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Ship of the Month - cont'd. 12. sistance of the VAN ALLEN, which apparently escaped none the worse for her mishap. The Thompsons and Lake Coast Trading sold the VAN ALLEN in 1915 to Capt. James Whalen, of the Canadian Towing & Wrecking Company, Port Arthur, for use as a lighter. Whalen almost immediately (and before the end of 1915) re­ sold her to Norman McLeod Paterson. D. R. VAN ALLEN thus became the very first ship of the Paterson fleet which remains active on the Great Lakes to this day. She initially was used by Paterson as a transfer vessel at the Ca­ nadian Lakehead, bringing damp grain to the Paterson elevator for mixing and drying purposes. Her first master in Paterson service was Capt. William J. Ferguson, while her first Paterson chief engineer was T. J. Conners. However, by that time there was not much life left in the venerable wooden hull, and by 1920 the D. R. VAN ALLEN was done. She failed to pass her steamship inspection and was condemned. The 1920 Red Book showed her as "Not in commission". Paterson replaced her with another small wooden freighter, the 1880-built JAMES P. DONALDSON. The VAN ALLEN's steeple compound engine was removed and placed in the tug JOE SMITH (C. 138862) owned by George H. Fineout, of Port Arthur. This tug originally was THE MOOSE (U. S . 203947), built in 1907 at Superior, Wisconsin. Her first engine, a 1906-built triple expansion, was removed and placed in the tug WILLIAM A. WHITNEY when she was built in 1920. She then was sold Ca­ nadian, apparently engineless, and the VAN ALLEN's machinery then went into her. JOE SMITH did not last long, however, and on May 22, 1926, she burned to the waterline at Amethyst Harbour, a summer resort located on the extreme north­ east of Thunder Bay. The engine was removed a few years later and the "Port Arthur News-Chronicle" published a photo showing workmen on the ice at Ame­ thyst Harbour, removing the engine from the wreck by crane. While we would like to think that the VAN ALLEN's engine found a new home after that, we suspect that it was removed from the wreck simply to get rid of it from the resort area. In any event, D. R. VAN ALLEN lay idle at the lakehead until she was burned to the waterline, perhaps in the same fire which consumed the JAMES P. DONALDSON at her winter berth at the Paterson elevator dock on March 18th, 1923. Even though the VAN ALLEN's register was closed on December 17, 1923, she was carried on the Dominion vessel lists until 1927. Sometime after the fire, her remains were filled with stone and used as a crib for a dock at the end of Manitou Street in Port Arthur. * * * Author's and Editor's Notes: For their help in the preparation of this fea­ ture, we extend our most sincere thanks to Ron Beaupre, Port Elgin; Rob Far­ row, Thunder Bay; Skip Gillham, Vineland; Alvon Jackson, Amherstburg; Alan Mann, Wallaceburg; Bill McNeil, Toronto; Jack Messmer, Lancaster, New York; Bill Moran, Oshawa; Gene Onchulenko, Thunder Bay, and David Swayze, Lake Isabella, Michigan. We also acknowledge gratefully the assistance of the staff of the Wallaceburg Public Library, and of the Marsh Collection Socie­ ty, Amherstburg. The writings of the late Ivan S. Brookes, Hamilton, also were of much assistance. As can be seen, there are many unanswered questions concerning the D. R. VAN ALLEN, not the least of these having to do with when she was made into a "rabbit" (after 1884, we must presume), during what stage of her rabbithood she had flush decks and why, what finally did happen to her engine, etc. If any of our readers can assist with any additional information concerning the VAN ALLEN, we would be most grateful to receive it and to be able to share it with all of the members. Meanwhile, it has been a pleasure to present the most detailed history published to date concerning this interesting little vessel. * * * * *