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Just before fleeing to Florida, tireless Port Huron correspond- ent Perry Haughton brought us up to date on happenings in that area, eae the tidying up of the SIDNEY E. SMITH JR. sal- vage. Reid Aggregates Ltd., of Sarnia, was paid $128,000 by the U.S.Corps of Engineers to dis- pose of the stern section and an additional $130,360 to get rid of the bow section including the cabins, pilothouse and conveyor which had been piled on shore. About 600 tons remain to be re- moved by rail with H.R. Beaudua, of Marine City, and John Emig, of St.Clair, to be paid $5 a ton for this’ operation. The stern will become a breakwall in the spring to protect the Sarnia Yacht Club from Lake Huron. Haughton also reported on the tests of winter survival gear on Lake Huron. The Coast Guard vol- unteers who tried out the cover- ed raft, wet and dry diving suits, flashing light and radio equipment reported that the sur- vival materials worked fairly well but eight of the nine vol- unteers became seasick and had to give up the proposed 24-hour test after only five hours. The men testing the wet suits said the initial shock was severe as they hit the water but eased quickly, but when they came out of the 45-degree water into the e4-degree air with a stiff wind it was another story. He also reported that Don Lee has bought Hindman's tug DANA T. BOWEN and has her tied up at Port Lambton. lee was the man who bought NORMAC from Owen Sound Transportation and sold it in Toronto where she is now a floating restaurant. Early heavy ice reported at Dul- uth (18 inches) and in the St. Marys River, coupled with lower water temperatures than normal, LOG may herald problems for this season's efforts to extend wint- er navigation, and, along with these come chilling words from Eric Schenker, an economics pro- fessor at the University of Wis- consin. Schenker told the Winter Navigation Board seminar at De- troit the cost of keeping navi- gation open six weeks longer than normal would be $144 mill- ion, or twice the cost of keep- ing open four weeks longer or five times the cost of a two- week extension. And that does NOT include a $10 million bill for Coast Guard icebreaking! Oliver T. Burnham, Lake Carriers vice president, says the Soo Line and Erie Lackawanna have withdrawn their application ‘to the ICC for a unit-train grain rate fron Duluth-Superior to Martins Creek, Pa. We reported the application in the October LOG. Bay Shipbuilding at Sturgeon Bay has the following work scheduled for this winter: AMOCO ILLINOIS, HORACE JOHNSON and D.M. CLEMSON, rouLAne and miscellaneous work; INTSRNATICNAL, crew quarter alt— erations and boiler work; AMOCO INDIANA, main deck plating and miscellaneous; PHILIP D. BLOCK, sewage system and cargo hold re- pairs; ROGERS CITY and MYRON C. TAYLOR, five-year inspection and drydocking; ENDERS M. VOORHEES, oil conversion, strapping and drydocking; COLONEL JAMES PICK- ANDS, lay-up. On the "maybe" list: VENUS, deck engines, five- year inspection and drydocking; MERCURY, routine, miscellaneous, and ALL“GHENY (tug) renovation and drydocking. LEON FRASER is at Fraser Ship- yards (where else?) getting an experimental bubbler system to reduce the friction of plowing through winter's ice. Hal Jackson w