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7. Ship of the Month - cont'd. not sure, however, which "Poker Fleet" steamer TEN this was. The first TEN, built in 1888 as (a) SCRANTON (27), was renamed (c) NINE during 1934, while the 1919-built "Laker" LAKE GILTEDGE, acquired in 1933, became (b) TEN (ii) in 1934. The incident was not widely repor­ ted and it is unlikely we ever will be able to be certain which of the TENs was involved. ROYALTON operated very successfully for Scott Misener over the years. The Jones Act was temporarily suspended by Act of Congress during World War Two to allow Canadian vessels to help carry much-needed iron ore from U. S. upper lakes ports to U. S. ports on Lake Erie. Le­ gislation to again restrict this trade to U. S. ships went before Congress in the fall of 1945 and it passed the House, but it was stopped by the Senate out of necessity. Employed in this unusual trade in the spring of 1946 were the steamers LEMOYNE, SIR THOMAS SHAUGH­ NESSY, VISCOUNT BENNETT and ROYALTON. By mid-summer 1946, a soft coal strike in the U. S. had American steamers tying up, and a strike by members of the Canadian Seafarers' Union created news when the dispute became ug­ ly. At the heart of the problem was the union's demand for an eight-hour working day. At Port Colborne, some 200 Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police were called in to prevent striking seamen from boarding and stoning ships at Lock Eight. Some 17 ships were strike-bound when the C. S. L. steamer GODERICH was abandoned in the lock after her crew was removed by pickets. After this incident, ships were escorted through the canal by police. When ROYALTON docked at the "Government House" grain elevator at Port Colborne on Sunday, June 27, 1946, 14 members of her crew, including five students from the University of Mani­ toba, walked off the ship to join the strikers. VISCOUNT BENNETT, with stone from Superior, arrived in the Port shortly after ROYALTON, but her crew remained aboard, and because she still was operating between U. S. ports, the strike did not affect her crew. Some 30 seamen at Port Colborne, Welland and Thorold were charged under the Canada Shipping Act with dis­ obeying lawfully given commands, neglecting their duties and absenting themselves without leave. The month-long strike disabled more than half of the Canadian lake fleet. The compa­ nies and unionists were ordered to arbitration at the end of June and the police were re­ moved from the canal as shipping returned to normal. Companies were told to return to a 12- hour shift only if insufficient crew could be found, and that seamen were to be paid over­ time for periods of work beyond eight hours. ROYALTON was under the command of Capt. Allen R. Rafuse, of Cornwall, in 1947, with Victor Parker, of Montreal, as chief engineer. Capt. Rafuse won the ceremonial top hat at Midland that season when he brought his ship into the Tiffin elevator at Midland on April 29, car­ rying 450, 000 bushels of wheat from Port Arthur. In early June, ROYALTON brought the lar­ gest cargo of grain ever carried up to that point into Owen Sound. She arrived from the lakehead with 530, 000 bushels of barley and oats on Sunday, July 6, and departed at noon on Tuesday. ROYALTON again made the news on Oct. 1 when she departed Port Arthur with 450, 000 bushels of rye, bound for a Georgian Bay port and valued at $1, 750, 000. ROYALTON was one of ten ships laid up for the winter of 1947-1948 with grain storage cargoes at Owen Sound. Along with VISCOUNT BENNETT and MATHEWSTON, ROYALTON again wintered at Owen Sound the fol­ lowing season with a storage cargo of grain. ROYALTON tied up at Port Colborne late in 1951 and the following spring was one of the first vessels underway, departing downbound in the Welland Canal to Port Robinson, where she turned and headed upbound for Fort William on April 2, the day after the canal opened. ROYALTON was under the command of Capt. F. J. Brady, of Port Colborne, in 1953 and 1954 with J. Finlay, of Kingston, as chief engineer. She was commanded by Capt. Wilfred J. Lemcke, of Wiarton, in 1955, with G. Michael, of St. Catharines, as chief engineer. There was heavy fog in the area when, shortly after midnight on Saturday, June 7, 1958, the downbound ROYALTON, Capt. George B. Albinson (perhaps the son of Capt. C. Albinson who was ROLYALTON's first master in 1924? ), collided with the Beaconsfield Steamships canaller WIL­ LIAM C. WARREN in the Welland Canal above Port Robinson. The WARREN, commanded by Capt. William Doyle, proceeded to the shipyard at Port Dalhousie for repairs. ROYALTON was as­ sisted at the scene by a tug from the Canadian Dredge & Dock Company, which had a major pre-Seaway dredging job underway at Port Colborne at the time. ROYALTON eventually proceed­ ed downbound to Prescott to unload, and then steamed back to Port Weller for repairs. Damage from the collision itself was not severe, but a photo taken in the drydock at Port Weller shows much plating being renewed on ROYALTON's lower starboard bow, which would seem to indicate that she had veered into the canal bank after the impact with the WARREN.