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Page 22 • GREAT LAKES & SEAWAY NEWS Nov 5 ... The city of St. Ignace reported that the former Chief Wawatam dock is in dire danger of collapsing this winter. The wooden pilings beneath the large iron counterweights have deteriorated to a point that only three ancient piles support the ramp. The city is debating if it should spend $ 13,000 to shore up the structure or hire a firm to scrap it. Nov 8 ... Upperlake's QUEBECOIS departed Hamilton ending her temporary lay-up and proceeded upbound for Sarnia to load. Nov 9 ... The upbound salty MENOMINEE hit the lock wall at the Beauhanois Lock on the St. Lawrence Seaway, her port bow suffered a 30 foot by 3 foot gash above the waterline. The Groupe Ocean tug LAPRAIRIE arrived and escorted her back to Montreal for repairs. Nov 12 ... The Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) had put the museum tug LAKE SUPERIOR up for auction with the minimum bid of $130,000. Today when they went to open all sealed bids, there were none to open. It was decided to sell the former Corps of Engineers tug after the tourist season ended and there wasn't enough visitors for all three museum ships. The most popular is the WILLIAM A. IRVIN and they just acquired the Coast Guard Cutter SUNDEW which left the LAKE SUPERIOR as the odd boat out. The tug will be moved shortly to a secure dock in Superior until a decision is made about her future. Nov 15 ... Cemex Cement owners of the SOUTHDOWN CHALLENGER and CEMEX CONQUEST announced they signed a letter of intent to sell their great lakes assets to Votorantim Cimentos of Brazil for $400 million US. Included would be the ships, the Charlevoix and Dixon- Marquette cement plants. Votorantim already owns St. Mary's Cement, which is based in Toronto and owns the barges ST. MARY'S CEMENT & ST. MARY'S CEMENT II. Nov 18 ... Divers announced they have found the wreck of the schooner ETTA BELLE in 200 feet of water about 8 miles northeast of Sodus Point on Lake Ontario. They found her when they were returning to port with engine trouble in September 2003. More dives were done in November 2003 and May 2004 and after many hours of research they believe her to be the ETTA BELLE. She was built in 1852 and was rebuilt in 1870, on September 3, 1873 in calm seas a leak was discovered on her port bow. Pumps were started but were losing the battle and the crew abandoned ship, no lives were lost. ... The former lakes visitor STELLAMARE which rolled over and sank in the Hudson River at Albany, NY was sold to Greek owners. They plan to have her towed to the Bahamas for a refit. There she will be renamed NAD ALINA S. and when ready to sail will haul steel coils and lumber from Romania and Ukraine to Tunisia and Egypt. ... The City of Rochester mayor proposed creating public authority -- The Rochester Port and Ferry Authority to sell government backed bonds to purchase, own and run the high speed ferry SPIRIT OF ONTARIO. The projected price tag for the venture is $40 million, although tax payers could be liable if revenues didn t meet expenses in any year. Canadian American Transportation Systems, current owners of the ferry issued a statement that the city is stealing their business plan and the plan looks like a hostile takeover. Nov 19 ... Directors of the Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum which run the World War 11 submarine USS SILVERSIDES in Muskegon are pushing for a permanent museum to be built on the shore next to the sub. The sub which arrived in Muskegon in 1987 and was tied up along the Muskegon Channel temporarily is still there and the directors want a permanent home built. The sub was moved in 1991 to a location on Muskegon Lake, but was returned to the channel spot in 1992. A few years later plans were made to move the sub to where the LST - 393 is docked, but those plans fell through and she stayed along the channel. Nov 23 ... Unnamed tugs pulled the J. B. FORD from the drydock at Fraser Shipyard and towed her back