Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Scanner, v. 33, no. 7 (April 2001), p. 9

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9. Ship of the Month - cont'd. "Accordingly, the two bushes were cast and machined to be moderate shrink fits in their respective cylinders. New smaller pistons were machined to suit the new bores, complete with rings. Thus, the engines formerly of di­ mensions 35" (diameter) H. P. and 70" L. P., with 48" stroke, became 30" H. P. and 64" L. P. with the same stroke. The I. H. P. of 1, 225 on 64 r. p. m. remained the same, and the engine enjoyed a much improved efficiency with the higher boiler pressure. This was a cheap and simple solution to the problem of con­ tending with the higher pressures allowed by the progress of marine en­ gineering. " By about this same time, MANITOBA, ALBERTA and ATHABASCA were finally given enclosed upper pilothouses, constructed atop the monkey's island. The new house on each ship was similar; it had three windows across its front, and three windows and a door in each side. The new house was much deeper than the lower one, and overhung it on the aft face to such an extent that a support had to be provided in the form of a downward extension of the aft bulkhead down to the top of the main cabin clerestory. This left a sort of open transverse "breezeway" beneath the aft part of the new pilothouse. At first, there was no sunvisor over the new pilothouse windows, but a visor soon was added. In addition, all of the C. P. R. lake ships were fitted with wireless at about this time, and each ship was given a "wireless shack" on the upper deck. The radio operator's office and quarters on MANITOBA were placed in a small house set atop the cabin clerestory just forward of the mainmast. This house was never provided with running water, and as long as MANITOBA operated, her radio operator had to haul water by hand up to his quarters. In latter years, the ship's radio direction finder antenna was placed atop the roof of this "radio shack". The 1915 summer season was the last in which ALBERTA and ATHABASCA carried passengers. It was deemed by C. P. R. management that KEEWATIN, ASSINIBOIA and MANITOBA would be able to deal with the passenger trade from 1916 onward. Accordingly, ATHABASCA and ALBERTA (which had been lengthened in 1910 and 1911, respectively, to be about the same length as MANITOBA) were relegated to the freight-only service between Port McNicoll and the Lakehead, although the upper deck cabin structure was retained. The C. P. R . 's 1916 lake steamship brochure gave only deck plans for KEEWATIN and ASSINIBOIA, although it still contained a page headed "Four Clyde-Built Greyhounds". It did, however, provide a separate schedule for MANITOBA, indicating that she sailed westbound from Owen Sound at 11: 00 p. m. Wednes­ day (after arriving a half hour earlier from Port McNicoll), upon the arri­ val of the boat train that departed Toronto at 5: 25 p. m. The steamer arrived at the Soo at 6: 30 p. m. on Thursday, departing at 7: 00 p. m. She called at Port Arthur at 3: 00 p. m. Friday, and arrived at the Fort William dock in the Kaministiquia River at 4: 00 p. m., from whence rail service for Winnipeg and points west could be caught later in the evening. Eastbound, MANITOBA departed Fort William in 1916 at 12: 00 noon each Sunday, leaving Port Arthur at 1: 00 p. m. She arrived at the Soo on Monday at 11: 00 a. m., sailing again at 11: 30. She arrived at Owen Sound at 6: 00 a. m. on Tuesday. The boat train left Owen Sound at 6: 20 a. m. and arrived at Toronto at 11: 10 a. m. The passengers intending to take the train certainly had to be early risers and, we assume, were given breakfast aboard the train rather than on MANITOBA. The 1917 season was to bring a major accident for MANITOBA. Downbound in fog on Lake Superior on Monday, July 9, 1917, MANITOBA collided some 2 1 /2 miles ESE of Whitefish Point with the upbound freighter WILLIAM S. MACK. The MACK (18) (C. 138212, formerly U. S. 81791), (b) HOME SMITH (36), (c) ALGORAIL (I), acquired earlier that same year by the Algoma Central and Hudson Bay Railway Company, had been built in 1901 at Lorain, Ohio, by the American Ship Buil­ ding Company.

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