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

3. Marine News - cont'd. which are severely under-utilized as a result of seasonal peaks and valleys in the grain trade, and the shortage of docks equipped with their own ship- unloading gear. It will be interesting to see whether any of the bulk car­ riers will be disposed of as superfluous to the new operator's needs. The work on the re-engining of CUYAHOGA began as soon as the Lower Lakes Towing steamer arrived at her winter lay-up berth in the North Slip at Sar­ nia (Point Edward). The first sign of the work was the removal of her smoke­ stack, which was placed on deck forward of the after cabin. The new Cater­ pillar diesel should be fitted in place of the original poppet-valve steam machinery in time for CUYAHOGA to re-enter service in the spring. CUYAHOGA normally winters at Port Stanley, but that port is devoid of major lay-ups, as CUYAHOGA'S fleet-mate SAGINAW is also wintering at Sarnia, for the com­ pletion of her post-purchase refurbishing. As we had anticipated, SAGINAW looks absolutely stunning in the distinctive Lower Lakes Towing colours. There will be a new sail excursion vessel on the lakes this summer. She is the 66-foot WESTWIND, which was built in Florida in 1992 and has been opera­ ting in Maine waters. Acquired by the Traverse Tall Ship Company for excur­ sion service on West Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, the vessel was trucked from Portland, Maine, and arrived at Traverse City on January 20th. The topsail schooner will replace the company's aging MALABAR, which had to be retired because of the condition of its ferro-concrete hull. Last season, the company had to divert its other sailing ship, MANITOU, from its regular service out of Northport in order to sub for the MALABAR, but the arrival of WEST WIND will allow MANITOU to return to her usual trade. Although virtually nothing is ever heard about it in the Toronto press, the Lake Ontario Fast Ferry Corp. is actively pursuing its efforts to establish a fast ferry service between Toronto and Rochester, and its pursuit of funds and local infrastructure improvements in the Rochester area frequently make the pages of the press on the south side of the lake. At last report, the corporation was some $10 to $15 million short of the $35 million needed to get the service off the drawing boards, although the entire project is esti­ mated to cost some $200 million. No construction contracts for the two fer­ ries have yet been signed, and it remains unclear whether they would be built in Wisconsin or overseas. There has, of course, been no sign of any dock preparation on the Toronto side, and one wonders how the plans for a terminal on the east side of the Eastern Gap would fit in with the plans for a Toronto Olympic bid, since the construction of facilities for the 2008 Olympics would virtually wipe out the entire eastern-harbour port facilities as we know them today, including the area mentioned as a ferry dock site. We now have more information on the Great Lakes visit of the Liberty ship JOHN W. BROWN, which will be coming to Toledo for the re-rivetting of her hull this summer. She is to sail from Baltimore on May 15th and arrive at Toledo on May 27th. She will be there until July 14th, and then will be on display and open to the public until the 20th. On her way out of the lakes, she will call at Windsor, Erie, Cleveland, Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. She will be running public day cruises on July 22 out of Windsor and July 29 out of Cleveland. The BROWN will be at Toronto from August 4th until the 8th, and we now hear that a day trip will be operated here on Sun­ day, August 6th. We would like more details, please! KEEP THOSE CARDS AND LETTERS COMING...! We sincerely thank all those who have written concerning our OSSIFRAGE fea­ ture, and the history of LEMOYNE which appeared last issue. OSSIFRAGE con­ tinues this issue, but a return visit to LEMOYNE will have to await space next issue. You also can look forward to more about LEAFIELD and her Algoma fleetmates! Please stay tuned.