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{ BLACK RIVER { The BELL had a rather uneventful career, usually towed behind the steamer MARIPOSA. In 1936, the barge was sold to Marine Iron and Shipbuilding Company (John P, Geistman) of Duluth. The following year she was sold to Pigeon River Timber Company of Fort William and renamed BLANCHE H. tc. 158269) where she was employed in the pulpwood trade hauling deckloads of pulp timbers down the Lakes from the forests of Lake Superior to paper plants on Lakes Erie and Ontario. Her role remained much the same following her sales to Lakehead Transportation Company, Ltd., in 1938 and Great Lakes Lumber and Shipping Company, Ltd., in 1942. In 1949, her last of seven transfers saw her in the colors of Quebec & Ontario Trans- portation Company, Ltd. of Thorold, Ontario at which time she was rechristened BLACK RIVER. In company with her sister, PIC RIVER, she was towed by the former wooden net tender ROCKY RIVER. In 1952, Q & O determined to convert BLACK RIVER and PIC RIVER to motorvessels. This was accomplished at Port Weller Dry Docks, Ltd. on the Welland Ship Canal. BLACK RIVER received a Burmeister & Wain diesel engine built in 1931 in Copenhagen, Denmark; a unit of six cylinders of 21" x 35" stroke. The former barge received new forward cabins and a slightly modified cruiser stern. These alterations increased her gross registered tonnage to 3,587 and lengthened the vessel to 373 feet. In the insuing years, BLACK RIVER hauled a multitude of cargoes for Q & 0, from the Lakehead to ports on the Lower St. Lawrence. While slow of gait, she was staunch of build and amassed a career of 84 seasons, a span of years which has rarely been equalled on our Inland Seas. One of our members, Captain John Leonard, served as her master this past season. While the vessel's certificate had expired on July 17th, she was granted a three-month extension as result of a subsequent inspection at Goderich. BLACK RIVER was upbound in the Welland Canal on October 22nd, her final transit of the waterway, under her own power for her final port of call, Ramey's Bend and the scrapper's torch. Her sister, PIC RIVER, withdrawn from service only last Fall, awaits a like fate at Strathearne Terminal in nearby Hamilton, Ontario. 4 USNS POWHATAN (T-ATF-166) § Marinette Marine Corporation, Marinette, Wisconsin is currently building seven steel tugs for the U. S. Navy's Military Sealift operations. The first of the series, USNS POWHATAN, is pictured on Page 4 on acceptance trials held this Fall, preparatory to her delivery trip to San Francisco, The vessels measure 225' x 42' x 20'; 900 gross tons. Their complement consists of twenty civilian personnel. Two controllable - reversible pitch props in Kort nozzels are driven by a 7,200 BHP diesel engine. The second tug, NARRAGANSETT, was scheduled for departure from the Marinette shipyard in November. é