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Ship of the Month - cont'd. 6. Laid up at Kingston for the winter of 1936-1937, GRAINMOTOR fitted out in the spring of 1938 with Capt. George C. Kirk and Chief Engineer E. C. Fleming. An incident for which we have no details comes from a note on the back of a photo, which reads: "M. S. GRAINMOTOR aground off Isle d'Orleans Sept. 9/36". A few other photos from the same collection show GRAINMOTOR in the Champlain Drydock at Lauzon, Quebec, one of which is dated "Season of 1936". The first marine accident of the 1940 season on the St. Lawrence River hap­ pened on Wednesday, April 23rd, when GRAINMOTOR went aground in the north channel near the lift lock at Cardinal after striking the side of the canal. The ship had cleared Kingston with a load of grain the previous day, bound for Montreal. The Pyke Salvage and Navigation Company tug SALVAGE PRINCE, along with the barges HILDA and GEORGE T. DAVIE, went to the rescue. When they arrived, they found the No. 1 hold of the grounded vessel full of wa­ ter, and the vessel herself partially blocking the channel and hindering night navigation. Lightering of the cargo began on Thursday and, by Friday evening, the vessel was free. She was taken to the elevator at Prescott for inspection and removal of the remainder of the wet grain. On May 1st, GRAIN­ MOTOR arrived at Kingston under tow of SALVAGE PRINCE, accompanied by the barges ENARCO and HILDA. The vessel was delivered to the Kingston Ship­ building Company for repairs. The 1940 "Red Book" shows that Capt. George C. Kirk and Chief Engineer E. C. Fleming were still in charge of GRAINMOTOR during that season. In 1943, Captain J. W. Scarrow, of Hamilton, was appointed to command GRAIN­ MOTOR. In 1944, GRAINMOTOR was commanded by Capt. 0. Pregent, with Chief Engineer William Lander. An unsourced clipping (but most likely from "The Hamilton Spectator") in Ivan Brookes' scrapbooks dated June 3, 1944, reads: "Three C. S. L. freighters, BARRIE, GRAINMOTOR and HASTINGS, have carried cargoes of iron ore from Montreal to Buffalo and Buffalo reports daily arrivals of small Canadian vessels arriving at the Lackawanna plant of Bethlehem Steel Corporation, laden with Swedish ore from Montreal to augment supplies from head of lakes. The advent of the Canadian freighters keeps Buffalo harbor activity at normal balance and compensates for a slackening due to a slump of lakewise grain movement. " In 1947, GRAINMOTOR still was commanded by Capt. Ovila Pregent, with Chief Engineer William Lander. An unsourced item in the late T. M. H. S. member Ivan Brookes' scrapbooks, dated Friday, June 11, 1948, shows a photo of GRAINMOTOR and BARRIE at an­ chor with the cutline: "Two Canada Steamship Lines freighters - the GRAIN­ MOTOR and BARRIE - lie at anchor in the St. Lawrence 20 miles west of Corn­ wall, hot spot in the current Great Lakes shipping strike. " Another photo is labelled: "Canadian Seamen's Union sound truck is used to urge crew of C. S. L. LETHBRIDGE to leave ship. R. C. M. P. and Provincial Police stand guard at the foot of Marlborough St. in Cornwall. " On July 30, 1948, GRAINMOTOR was transiting the Welland Canal en route to Montreal. Between Bridge 12 (the Port Robinson bridge demolished by STEELTON in 1969) and Bridge 11 (the infamous Allanburg bridge which recently decapi­ tated WINDOC), her engine failed and the ship veered toward the west bank of the canal. The starboard anchor was dropped to try to prevent a grounding but this measure did not prove successful and the ship, striking the west bank, bounced back toward the opposite side of the narrow channel. The port anchor then was let go, but the ship glanced off the east bank and her stern smacked the west side. The ship had now swung completely around and was headed upstream when she finally was brought to a halt. Eventually, GRAIN­ MOTOR got underway and she proceeded to Kingston where temporary repairs were effected, enabling the ship to complete the season. The major repair