7. Ship of the Month - cont'd. and, like most canallers, there was very little sheer to her hull. Her an chors were carried in large pockets set near the stem. She had two masts, the fore being set unusually far back, between the second and third hatches, and the main positioned just forward of the break of the quarterdeck. Each of these masts originally carried two cargo booms but, by the 1940s, the booms were removed as they were not required for the types of bulk cargoes that the steamer normally carried. There was a partial steel bulwark protecting the forward end of the fore castle head, the rest having only an open pipe rail. The texas cabin had a central section with a slightly curved front, while the after part of this cabin was broader. The round-fronted pilothouse on the bridge deck above had five large windows in its front and another window on each side abaft a door. The bridgewings did not extend right out to the sides of the ship, and the stanchions beneath their outward ends were angled inward as they rose. The ship carried canvas dodgers on the bridgewing rails, around the front of the bridge deck and around the monkey's island, and there was a sunvisor over the pilothouse windows. An awning strecher-frame was provided so that a canvas shade could be raised over the entire bridge deck as well as the wings. At some later point (at least after 1934), this was replaced by a fixed wooden shade that was built over the same large area, which gave the ship a very distinctive appearance. This shade was removed in 1953 and thereafter only a frame for canvas remained until it, too, was removed in the late 1950s. The after deckhouse was relatively typical of those fitted on most canallers. A lifeboat, worked by radial steel davits, was fitted on either side of the boat deck. Forward on that deck were two large ventilator cowls set just forward of the rather stubby smokestack, which had little rake. There was a prominent cowl around the top of the funnel, which again was a distinctive feature which CASCO shared with very few other bulk canallers. A closed steel bulwark was fitted down either side of the aft cabin and around the fantail. CASCO's hull and forecastle were painted black, while the cabins, together with the forecastle and quarterdeck bulwarks, were white with dark green trim. The masts were buff (at various times with black tops), and the smoke stack also was buff, except for a very narrow black smokeband at the top. On the stack was a dark green ball on which appeared a buff letter 'C '. A large 'C ' whistle light was positioned near the top of the foremast, and a buff ball with a dark green 'C' appeared on each side of the forecastle below the steamer's name (which was printed in white). In the very early years, the words 'Canada Starch Company Limited' were painted in white letters below the ball on the bow, but these words very soon were removed. During June of 1927, CASCO set out to cross the North Atlantic to Canada, and we believe that, like many British-built canallers, she brought with her a cargo of coal. The photo reproduced herewith, showing her running loaded and with various temporary canvas ventilators fitted along the spar deck, would appear to verify this, as it was necessary to carry off the volatile gases exuded from bituminous coal during a long voyage in order to avoid the peril of fire. Once in the lakes, CASCO generally carried corn down to the Cardinal mill, and she also carried a considerable amount of coal on Lake Ontario. Other cargoes were accepted when available, and CASCO found herself quite busy. CASCO operated generally very successfully and was involved in very few ac cidents, none of them of a truly serious nature. However, during her very first season on the lakes, there were two accidents, each of which resulted in the ship's master losing his job. The first such incident occurred at 5: 15 a. m. on Wednesday, August 3rd, 1927, when CASCO, downbound with grain from Fort William for Montreal, somehow managed to run aground on Pipe Is land in the lower St. Mary's River. The Great Lakes Towing Company's wreck-