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

Ship of the Month - cont'd. were round-topped and sectioned. There was a decorative finial atop the domed roof of the pilothouse, and the galley smokestack rose up from the forecastle so that its wind-vaned head was just to port of the pilothouse top. As long as she ran as OCEAN, the steamer's hull and cabins were painted white, while the stack was all black. The cabin trim, including window shut­ ters, was a dark colour, but we cannot tell whether it was green or perhaps brown. There was a closed bulwark forward on the promenade deck, with an open post rail down the sides and around the fantail. An open pipe rail was provided at the forward end of the hurricane deck and around the observation deck. OCEAN was first registered at St. Catharines, and was re-registered there on July 18, 1884, at which time she was given Canadian official number 88633. The St. Catharines register showed her as 137. 0 x 23. 3 x 11. 7; 683. 72 Gross Tons, 454. 32 Net; 326. 39 tons below the tonnage deck; 203. 32 tons between decks plus 154. 01 tons saloon (cabin on deck) minus 205. 24 tons machinery space minus 24. 16 tons crew space. John Mills' Canadian Coastal and Inland Steam Vessels 1809-1930 shows her as 137 x 24, originally 641 Gross Tons, and rebuilt 1884 as 684 Gross. The 1873 and 1874 Lake Vessel Registers of the Association of Canadian Lake Under­ writers recorded OCEAN as 400 "American Tonnage", valued at $30, 000 and classed A 1 . The List of Vessels forming part of the Annual Report of the De­ partment of Marine and Fisheries for 1874 showed OCEAN as 137. 0 x 23. 5 x 11. 7, 358 Gross and 287 Net, registered at the port of St. Catharines. The variations in measurements and tonnages are not surprising considering the state of record-keeping at the time. All reports agree that Sylvester Neelon was the registered owner of the ship. OCEAN was powered by a low pressure steam engine with cylinder of 36 inches diameter and stroke of 30 inches, which was built for her by Geo. N. Oille and produced 100 h. p. At least, so said the St. Catharines register. The 1899 Great Lakes Register (Bureau Veritas) mis-spelled the engine builder's name as "G. N. Oills", but showed that the engine had two cylinders, of 19 and 36 inches diameter and with a 30-inch stroke, which produced Indicated Horsepower of 390 at 80 revolutions per minute. We are inclined to believe the Great Lakes Register, which also recorded in 1899 that OCEAN was by then equipped with one Scotch boiler built in 1894 by J. Inglis, Toronto. Producing steam at a working pressure of 107 p. s. i., it measured 10'6" in diameter and 11'0" in length. It had two furnaces, with 46 square feet of grate surface and 1, 175 square feet of heating surface. No­ where have we been able to find any details of OCEAN'S original boiler. Incidentally, the same 1899 Great Lakes Register showed OCEAN as built of oak, 137'0" x 23'0" x 11'6", 684 Gross and 454 Net. Confusion truly reigned supreme amongst the record keepers of the nineteenth century! On her maiden voyage, OCEAN arrived at Kingston on April 27th from Port Dal­ housie to load iron at the Montreal Transportation Company's wharf for Chi­ cago, and she arrived at the latter port on May 11 after a brief stop at Windsor. The "St. Catharines Weekly News" of August 13, 1873, stated that OCEAN passed Lock 2 at 6: 00 p. m. the previous night, after a run from Kings­ ton to Port Dalhousie, about 180 miles, in 15 hours. "Her last round trip from Montreal to Chicago and back, was made in 15 1/4 days, exclusive of a Sun­ day in the canal. (The locks were not then operated on Sundays -Ed. ) She was detained but 3 1/2 hours loading at Chicago. This is a quick time, but it is not to be wondered at, as she is almost new... She has an energetic owner, Sylvester Neelon, and a thorough-going captain, Archibald McMaugh. " Undoubtedly much to the delight of her owner, OCEAN does not appear to have been involved in any major accidents early in her career. Capt. McMaugh re­ ported to the Detroit press that he had seen the topmast of a vessel sticking out of Lake Erie off Point au Pelee after a particularly bad summer storm in