41 / 2 feet of water. Power will be provided by two 215 h. p. Volvo diesels. Port Weller Dry Docks will be doing at least two more self-unloader conversions in the near future. The first will involve the ULS Corporation's CANADIAN NAVIGATOR, (a) DEMETERTON (75), (b) ST. LAWRENCE NAVIGATOR (80), which was built overseas in 1967, brought to the lakes in 1975, and rebuilt with a new bow and midbody in 1980. She reportedly will enter the Port Wel ler shipyard during November for the start of her conversion which, we are told, will feature a somewhat different type of unloading arrangement. Once the work on CANADIAN NAVIGATOR has been finished, the Algoma Central Corpo ration's ALGOVILLE will return to Port Weller for self-unloader conversion. ALGOVILLE has spent the summer of 1996 at Port Weller undergoing the re placement of her side tanks and the widening of her hull by some three feet. This interesting reconstruction has made her the widest Seaway-size laker, but is somewhat unusual in that ALGOVILLE's deck remains at its old 75-foot breadth and the widened section only begins some five feet down the sides below the deck. As it turns out, this summer's work has been only the first step in ALGOVILLE's complete modernization; step two will begin next year when she receives her new unloading gear. Lloyd's reports continue to document the painfully slow trip of the former Upper Lakes Shipping steamer CANADIAN HUNTER, (a) HAMILTONIAN (68), (b) PETITE HERMINE (72), to a scrapyard in India. As well, the reports continue to include the totally erroneous information that she is accompanied in the scrap tow by the "d-e buoy & supply vessel SIMCOE" - meaning the Canadian Coast Guard boat which is, of course, still in service. The vessel being towed along with CANADIAN HUNTER is the former Algoma Central motorvessel ALGOSTREAM, which until 1994 sailed as (a) SIMCOE for Canada Steamship