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

3. Marine News - cont'd. manently, we believe) of command, and the tow was later permitted to proceed up the canal with the first mate in command. It is fortunate that we are not in a position of having to report any more serious consequences of the AN­ GLIAN LADY's master's "indiscretion". Another incident of "impaired boating" occurred during the evening of Sep­ tember 17th, when U. S. Coast Guard officers, boarding the Croatian salty HERCEGOVINA at the Snell Lock for a routine ballast water examination, found that the ship's master and third mate were under the influence of alcohol. New York State police were summoned to administer the necessary tests, as a result of which the third mate, who was found to be legally intoxicated, was arrested and hauled off to Franklin County jail. The master was not "over the limit" and, although assessed a civil penalty, was returned to the ship. The HERCEGOVINA, which was bound in ballast for Toledo to load a cargo of soya beans, was delayed overnight at the Wilson Hill anchorage, but was allowed to proceed on the morning of September 18th. Although it had been intended that a new unloading bridge would be ready for use at the Dofasco plant at Hamilton by late summer, the completion of the structure (to replace a bridge that collapsed early in 1995) has been de­ layed. Accordingly, HAMILTON TRANSFER, (a) J. H. HILLMAN JR. (74), (b) CRISPIN OGLEBAY (II)(95), remains in service as a cargo transfer facility at the steel plant, and likely will continue to serve in that capacity until the close of the 1997 navigation season. There has been much speculation amongst observers as to what use Upper Lakes Shipping will put the self­ unloading steamer when her transfer service ends. Work continues at the Bay Shipbuilding yard in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, on the conversion of the Interlake Steamship Company's straight-deck bulk car­ rier J. L. MAUTHE into a self-unloading barge to be named (b) PATHFINDER. All of the ship's superstructure has been removed, and the stern cut down in preparation for the construction of a towing notch. Although it earlier had been suggested that a tug would be brought in from salt water to handle the PATHFINDER once her conversion is complete, Interlake has decided instead to build a brand new Z-drive tug for the purpose. She is to be 126 feet in length and will have two 4, 000 B. H. P. diesel engines. The break-up of the once-large tanker fleet of Socanav Inc. continues. Advertised for sale by public auction at Brest, France, on September 18th was W. M. VACY ASH, (a) LAKESHELL (III) (87). Sale of the 1969-built motor­ vessel was held at the request of her crew, following a court judgment ren­ dered on July 30, 1997, by the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Brest. The tanker was offered on an "as is/where is" basis and was lying in the Port of Brest. We have as yet received no word as to whether a buyer was found for the Panamanian-registered ship, but it seems certain that we will never see her back in the Great Lakes. Another Canadian-owned tanker recently was sold to foreign owners. The Ener­ chem Transport Inc. tanker ENERCHEM ASPHALT, (a) MARINA (82), (b) OT MARINE (87), (c) ASFAMARINE (88), which had been lying at Les Mechins, Quebec, was acquired during June by as-yet-unidentified owners who registered her in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and took her away for deep-sea service under her new Caribbean "flag of convenience" and with the new name (e) AFRICAN AS­ PHALT. The ship was built in Sweden in 1972 and was acquired by Enerchem in 1988. A U. S. -flag tanker also recently made her exit from the lakes. The 1978- built, 150-foot motortanker REISS MARINE, owned by Reiss Oil Terminal, Ma­ rine Fueling Division, has spent her entire life as a bunkering ship. She was not put into operation this spring, however, and remained in lay-up at Superior, Wisconsin. Sold to Mexican buyers and renamed (b) PACIFICO 1, she left the lakes under her own power, passing down at the Soo on August 20 and at the Welland Canal on August 24.