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CANADIAN The Canadian Tow- T.& W.CO. ing and Wrecking FLEET Co.,and its sev- eral subsidiaries, operated a large fleet of tugs and salvage craft out of Port Arthur during the first quar- ter of this Century. Mr.James Whalen was the principal own- er and guiding genius of this enterprise, and Captain James Morrison was general manager and Whalen's right hand man. Over the years this line came to own 18 tugs, 5 barges and 2 steamers. Mr.Whalen also owned a large steam yacht, the SIGMA. These ships provided Tug J.D.MORRISON regular towing service for the harbors of Port Arthur and Fort William. They also did extensive construction work, chiefly laying the foundations for many of the grain elevators at the twin ports of the Lakehead. Besides this, they ren- dered assistance to grounded ships all over the western end of Lake Superior. The ships of this fleet were painted battleship gray in the hull, dark red lower cabins with green window and door trim, white up- per pilot houses, and black stacks with a broad silver band near the top. Here is a list of the tugs which were in this fleet at various times, together with the year of build. The older ones were bought, the later built for the line: Tugs: FRANK C BARNES, 1872 LAURA GRACE, 1901 SALVOR, 1898 A.F.BOWMAN, 1906 HOME RULE, 1890 SARNIA, 1901 A.B.CONMEE, 1917 J.T.HORNE, 1913, steel SISKIWIT, 1872 JOE DUDLEY, 1865 MINITAGA, 1898 EDW.C.WHALEN, '13,st'l ESTELLE, 1874 MINNIE Wes 1911 JAMES WHALEN, '05,st'l EDWARD FISK, 1883 J.D. MORRISON, 1907 ELIZA WILLIAMS, i872 The best known of these, and the most powerful were the HORNE and JAMES WHALEN. Both were capable ice breakers. Our picture shows the latter breaking solid blue ice, more than three feet in thickness. The five barges were used for carrying sand, and for general lighterage pur- poses. They were the MARY E.McLACHLAN,formerly a sail ship, the COTEAU, PROVINCE, EMPIRE, and THUNDER BAY (ex MALTA). The bulk freight steamer GOGEBIC and the ice breaker ST.IGNACE, formerly the Straits of Mackinac railway ferry, were the lar- gest units of the fleet. All of Mr.Whalen's interests were combined and reincorporated, about 1925, under the name of Déminion Towing and Salvage Company. KOK OK OK KK KOK OK OK OK OK OK Tug JAMES WHALEN in action