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Ship of the Month - cont'd. 10. Ontario, heard Captain Carson's hour-long description of the voyage of the two ships from the Lakehead to the point in Lake Superior where the ARLING­ TON sank. Captains Henry W. King and F. J. Davis acted as assessors as the inquiry opened. (Capt. King was a veteran of the Niagara Navigation passen­ ger steamers, while Capt. Davis came from the C. P. R. boats -Ed. ) G. P. Camp­ bell, K. C., represented the federal Department of Transport; Frank Wilkin­ son, K. C., of Toronto, the Burke Towing and Salvage Company... and Carl Es- sery of the Michigan Bar acted for the cargo interests of Detroit. "Capt. Carson... was the first witness called... 'Northeast with snowflur- ries' was the weather report at Port Arthur when he left the head of the la­ kes on April 30... 'The ARLINGTON and the COLLINGWOOD proceeded almost toge­ ther up to Thunder Cape. Then we left the ARLINGTON four miles behind. Visi­ bility became very hazy about 2 p. m., ' he continued, referring to his log. "'I checked my vessel down before I reached Passage Island, and allowed the ARLINGTON to pass me, as I had no direction finder on board. The ARLINGTON had... I passed Passage Island about 5: 36 p. m., five or six minutes behind the ARLINGTON... At 9: 52 p. m. we encountered heavy seas. The wind had fresh­ ened. I eased up my ship. The ARLINGTON had decreased her speed, too. The COLLINGWOOD was getting quite a shaking. At 12: 38 a. m., May 1, I checked my ship to three-quarter speed. The ARLINGTON was about one mile ahead. The vi­ sibility was about three to four miles then. ' "Testifying that his ship was loaded to the intermediate load line, Capt. Carson told the court the COLLINGWOOD had ten to twelve feet of freeboard. 'From the hatch coaming to the head of the grain there would be about six feet, ' he stated. 'The deck was not awash, but the waves would surge over occasionally. "'At 2: 30 a. m. the wind had increased to gale force. At 3: 45 a. m., I checked my engines to half-speed, because I didn't want to be driving my ship through the heavy seas. Besides, I found I was going to leave the ARLINGTON behind, and I didn't want to do that in a northeast gale in case anything happened to her steering gear. We were abreast of the ARLINGTON about that time. "'The ARLINGTON was a mile to two miles on our starboard side. I checked down and the ARLINGTON went ahead. At 4: 20 I altered my course, bringing the COLLINGWOOD head to wind. The ARLINGTON had hauled, too, and was headed for the north shore. "'At 4: 30 we were standing by the ARLINGTON after distress signals were blown. She blew a series of five or six short whistles, and four long whis­ tles. Four long whistles means "we want to communicate with you". I was a quarter to half a mile from the ARLINGTON. It was breaking day. The ARLING­ TON looked low in the water. I saw they were launching a boat over the star­ board side. As soon as she blew the distress signal I made straight for her, as close as I dare. I saw the lifeboat taken around the stern of the ARLING­ TON so the rest of the crew could get in. "'I could see quite distinctly. It was getting lighter. The ARLINGTON looked to be in great distress. I was to starboard of the ARLINGTON. She had gone into the trough of the seas. She had apparently lost some way. I didn't see anything unusual about her decks. When the ARLINGTON first gave her distress signal, I called my crew to stand by. At 5: 15 a. m. Steamer ARLINGTON foun­ dered, ' said Capt. Carson, referring again to his log, 'the crew leaving in a boat. ' The next notation is 5: 30 a. m. 'Crew of ARLINGTON alongside in life boat, crew getting on board. I was on the bridge when the crew came on board and I heard no conversation. It was approximately fifteen minutes between the time the ARLINGTON foundered and the crew came on board. The ARLINGTON'S stern settled slowly and when she got up to her No. 2 hatch, the ship rolled on her port side. ' "Walter Raymond Palmer, first mate of the COLLINGWOOD, the second witness...