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Ship of the Month - cont'd. 10. bailed and managed very carefully to keep her afloat. "When we were safe on the BRECK's lumber piles some of the men were so be­ numbed that they couldn't walk and I wasn't much better off. I can feel it in my feet now. But they were all game. Even the woman was as brave as the best of us and never once cried, though it was her first voyage. " The mate, Pat Slattery, was unmarried, about 50 years of age, and a veteran lake sailor who resided with his mother in Buffalo. The rescue ship was the MARION L. BRECK, formerly the WILLIAM PENN, built in 1840 at Garden Island by Henry Roney, and rebuilt there in 1853 and again in 1863. It could not have been the JESSIE H. BRECK, as that schooner had gone ashore at Nine Mile Point on lake Ontario on May 17th, 1890, with the loss of all hands, ever so slightly before the RYAN's foundering. CHAS. C. RYAN was insured for $21, 000, of which $10, 000 was in companies held by Smith, Davis & Co., $6, 000 by the Aetna office, and $5, 000 by Crosby & McDonald, of Chicago. That was only one report, however; others indicated that she was insured for $22, 000 by various other companies. Another report also claimed that the RYAN had been struck by lightning after getting her cargo of ice aboard, and that one of her crew had been injured as a conse­ quence. The loss of the RYAN was reported by various newspapers, including the "Buf­ falo Daily Courier", "Buffalo Morning Express", "Chicago Inter-Ocean", "Cleveland Plain Dealer", "Port Huron Times" and "Daily British Whig" (the latter of Kingston). Of these, the "Whig", "Daily Courier" and "Plain Dealer" accounts claimed that the former LAKE ONTARIO had been built in 1872 by Simpson at St. Catharines, proving again that bad information dies hard. It also was suggested that the RYAN had received one of HIAWATHA's old boilers as well as LAKE ONTARIO'S own old machinery when she was rebuilt. Captain Ryan claimed that the steamer had cost him about $30, 000, but there were others who reportedly claimed that this figure was about $10, 000 too high. The boiler reportedly was mounted up on the main deck, and it was said that it went overboard as the sinking RYAN overturned. The "Plain Dealer" stated: "She had a bad model as rebuilt and appeared to lack bearings". Much ado was made about this in the press, but it was refuted by Capt. Carr, who stated: "The RYAN was entirely seaworthy, let people who didn't know anything about her say what they may. She handled as pretty as any boat I ever saw and was all right till she began to leak. She never rolled over, and her boiler is today as firmly fastened as any boat's ever was. I can't explain how she came to leak. It started near her boiler and it will never be known what caused it. " Matters pertaining to the ship's construction were of a "strange nature" ac­ cording to the "Plain Dealer". "To begin with, the RYAN was drydocked at Owen Sound after delivering the first cargo ever put into her (we wonder what she carried up from Buffalo -Ed. ), and immediately before starting out on the fatal voyage. She was rebuilt out of the Canadian propellor LAKE ON­ TARIO... Mr. Ryan bought the wreck for a song, and being a ship carpenter, he rebuilt it, largely on the shore at Charlotte. The LAKE ONTARIO was twenty-six feet wide. Mr. Ryan used the old bottom and carried the sides (out) to a beam of thirty feet at the main deck. It is claimed by experts that the ship's seaworthiness was impaired by this course. The hull was taken to Buffalo last spring, drydocked, given additional fastenings and calked. One of the HIAWATHA'S old boilers was put on the main deck, and the LAKE ONTARIO'S old low-pressure engine was overhauled. When completed this steamer made a queer appearance. "With her flaring sides, her homely (unreadable text), her uncouth and un­ comfortable deckhouses, she certainly was unlike anything else that ever floated. When it came time to give her a rating it is claimed she was not inspected but was classed A2 and given a valuation of $32, 000 on a survey made by two insurance inspectors. Mr. Ryan claimed it had cost him over