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9. Ship of the Month - cont'd. Despite ample time to do so, nobody attempted to start the pumps. The crew of 29, having had no lifeboat drills, took almost an hour to figure out how to get away in the boats, and finally were taken aboard the Browning steamer NORMAN W. FOY, which had been following ROYALTON downbound. Twice some of the officers and men returned to MONROVIA to col­ lect their gear, but nobody took any steps whatever to try to save the ship, although it very likely would have been possible to do so. MONROVIA, moving slowly through the fog, her engine still running, took her own sweet time in sinking, and finally went down at 0010 on June 26, in 21 fathoms of water, some ten hours after the collision. Nobody aboard ei­ ther ship was injured in the incident. In the subsequent investigations, it was determined that both vessels had been out of their recommended courses when the collision occurred. However, MONROVIA was held to be at fault for the loss of the ship for a number of reasons, including failure to post adequate look­ out, failure to be familiar with the appropriate pilot rules, failure to slow or stop be­ fore ascertaining ROYALTON's position, failure to reduce speed and sound a danger signal, and failure to make any sort of effort to evaluate the extent of damage and to initiate measures to minimize the effects thereof. But MONROVIA was gone, the first salt-water ship to suffer major accident after the opening of the Seaway. Her wreck remains in place today, often visited by divers, although some of her steel cargo was salvaged. ROYALTON, when allowed to proceed, headed on downbound and repairs were put in hand at Port Weller Dry Docks. ROYALTON was a fairly frequent visitor to the Port Weller shipyard. She was back there over the winter of 1961-1962, at which time she was given new side tanks and tank tops, and her spar deck was completely rebuilt. She was given a new set of 16 larger hatches spaced on 24-foot centres. They had one-piece covers and, to handle them, she was fitted with a five-ton electric hatch crane on rails. As a result of this rebuild, her ton­ nage was recalculated as 7146 Gross and 4584 Net. She laid up early in the 1970 season, going to winter quarters at Hamilton during October, and over the following winter, her boilers were converted to burn oil fuel. Then, over the winter of 1975-1976, while ROYALTON was laid up at Thorold South, her accommodations were upgraded and a new doghouse was constructed aft on the boat deck to provide additional crew quarters. Through her years of Misener operation, ROYALTON ran in the grain, ore and coal trades. Once the Seaway opened, she made a few trips down to Montreal and Contracoeur, but she sel­ dom ventured further down the St. Lawrence because of her jet condensers and the need for fresh water boiler feed. Instead, she developed a bit of a niche in the upper lakes ore trade. For instance, in 1961 she carried 40 cargoes of ore from Depot Harbour to Detroit, and in subsequent years, many of her cargoes were ore carried from Port Arthur (Thunder Bay) to Indiana Harbor. As a result, it was a rarity to see her in the Welland Canal. Despite being a "fringe" unit of the Misener fleet by that time, ROYALTON ran through the 1970s and might well have run for a few more years. However, early in September of 1979 (when she was owned by Misener Transportation Limited), ROYALTON struck a submerged object in the Detroit River and her tailshaft was damaged beyond economical repair. As a conse­ quence, she was laid up at Hamilton and, on September 11, 1979, was sold to Marine Salvage Limited, of Port Colborne. Over the following winter, she was resold to Italian breakers. She was downbound in the Seaway on May 20, 1980, in tow of the McAllister tugs SALVAGE MONARCH ("The Grim Reaper") and HELEN M. McALLISTER. Purchased by C. N. Santa Maria, she It's a poor image but the only one known of MONROVIA on her only lake voyage. She is upbound at Port Colborne. Photo from the Milwaukee Public Library collection.