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13. Ship of the M onth - cont'd. the late Hall Corporation; Ro n a l d F. Beaupre, and the various records of the Editor, i n cluding photos and notes by the late John H. Ba s c o m and James M. Kidd. Ye Ed. must admit to the fact that he was e n c o u r a g e d in his work w ith Bob Graham's orig inal m a n u s c r i p t by the sight of a r i n gbuoy from the J O H N H. PRICE w h i c h hangs on the wall of his study, a treasured m e m e n t o of a fine little steamer! * * * * * MARINE NEWS - CONTINUED For several years now, it has been r u m o u r e d that a n e w f e r r y service across Lake Erie, p r o b a b l y betw e e n Port S t a n l e y and Cleveland, was "in the works", but u ntil very recently, it seemed to be a concept as eph e m e r a l as the v a r i ous f e r r y services plan n e d for Lake Ontario. Now, however, the plans are taking v ery definite shape, and a boat has been secured for the service. We also know that the ferry will NOT be the idle NINDAWAYMA, for w h i c h the O n tario N o r t h l a n d T r a n s p o r t a t i o n C o m m i s s i o n has been seeking a charterer! The p o t e n t i a l operator of the ferry service now is i d e n t i f i e d as the Port S t a n ley F e r r y Corporation, and it intends to start its y e a r - r o u n d service with p a s s e n g e r - o n l y o p e r a t i o n c o mmencing on July 1st, and v e h i c u l a r service by the end of the summer. C h a i r m a n of the board of the Ferry C o r p o r a t i o n is R o bert Henderson, of Beaver Foods Ltd. in London, Ontario. An article ap p e a r i n g in "The Lon d o n Free Press" on M a r c h 12th i n d i c a t e d that, during the p r e viou s week, the C o r p o r a t i o n had a c q u i r e d for the service the former Ann A rbor R a i l r o a d Com p a n y ' s Lake M i c h i g a n c a r f e r r y VIKING, (a) ANN ARBOR NO. 7 (64), w h i c h has been lying idle since the t e r m i n a t i o n of the Ann Arbor ferry service in April of 1982. She r e c e n t l y has been laid up at Manitowoc, W i s consin. V I K I N G is 3 4 7 . 9 x 56 . 2 x 1 9 . 2, 2713 Gross and 1287 Net. She was bu ilt in 1925 as Hull 214 of the M a n i t o w o c S h i p b u i l d i n g Corp., and was c o m p l e t e l y rebuilt and r e p o w e r e d w i t h four G . M. diesels over the w i n t e r of 1964-19 65. The ne w owner of the f e r r y is said to be f i n a l i z i n g its f i nancing a r r a n g e m e n t s at present but alre a d y has in place m a n y of the details n e c e s sary for the comm e n c e m e n t of cross - l a k e service. We w ish them well. Meanwhile, Ontario government b e l t - t i g h t e n i n g has caused a red u c t i o n in the service provi d e d on anot her Lake Erie ferry service. Pelee Island Transportation Services will no longer k eep JIIMAAN at Pelee Island overnight during the summer months, but inst e a d she will m ake her first trip of the day from Leamington. J I I M A A N will still make one trip a day across the lake to Sandusky, Ohio, but the e a r l y - m o r n i n g run from S a n d u s k y to Pelee Island by the smaller ferry PELEE I S L ANDER has been eliminated, and PELEE I S L AND ER will n o w run only b e t w e e n the island and the Ontario mainland. These service r e d u c t i o n s are e x p e c t e d to achieve a ten percent sa ving in costs, but the island council is fight i n g the s c h edule changes. All g overnments are seeking ways to reduce e x p enses these days, and such c o n s i d e r a t i o n s have caused the federal gove r n m e n t to close the Canada C u s toms offi ce at Wallaceburg, Ontario, ef f e c t i v e M a r c h 31st, thus en d i n g an o p e r a t i o n that had f u n c t i o n e d for 150 years and six days. The W a l l a c e b u r g cust oms office opened on March 25, 1846, to serve the h e a v y shipping trade at the port, and its demise is a dire ct result of the c e s s a t i o n of c o m m e r cial traffic on the Chenal Ecarte and S y d e n h a m River. The last bulk carrier to call at W a l l a c e b u r g was S T E L L A DESGAGNES, w h i c h clea r e d on July 24, 1987, a l t h o u g h the McKeil tugs W. N. T W O L A N and LAC M A N I T O B A did visit W a l l a c e b u r g on September 25, 1989. We u n d e r s t a n d that the A m e r i c a n St e a m s h i p Com p a n y ' s A M E R I C A N REPUBLIC will be u se d this year to carry the Olympic torch on the Detroit to C l e v e l a n d leg of its journey to Atlanta. In order to prepare her for this unus u a l run, the