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would runaway having thewind "free" from those built atBuffalo or Detroit. They weresharper in thebows, cleaner in the "run,"andfor the mostpart with greater "shear,"whichgavethem a more alert and gracefullook. And it must be confessed thatthesailing craft constructed on theCanadian sideof the lakes, certain vessels from Kingston, perhaps, excepted, however strong and seaworthy they proved, were of the bluff-bowed, straight-railed order, not comparable in swiftness or marine beauty with their American sisters. It was possible for an accustomed observer to say, as itwas long afterward said ofsteam craft, when avessel hove in sight miles away, "Here comes a lower-laker, boys, and from the lower side ofthe lake, too. Look at her hollow bows and her shear." What asight it was to see the grain fleet coming up Lake Erie in the early spring, bound for the Lake Michigan ports to load with yellow wheat! Ayacht race on agrand scale -acontest in seamanship and finesse -astruggle for position and the chance offirst cargo at good freight rates when the distant western port should be reached. 'Tirst come, first served." Ifthe "White Cloud' proved the swiftest on &e voyage from Buffalo to Chicago, light, the chances were that she would prove the^ftest sailor on the succeeding down trip, loaded. With what delight we bovs used to watch the fleet, long becalmed, or by reason ofadverse wind compelled to anchor offBar Pomt, presently get underway with asoutheast wind. Then would we set ourselves "To watch the swelling sail Spreading fast before the gale - Spreading fast without a wrinkle ora fold." Having set sail in the glittering sunlight, forward they would press in an eager clustw to mter the mouth ofDetroit River, then narrower than it is today mderabnsk south^ hreeze, their captains jockeying, fleeing the sheet or hauling close to escape collision, grounding sometimes on the flats below Bois Blanc h^ouK, Mt^g away bowsprit or top hamper, running ashore in the eastern bay tou^ lack ofsearoom, cheering, cursing or jeering each other at the success or Fort so ttathey could set every stitch ofsail for Detroit and Lake St. Clair. If the subject did not border so closely upon the improper, one might dilate upon the style ofprofamty then cmrent among mates and captains. Ican truthflillv proimun« their expletives not only fervid but original. For Lything like tt^m one m^t go back to flie pages of'Tom Cringle's Log" or to Mark Twai '̂ Ire OldTimes ontheMississippi."Theyhad. as Kipling somewhere saysXeS K m in n •1 pi t- Bast Indian swearing, "a blistering, biting appropriateness." Heard from araging and gesticulating figure on alake schooner's deck, the cursing of the early Civil War period was horribly ingenious; often expressly technical; always intense. And what splendid specimens of the shipbuilders' art were there; the long, graceful three-master, square-rigged on the foremast and with studding sails hoisted when she got clear of the ruck; the smaller brig, more easily handled to the fi^t; the dainty schooner, masts close together, gaff topsails, jibs, stay sails, all drawing, some painted white with agold band below the scuppers, some green or claret brown, one or two black with white streak or imitation portholes at her bulwarks. In any close-hauled contest of naval wills the handy fore-and-after had the pas; brigantine and barques, while comely, were cumbersome to handle and could not lie so close to the wind. When opposite Fort Maiden and neanng the Lime-Kiln rock which it has since cost millions to blast away to atwenty-foot depth, up would go the flag of the winning vessel or perhaps abroom at her masthead as token of victory And the cheers ofher victorious crew would be answered by the cheers of Igroup ofus youngsters on the Canadian bank who had been wagermg their wealtha. j Gin marbles on the respective favorites among the fleet. Nothing in the latter day procession of great steel freight boats along that marvellous strait of the Detroit can equal in brightness and interest to our eyes the array ofwhite-winged floating craft which in those days exemplified seamanship on the Great Lakes. To picturesqueness and grace has succeeded stolid, niggard carrying capacity -smoke-belching funnel by day, lugubrious whistles, range li^ts and green or red signals by night. It makes one want to paraphrase Edmund Burke, and ^y: "The age of [marine] chivalry is gone! That ofeconomists and calculators has succeeded." -Toronto, 12th March 1905. April combination in the towing and wrecking business has been formed on Detroit River. The Great Lakes Towing Co. and the Hackett Wrecking Co. of Amherstburg have signed an agreement to work together during the coming season and the fierce rivalry which existed last season and ayear ago will not be repeated^ The Hackett Wrecking Co. put the tugs Home Rule, Florence and Christian md lighter Hammond into the combination and will work in harmony with the marine