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Telescope 203 Two ships named algoma. by FRED LANDON There were two passenger boats each bearing the name ALGOMA which traded from Lake Huron and Georgian Bay ports to Lake Superior 75 years ago or more and are part of the great tradition of the Upper Lakes. Best remembered of these was the Canadian Pacific Rai]way's vessel of that name, built in Scotland in 1883 and wrecked on the rocky shores of Isle Royale in Lake Superior on November 7» 1885, with a loss of almost half a hundred lives. The story of the other ALGOMA is today an almost forgotten story but it has sufficient importance and interest to justify its recital. The CPR ALGOMA was one of three vessels built for the Great Lakes trade in the Clyde shipyards. They crossed the Atlantic under their own steam and arrived in Montreal in the spring of 1884* There they were cut in two to go through the canals and were towed to Buffalo where they were re-united and equipped. The ALGOMA reached Owen Sound on May 10 and sailed for Lake Superior within 24 hours,having on board more than 1,000 passengers, chiefly immigrants from the British Isles and Scandinavia who had been waiting impatiently for the opening of navigation. The other two CPR vessels, the ALBERTA and ATHABASCA, soon followed and a tri-weekly service out of Owen Sound was instituted. All three vessels had unbroken records during 1884 but tragedy came to the ALGOMA in the late fall of 1885« Leaving Owen Sound on Thursday, November 5* she passed through the locks at the Soo early on Friday and at midnight Captain John Moore figured that he was about 50 miles from Port Arthur. There was a northeast gale blowing with sleet and snow reducing visibility. Captain Moore ordered sail to be taken in and course reversed but these had scarcely been completed when the vessel smashed into rocks, breaking the rudder