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13. Ship of the Month - cont'd. "on the keel and look around on the main deck". The significance of this is that she was not only extremely long for her beam, but she also was of very shallow draft. When MANASOO encountered trouble, she was on a special trip made after the close of her regular season. Downbound for Owen Sound, she had a load of 46 cattle in special stalls placed on the main deck, and also an automobile. She had no other cargo aboard and, in hindsight, her stability was question­ able. Heavy weather was encountered and, when MANASOO was only about four hours short of her scheduled arrival time at Owen Sound, "Captain John McKay, on the bridge, noticed a loss of buoyancy and a distinct list, and sent first mate Oliver S. Long down to investigate". The purser later recal­ led that in the fifteen minutes between the time trouble was noted and the capsizing and sinking of the ship, Long and a wheelsman were below, moving the automobile and driving the cattle from one side of the ship to the other in an effort to restore the MANASOO's trim. Their efforts were unsuccessful. The story is, perhaps, best told by the sole surviving passenger (there had been only two aboard), Donald Wallace, of Oil Springs, Ontario. He had gone up to Manitoulin Island to purchase a herd of cattle at West Bay, and was returning with them and his automobile on MANASOO. His statement appeared in the "Montreal Gazette" of September 20, 1928. "After I had been in bed some time I was awakened by the bellowing of the cattle, and I got up and noted that the ship was listed to one side. Things did not seem to look bad and I went back to my bunk and I guess I must have gone to sleep for a second. "It was only a short time after that when I awoke again, and there was water in the stateroom. Lambert (his companion from Petrolia, who was lost) and myself hurriedly got out and he put on a life preserver and a part of his clothes. I did not get all of my clothes on, but got on my pants and shirt, but could not find a life preserver. We both got into the hallway and by this time the boat was almost on her side, and we had to pull ourselves up the stairway to the top deck. It was quite apparent that the boat was going down and there were chairs, tables and other things all on the one side of the boat. We decided to jump into the water, which was easy to do as the rail was not far. Mr. Lambert could not swim and after we got into the water I never saw him again. "I swam around for a minute or two and then decided that I had better get away from the suction of the boat as she was going down. I did this and then I saw the life raft on the crest of a big wave and started to swim towards it. It was not far and I was soon there. There were three others there ahead of me and they helped me get on the raft. Two more came along a few minutes later, one of whom was Captain John McKay, who had been the last man to leave his boat. Mate Long was another and seemed to be in quite an exhausted condition when we hauled him up. "In just a short time after this we saw the steamer MANITOBA going toward Owen Sound, but although we shouted for all we were worth we could not make ourselves heard and she went on without us. " (The accident had occurred at about 2: 00 a. m. on Saturday, and MANITOBA was scheduled to arrive at Owen Sound about 6: 00 that morning. -Ed. ) * * * Ed Note: And there, for lack of space, we end the second instalment of the story of the "Toby". Stay tuned for more next month, including the rescue of the MANASOO survivors. We extend sincere thanks to Ron Beaupre for putting this feature together, as well as to all who assisted with the project. A full list of credits will appear at the final conclusion of the series. * * * * * Please don't forget to reserve your tickets for the May 12 Dinner Meeting. Details may be found on the cover of this issue.