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

5. Ship of the Month - cont'd. chartered her from John Tackaberry, of Lion's Head, for $500 per month. With ERIE ISLE back, McQueen returned ISLET PRINCE to Tackaberry and, having left Amherstburg on July 13th, she was on her way back up north when she burned at Southampton on July 17, 1938. It is of interest to note that Tackaberry had bid unsuccessfully against McQueen to put ISLET PRINCE on the Pelee Island service back in 1937, when McQueen first was awarded the franchise. There was much ill will over the ferry service after PELEE lost the fran­ chise, with challenges lodged against the quality of McQueen's service and the suitability of his boat, and also to the Harris' right to mooring space for PELEE at Kingsville. PELEE spent four navigation seasons lying idle at Kingsville, reportedly growing ever more shabby in appearance as the years progressed. But PELEE's owners got the franchise back for the 1941 season and, late in 1940, sent the steamer off to drydock at Toronto to prepare her for the return to service. ERIE ISLE reportedly started the service early in the 1941 season, but was replaced by PELEE as soon as the latter returned from Toronto. McQueen then sold ERIE ISLE off in May of 1941 for east coast service. An unsourced clipping from Ivan Brookes' 1941 scrapbook read as follows: "May 5 - The passenger ship PELEE, which operates in the passenger run on Lake Erie, cleared Toronto Harbour yesterday to go into service. During the winter, the small passenger ship has undergone extensive repairs in the To­ ronto drydock to prepare her for the season. The boat was towed to the city before the close of navigation last year by the Toronto tug GEORGE A. WALLACE. " It is likely that this was when much of the rebuilding of PELEE's upper­ works, including the relocation of the pilothouse, was done. But why was PELEE towed all the way to Toronto? Probably because she was out of class. And why did none of the Toronto area ship fans of the day take a single photo of PELEE when she was at Dixon's drydock in the Keating Channel for the whole winter? Not even the Toronto Harbour Commission recorded this notable event on film. Incidentally, GEORGE A. WALLACE (U. S. 214153) was a Cleveland firetug built at Manitowoc in 1916 and later sold Canadian (C. 170511). Harry J. Dixon, proprietor of the Toronto Drydock Company Ltd., owned her from 1936 through 1940, when she was sold to Halifax interests. Foundation Maritime Ltd., Ha­ lifax, bought her in 1946 and renamed her (b) FOUNDATION WALLACE, under which name she re-appeared on Lake Ontario. She was scrapped in 1953. In any event, the reactivated PELEE was in trouble by early 1942. "Along the Waterfront" in "The Evening Telegram" of Wednesday, June 10, 1942, noted: "Steamer PELEE is in Toronto Drydock for Engine Repairs While 600 Residents of Island Have to Depend on Fishing Craft and Launches to Reach Mainland. For the present, Pelee Island is without regular freight and passenger ser­ vice connections and is isolated from its mainland port of Leamington, with the exception of a precarious traffic of fishing craft and launches. The steamer PELEE, mail, passenger and freight carrier between Pelee Island and Leamington, is now at Toronto Dry Dock for engine repairs. "The PELEE was built at Collingwood in 1914 and rebuilt at Toronto less than two years ago. She has spent most of her life on the shuttle run between Pelee Island and Leamington. About 600 persons claim Pelee Island as their home. The PELEE has carried their mail and package freight and motor cars for so long that she has come to be regarded as a sort of indispensable in­ stitution. " The outline of the photo that appeared with this article noted that PELEE had arrived at Dixon's shipyard on June 8th, and had had her up­ per works and hull rebuilt there eighteen months previously. Nevertheless, the high hopes for PELEE were not fulfilled, as her owners ap­ pear to have got themselves into financial difficulties. She did not immedi­ ately return to service after the engine repairs and, from the Brookes 1942