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C2 > the At Collingwood, HULL 193 is schedul- ed to be christened TEXACO CHIEF on April 10. The Republic Fleet will be consider- ably changed this season. J.E.UPSON and PETER ROBERTSON (a.E.J.EARLING, b. ROBERT B. WALLACE) have been sold for a reported $95,000 each to Sea- Land Service, Inc., for trade-in on ocean-going tankers. As a result, FINLAND (asHARRY COULBY) will be re- named PETER ROBERTSON in honor of Republic's vice president for re- search and planning. In addition, JOHN B. COWLE will be renamed HARRY L. ALLEN for Republic's vice presi- dent and general manager of operat- ions. In addition, Republic has chartered for three years the COL. JAMES M. SCHOONMAKER from Interlake and will rename her WILLIS B. BOYER in honor of Republic's president. The 590-foot Liberian VAINQUEUR (a.ALEXANDER T. WOOD, b. LEADENHALL, c.LUBECK) sank as_ the result of an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico on March 17. Built by Can- adian Vickers at Montreal in 1957, she is best remembered on the Lakes as a unit of Wilson's short-lived saltwater fleet. freighter News from Blount Marine, Warren, R. I., indicates that their 104' pas- senger boat MOUNT HOPE will run at least three cruises into the Lakes this summer. Also the ferry they are building for Neuman Boat Lines of Sandusky will be KELLEY ISLANDER while the ferry building for Straits Transit will be THE STRAITS OF MACK- INAC II. Johnstone Shipping's (a.PETER G. CAMPBELL, c.GOOD HOPE) has been renamed GULF SENTINEL. Also at Toronto the old LAKESHELL will be renamed, reported- B. A. SENTINEL b.RIVERSHELL, LOG ~_ ly RIVERSHELL. Reports also indicate g that she will probably be scrapped within the year. Another report indicates that when C.S.L.'s WHITEFISH BAY enters ser- vice as a self-unloader she will be renamed QUETICO. Interlake's HENRY G. DALTON has been chartered to Wilson for the 1969 season. Fire damaged the engineroom of RALPH MISENER while she was fitting out at Port Colborne on April 3. Two more Lakes veterans have been sold to Sea-Land Service for trade- in on ocean tankers, They are Inter- lake's HARRY W. CROFT (a.FRED G. HARTWELL) and Kinsman's PHILIP MINCH The Soo Locks opened on schedule on April 1 when YANKCANUCK locked through. The first boat from the lower lakes was THUNDER BAY on April 4 on her way to the Algoma Steel plant with limestone. The first boat Lake Superior was HERBERT on April 5. The Welland also opened on April 1 with CANADIAN CENTURY the first upbound and CHARLES DICK the first down al- though she started from Port Col- borne. The first downbound from Lake Erie was MANITOULIN,. The Coast Guard's ocean-going icebreaker WEST- WIND was the first vessel to clear the Seaway. She was on her way to break out Buffalo. The first commer~ cial vessel into the Seaway on April 7 was the Swedish MAJ RAGNE. Close behind her was the former Navy tug ALLEGHENY on her way to the Lakes to , become a marine training vessel for Northwestern Michigan College at Traverse City. Dave Glick