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9. Ship of the Month - cont'd. corporate merger ever to take place on the Canadian side of the lakes. Several companies, notably including the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company Limited, had merged in late spring to form Canada Transportation Lines Limited (of which the name soon was changed to Canada Steamship Lines Limited), Montreal. The August 1913 issue of "Canadian Railway and Marine World" reported that, at the end of June, A. E. Ames & Co., brokers, Toronto, had issued a circular to the preferred shareholders of Canada Interlake Line Limited. It advis­ ed that by an agreement dated June 20, which had the approval of the directors of Canada Interlake Line, W. Grant Morden, of London, Eng., and J. P. Steedman, of Hamilton, Ont., had agreed to purchase from the shareholders of Canada Interlake their holdings of prefer­ red shares and also their holdings of common shares received as a bonus at the time they subscribed for the preferred shares, for shares of Canada Transportation Lines. Accompanying that circular was one from M. J. Haney and J. W. Norcross heartily approving the acquisi­ tion proposal. The shareholders agreed and thus came into being the largest Canadian fleet ever to sail the lakes. The takeover of Canada Interlake was finalized during August. The change of name from Canada Transportation Lines Limited to Canada Steamship Lines Limi­ ted was reported by "Canadian Railway and Marine World" in its issue of December 1913. It was noted that the change was made "in deference to the wishes of British investors" - mea­ ning the Furness Withy interests who had bankrolled the formation of the huge new company. In C. S. L. operation, FORDONIAN was given a red hull and her cabins were grey, except for the pilothouse which continued to be varnished. The stack was black with a dark red band. The masts and derricks were buff, apart from the tip of the mainmast which was black. On the bow in white appeared the letters 'CSL' inside the white outline of a diamond. These colours would, of course, change in later years but not until after FORDONIAN had left the fleet. Then, late in 1914, World War One began and British ships were desperately needed for the war effort on salt water. J. W. Norcross, managing director of C. S. L., also was manager of Canada's war shipping administration and he arranged for some of C. S. L. 's best steel-hulled cargo ships to move to salt water. Included amongst these was FORDONIAN and, although some records may show that she went deep-sea in 1915, that was not the case, or at least if she did go eastward, she was back on the lakes in 1916, for the accompanying Young photo of her at the Soo was taken in 1916. In 1915, C. S. L. had her reflagged from Glasgow to Montreal and, under Canadian official number 133077, she was inspected at Port Arthur on April 17, 1915. On the Canadian register, FORDONIAN was 250. 0 x 42. 6 x 23. 6, 2368 Gross and 1905 Net. Jim Kidd's records indicate that FORDONIAN was refitted in 1916 at Collingwood and that her ownership was transferred to a C. S. L. subsidiary, the Quebec Steamship Company. Her Canadi­ an registry was closed later in 1916, the ship having been sold to the American Star Steamship Company, of New York, and enrolled at New York under official number 214598. On the United States registry, she was shown as 250. 0 x 42. 6 x 23. 6, 2367 Gross and 1742 Net. The B. G. S. U. site records her owner as A. W. Duckett & Co., New York, from 1916 to 1917, and as A. J. Outbridge, New York, from 1917 until 1921. It has been recorded that by 1921 she was owned by the American Mediterranean Steamship Company (McDonald & Truda), New York, for service between New York and Havana, Cuba. It is also reported that, in 1922, she was converted from direct diesel drive to diesel-electric propulsion by the Tebo Yacht Basin Company of the Todd Shipyard Corporation at South Brook­ lyn, New York. If so, no mention was made of this is in subsequent edition of Lloyd's Register of Shipping. On May 22, 1923, management of FORDONIAN was taken over by William M. Connelly, of Buffalo, New York, and she was brought back to the Great Lakes and operated between Chicago, Illi­ nois, and Depot Harbour, Ontario, for the Canada Atlantic Transit Company of the United States (about which much was said last issue in relation to the steamer KEARSARGE). At this time, FORDONIAN had black hull and forecastle, white cabins, and an all-black stack. It is not clear whether Connelly ever became the ship's registered owner. On August 26, 1926, FORDONIAN was purchased by Paterson Steamships Limited, of Fort Wil­ liam, Ontario, which brought her back under Canadian registry, with the same old Canadian official number (133077) but now registered at Toronto. On the Canadian register, she reverted to her former Canadian dimensions and tonnages. Paterson painted her hull black, and her forecastle head bulwark was white, although after a while, the upper half of the forecastle itself also became white. Her stack was all black, for there was no room on her tiny funnel for the usual Paterson white letter 'P'. The usual red and white diamond-and-P