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Ship of 'the Month - cont'd. 10. Late in the 1950s, C. S. L. won a lucrative but short-term contract to carry steel pipe sec­ tions for use in the construction of the new trans-Canada natural gas pipeline, and virtu­ ally all the fleet's bulk canallers brought cargoes of pipes, not only in their holds but also piled high on deck, to Toronto, where they were unloaded with the use of shore cranes on the east side of the Jarvis Street slip. The 1958 season saw the majority of this spe­ cial cargo movement, and BARRIE, MEAFORD and PENETANG all made numerous trips here with steel pipe. During this stage of their lives, our triplets all looked very little changed from the way they were built, there having been no significant alterations done to any of them. How to tell them apart if the name on the bow wasn't visible? Well, by the 1950s, MEAFORD had been given a rather distinctive extension to her pilothouse sunvisor which increased the shade over the centre three windows. And some master with a creative talent had decided to paint PENETANG's name in large black letters across the pilothouse front below the windows. 1958 was the last season in which the old St. Lawrence canals were in use, but it also was a year of transition as some parts of the new Seaway came into use in advance of the offi­ cial opening of the entire new system the following spring. The U. S. locks at Massena, New York, were opened in the summer of 1958 and, on July 4, BARRIE was the twelfth commercial vessel (and the first C. S. L. ship) to pass downbound through the Eisenhower Lock. However, 1958 was to be the last year of operation for many of the C. S. L. canallers as they simply were obsolete once the new Seaway opened. BARRIE, MEAFORD and PENETANG all went to Kingston at the close of the season and were laid up there. Two of them would never turn a wheel again. All three were sold on August 15, 1959, to International Metals Ltd. for scrapping by the Steel Company of Canada at Hamilton. Instead of being towed to the scrapyard, MEAFORD was fitted out one last time and, on Sep­ tember 18, 1959, she arrived at Hamilton under her own power with a cargo of fluorspar. After unloading, she was moved to the Stelco scrapping berth and there she was cut up du­ ring the month of December. PENETANG was towed upbound from Kingston to Hamilton on September 18, 1959, and the work of dismantling her was completed by Stelco during January of 1960. The last of the trio to go was BARRIE, which was not towed to Hamilton until July of 1960. Her scrapping was begun almost immediately and was completed the following month. Thus ended together the careers of three handsome canallers that stayed together ever since they were built. Their lives were cut off far too short by the simple and inevitable fact of the modernization of the canal system through which they had been designed and built to trade. * * * Ed. Note: This feature began to take shape when longtime T. M. H. S. member Don Boone, of Col­ lingwood, made scans for us of the launch and trial trip photos for all three ships which he had been able to borrow from a friend. The minute we saw the extremely rare photos of the ships in Hall colours, we simply knew we would have to incorporate them into a "Scan­ ner" feature. We extend our most sincere thanks to Don, and also to Skip Gillham, Vineland, whose records contained a number of interesting items concerning our three steamers. We doubt there could be much more said about these three ships, but if any members should have anything else of interest, we would be pleased to hear from them. * * * * * A NEW LAKE SHIPPING BOOK Published recently is Carryore Nipigon Labrador Fleets, a collaboration of T. M. H. S. members Gene Onchulenko and Skip Gillham. An 80-page softcover, it traces the histories of these three Canadian fleets with particular attention to their ships. There are colour photos on the covers and end pieces, and a wealth of black and white photos throughout the text. The price of the book is $22. 00 and it is available direct from Skip Gillham at 3750 King Street, Vineland, Ontario LOR 2C0. * * * * * Members are reminded of the need to renew their T. M. H. S. membership at this time. Simply send us the renewal coupon along with your cheque and we will sign you up for the coming year. We depend upon your continued support.