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ara middle. Anyone making thair first trip in this kind of weather would wonder how thoy ever hold toyether, but they are built to withstand the heavy seas, if proper precautions are taken to avoid too much strain. The Coast Guard controls the traffic in the St. Mary's River which includes the Soo Locks, and when the weather gets too bad they close the river and all ships in that vicinity must go to anchor. The biggest hazard in the St. Mary's River is fog and currents, and every possible precaution must be taken to keep these big ships from striking bottom. On two occasions this summer we struck, and; both times the cost to repair the ships was well over $100,000 plus lost time. When these large vessels just tpuch these rock bottoms a shipyard job can be expected. The dredging required to deepen the connecting channels of the St. Lawrence Seaway has made the passage of these large ships very difficult. For example, most channels are normally six hundred feet wide. During the dredging operations the channels were narrowed to three hundred feet and less. This restricts passing, but on the turns it requires extreme judgment on the part of the Masters to maneaver these ships in these narrow channels. The Amherstburg Channel here in the Detroit River is now complete, but the Livingstone is still to be done. When we say complete--did you know that only one-half of the channel, with the other half remaining at the normal 21 feet draft. I thought I would mention this so if you ever wonder why the deeper vessels use only one side of these wide channels, that is the reason. For the next two years, 1960 and 1961, the West Neebish downbound Channel will be closed to traffic and all upbound and downbound traffic must use the East Neebish Channel around Neebish Island in the St. Marys River. You are going to be reading a lot about this part of thé River in the next two years, and you will become as familiar with Johnsons Point, Stribling Point, The Dark Hole, Harwood Point, Mud Lake and Hay Lake as you are of the Livingstone and Amherstburg Channels or the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers. Once these channels are completed we will have what can be considered ideal conditions, but many sleepless nights will be had by the sailors on these ships before the job is done. We were fortunate enough to operate our three ships during the Steel Strike. You might like to know what we are running into since the Strike is over. You probably know that some 240 ships are normally in the ore trade, and they load cargo at ten ports in the Upper Lakes.