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= the LoG oe | The Coast Guard icebreaker SOUTHWIND will no longer be seen on the Lakes. She pulled out of Milwaukee on May S for the last time, bound for Baltimore and decommissioning after 30 years of service. She will be replaced this coming winter by the WESTWIND. J. W. Bissell, of Holland, Mich., reports that city has been removed from the itinerary of the cruise boat STELLA MARIS. It seems that the facilities at that port were less than ideal. Terry Wolters of the tourist committee of the Holland Chamber of Commerce said that Othmar Grueninger, of Midwest Cruises, booking agent for the vessel, cited the narrow channel as the major reason for dropping Holland as a stop. But the Holland Evening Sentinel reported there were other problems, including difficulties in removing waste water, supplying fresh water, removal of garbage and unsatisfactory bus service into town. Also there were complaints that docking adjacent to coal piles caused unpleasant dust problems. At this writing there are reports that Sturgeon Bay is under con- sideration as the Holland substitute. Also from Bissell a thrilling, eyewitness account of a mishap at Holland that seamanship and courage prevented from becoming a tragedy. The tug JOHN M. SELVICK was bringing the barge SEA CASTLE into the channel connecting Lake Macatawa with Lake Michigan when an explosion occurred on the stern of the barge. A strong east wind whipped the ensuing blaze and it threatened to envelop the entire barge. Capt. Roy Eliason cleared the pierhead and then brought tug and barge around within the breakwater and pulled the barge up to the channell seawall. But just as the Coast Guard was arriving to battle the fire, the towline broke and the SEA CASTLE started to drift away. Crewmen aboard the barge managed to secure another line and the fire was quickly extinguished. Two crewmen were slightly hurt when the towline parted but there were no injuries from the fire, Bissell reports. A tip of the topper to our Holland correspondent. A Great Lakes Environmental Laboratory has been set up in Ann Arbor, Mich., by the Commerce Department for some 30 scientists who will study the ecology of the Lakes from sediments on the bottom to the air above. The scientists are from the National Ocean Survey’s Lake Survey Center at Detroit and researchers for the International Field Year for the Great Lakes (IFYGL). The IFYGL project is a joint enterprise by the United States and Canada to collect, analyze and interpret as much information as they can gather. The work got underway back in 1972 and isn’t slated for comple- tion until 1977. One of the things the scientists are anxious to do is to develop a model of Lakes circulation in response to the natural forces acting on the water such as surface winds and heating and cooling. These models may answer some of the problems of tricky currents which plague ship- masters in many areas. Harry W. Thorp writes from Sarasota, Fla., that to ease the problem of distinguishing between the PAUL THAYER and WILLIAM ROESCH Kinsman might paint the crow’s nests different colors or at least paint a wide stripe around the enclosure. Okay, Kinsman, there’s no charge for the suggestion on how to make a lot of friends among the boat-watching fraternity.