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Ship of the Month - cont'd. head gates and one of the foot gates had been placed back in position. Owing to the earliness of the season, only two boats were awaiting upbound passage during the canal closure. Repairs to the lock were completed on May 3rd and navigation resumed with only a total of three ships delayed. Much credit was given to the new canal superintendent, Mr. Weller, for the quick work done, as the repair of such extensive gate damage usually took from four to six days to complete. On January 16, 1902, Daniel Ross Van Allen died at London, Ontario. Although no longer active in business, he remained involved in civic affairs until his passing. However, that same year saw his namesake vessel involved in another accident. On October 20th, she went aground on a shoal 200 yards west of the Eastern Gap off Ward's Island, Toronto, during a fog. She could not work herself free, but was released after a couple of hours by the Toronto Ferry Company's steamer CLARK BROS. and "Goodwin's tug" (which was not further identified). In 1903, Captain William Van Vlack was in command of D. R. VAN ALLEN. He loaded soft slack coal at Fairhaven, New York, in mid-November for the To­ ronto Electric Light Company. The schooner EMERALD, Capt. McMaster, was also in port loading coal for the same firm, and she departed first. The VAN ALLEN overtook the EMERALD on her way to Toronto and all then seemed well. At midnight on November 15th, the light southeast wind changed and the next day a westerly gale developed. The EMERALD never was seen again, having been lost out on Lake Ontario, apparently on the 16th. A rather fanciful tale of the incident, entitled The EMERALD Mystery, appeared in "The Toronto Evening Telegram" on April 25 , 1931. It was the 13th instalment of the weekly "Schooner Days" series written by marine historian and "Tely" editor C. H. J. Snider, and it makes for highly entertaining bedtime reading. Some records show that the D. R. VAN ALLEN was sold by the Toronto Electric Light Co. Ltd. in 1905 to Peter Payette, of Penetanguishene, but the list of vessels on the Dominion registry books as of December 31st, 1902 (as contained in the Sessional Papers of the third session of the Ninth Parlia­ ment of Canada, 1903) shows Payette as the owner then. We must assume that he acquired her late in the 1902 season, but perhaps she continued to run coal for the Toronto utility even after Payette acquired her. Payette operated the VAN ALLEN until 1909, when she was purchased by William Clyne Thompson, of Port Arthur, a principal of the Lake Coast Trading Compa­ ny and the Canada Pebble Company. Thompson had the steamer re-registered at Fort William. The VAN ALLEN is listed in various marine directories during this period as owned by A. I. Thompson & Sons, and I. & A. Thompson, Lake Coast Trading Co.; the 1914 Dominion List still showed Wm. C. Thompson as owner, but as it still showed Chatham as the port of registry, one might well question the accuracy of the whole listing. The Thompson family (not known to be connected with the Capt. Thompson who had commanded the VAN ALLEN for so many years) used the steamer to carry pebbles from Nipigon to Cleveland and other lake ports for use in the grinding of cement. Sometime in 1913, the VAN ALLEN suffered storm damage and lost 60 bales of hay from her deckload on Lake Superior. The ship required several days for repairs in the harbour at Munising. The "Owen Sound Sun" on July 8, 1913, reported the C. P. R. steamer ATHABASCA ashore (again) in dense fog. About the same time as ATHABASCA grounded, the D. R. VAN ALLEN, under Capt. Thompson, which was coming from Port Arthur with a load of pebbles for the cement works at Owen Sound, ran ashore at Cove of Cork Bay near Cape Croker, about 20 miles from where ATHABASCA was lying. Word was sent to Owen Sound and contractor Ed Sargeant with a gang of men left by tug with a scow to assist her. About 150 tons of the VAN ALLEN's cargo was loaded onto the scow, and being thus lightened, she was able to back off and continue her voyage. The tug CHAMBERLAIN, which had been dispatched from Little Current to lighten the ATHABASCA also went to the as­