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Ship of the Month - cont'd. 10. turret pilothouse had five windows in its front, whereas EDMONTON'S had only four. BEAVERTON and EDMONTON, along with HADDINGTON and MAPLETON, operated well for Mathews and its affiliate until 1910. To lay the groundwork for what happened then, we must go back in time to 1907, the same year that Mathews formed the Merchants Steamship Company. On April 13, 1907, there was incor­ porated the Mutual Steamship Company, of Port Colborne, its officers being D. McGillivray, Port Colborne, president; W. M. German, M. P., Welland, vice- president; Louis Kinnear, secretary-treasurer; Capt. J. W. Norcross, mana­ ging director. Not surprisingly, in view of what we know of later Canadian lake history, Roy M. Wolvin also was a director. On May 2nd, 1910, the Mutual Steamship Company and the Merchants Steamship Company were merged to form the Merchants Mutual Line Ltd. D. B. Hanna was president of the new firm, and Zebulon A. Lash was vice-president. Directors were Sir Henry M. Pellatt, Frederick Nicholls and W. H. Moore, while Capt. James W. Norcross was manager. Although the company was not incorporated un­ til the spring of 1910, an article in the May 1909 issue of "The Railway and Marine World" indicated that Merchants Mutual Line was operating as early as 1909. That year, its fleet included: A. E. AMES, J. H. PLUMMER and H. M. PELLATT, sisterships owned by the Canadian Lake & Ocean Navigation Co.; ACADIAN (I), CANADIAN and WASAGA, of the Mutual Steamship Co.; ADVANCE, owned by the Montreal Transportation Co.; BEAVERTON and MAPLETON, of the Merchants Steamship Co.; EDMONTON and HADDINGTON, owned by the Mathews Steamship Co., and BICKERDIKE, owned by the Montreal & Great Lakes S. S. Co. Other steamers were added over the next two years. This means that the Merchants Mutual Line began simply as a consortium of Toronto shipping interests, and only after it proved that it could "fly" was it given the blessing of formal incorporation. Merchants Mutual ships nor­ mally had their hulls and forecastles painted black, with a large white cir­ cle on the bow, superimposed on which was a large black letter 'M'. Cabins were white, although some ships had a dark brown or red band around the low­ er section of each deckhouse. Smokestacks were all black. In 1911, the Merchants Mutual Line Ltd. was merged with the Canadian Lake Transportation Company to form the Canadian Interlake Line Limited, Toronto, of which M. J. Haney was president, Capt. J. W. Norcross was managing direc­ tor, and Capt. H. W. Cowan was operating superintendent. Another change came in 1912 when the company was reformed as the Canada Interlake Line Limited. M. J. Haney was president of the new company, while Roy M. Wolvin was vice- president. Capt. J. W. Norcross was managing director, and the rest of the directors were H. Munderloh, Montreal; E. H. Ambrose, Hamilton; J. F. M. Stewart and T. Bradshaw, Toronto. There appear to have been few changes in the ships' colours during this complicated series of corporate changes, and BEAVERTON and EDMONTON stuck with the fleet despite the comings and goings of many other wooden and steel-hulled vessels. Then, in 1913, Canada Interlake Line Limited was one of the many companies swallowed up in the formation of Canada Steamship Lines Ltd., Montreal. It is interesting to note that the Merchants Mutual Line name still was used during the Canadian/Canada Interlake Line years, and even well after the for­ mation of C. S. L. Witness our Young photo of BEAVERTON taken in 1916, three full years after the formation of C. S. L., which showed her with typical C. S. L. red hull and forecastle, grey cabins, and red stack with a black top, but still with the Merchants Mutual monogram on her bows. Fairly shortly af­ ter the formation of C. S. L., most of its vessels were carrying the original C. S. L. diamond insignia on their bows; that the Merchants Mutual ships, in­ cluding BEAVERTON and EDMONTON, did not is very significant, in that it seems to indicate that the transfer of their ownership to C. S. L. was not achieved quickly. Either that, or there was some good business reason why the Merchants Mutual Line name was deemed by management to be worthy of con­ tinuation.