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KEYBELL KEYBELL (Can. 131111) steel bulk Senllis Ula freighter built by Collingwood Ship- NEVER DIE | 5 uilding Co., (HULL 37) in 1912 for NO. 149 | Keystone Transports, Ltd. Her hull particulars indicated she was 258’ in length, 42’6” beam and 17’3” in depth, having gross and net ton- nage ot 1730 and 1254 respectively. Propulsion machinery consisted of a 750-h.p. triple-expansion engine with cylinders 16”-27”-46” x 36’ stroke, a product of the builder’s yard. Two scotch marine boilers 10°6” x 11’9” provided steam at a maximum pressure of 180 Ibs. These coal-fired hand-fed boilers were natural draft in design. Her main trade route was between Lake Erie coal ports and the Montreal Light, Heat and Power plant on the Lachine Canal in West Montreal. On occasion, however, she sailed to the Gulf of St. Law- rence and loaded pulpwood for delivery to Thorold. It was not uncommon for her to deliver a cargo of coal a week to Montreal. This was a rather re- markable accomplishment, particularly during the years that the Third Welland Canal was in use as it meant she had to navigate 44 locks upbound From the AUTHOR'S Collection and 41 downbound. Her engine gave a good turn of speed and she was able to show her taffrail to many a competitor. There may be some who viewed her as just an- other of the many canallers. However, she was ra- ther unique in at least three ways. Firstly, she was the only KEY boat built on the Great Lakes, the other 12 having been built in overseas yards. Secondly, she was the first of many canallers to me it ive in the i diately pre- ceding and following the opening of the Seaway; 1956 having been her last year in active service. And lastly, when Keystone Transports became Laverendrye Line, Ltd., in 1957, she was the only one of the nine vessels involved in the transfer that never saw service for her new owners! Her last four years were spent in idleness, tied to adock in the Cataraqui River at Kingston, Ont. In 1961 she was towed to the nearby Kingston Dry Dock where welders’ torches soon reduced the once- proud ship to a pile of scrap metal. Paul Sherlock