The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

The E d i tor's L o g b o o k - cont'd. e conomical), and J A D R A N is ea s i l y a c c e s s i b l e via pu b l i c transit by the su b w a y to U nion Station and t r a n s f e r r i n g either to the Bay Bus H a r b o u r f r o n t Streetcar for the short trip sou th to Quee n ' s Quay. 2. taking or the We hope to see a large number of members in attendance for what should be a m e m o r a b l e evening. Tickets are a v ailable f r o m our Chief Purser, W i l l i a m R. Wilson, 173 G l e nrose Avenue, Toronto, O n t a r i o M4T 1K7. Please remit with your r e s e r v a t i o n request, and be sure to spec i f y w h e t h e r you wish a chicken or s almon entree. Clos i n g date for ticket sales will be Tuesday, M a y 7th, and we regret that there can be no refunds after that date. Tickets wil l be held at the door for all who reserve. Please plan to a t t e n d and r e s e r v e as soon as possible. In the N e w Mem b e r D e p a r t m e n t , a h e a r t y w e l c o m e goes out to Edwa rd Chaput, of Rockwood, Michigan, who was a crew m e m b e r of EDM UN D F I T Z G E R A L D in her first year of service. * * * * * * * M A R I N E NEWS After one of the n a s tiest w i n t e r s in recent memory, d u r i n g w hich most areas around the Great Lakes were lashed by f r e q u e n t strong w i n d s and bur i e d under n e a r - r e c o r d snows, spring has arrived, and w i t h it has come the o p e n i n g of the new n a v i g a t i o n season. There may be some h eavy ice c o nditions still lying in wait to impe de vess el traffic, p a r t i c u l a r l y on Lake Erie, but for now the ships are moving. The first transits of the Soo Locks took place on March 15th, w h e n the Coast Guard i c e b r e a k i n g tugs N E A H BAY and KATMAI BAY passed up through the Poe Lock, followed by the big b r e a k e r MACKINAW. They were to w o r k in the upper St. Mary's River, w i t h M A C K I N A W then p r o c e e d i n g up to w ork in the D u l u t h - S u p e r i o r area. The first comme r c i a l passage at the Soo came w h e n ROGER BL O U G H entered the Poe Lock, downbound, at 1 2 : 38 a . m. on M arch 25th. Several other ships f o l lowed c l o s e l y behind the BLOUGH. It had b e e n a n t i c i p a t e d that the first o f f i c i a l passage through the W e l l a n d Canal for the 1996 season w ould be one of the Algoma C e n t r a l self- un l o a d e r s w hich w i n t e r e d at Hami lton, but in a strange twist of the plans, such was not the case. The canal was opened "officially" on A p r i l 2nd w i t h the u pbo u n d passage of the s t r a i g h t - d e c k steamer A L G O G U L F (II), (a) J. N. M C W A T TERS (I I ) (91), (b) SCOTT MISE N E R (I V ) (94)- The usual c e r e m o n i e s were c o n d u c ted as the ship pa s s e d through Lock Three. In fact, however, the W e l l a n d Canal a c t u a l l y opened for traffic four days earlier. The demand for cargoes was such that earlier transits were p e rmitted, and the first complete t r a n sit of the canal came on M a r c h 29th, whe n A L G O L A K E pa s s e d up, bound from H a m ilton to Detroit. In a d d i t i o n to the usual complement of icebre a k e r s w o r k i n g on the Great Lakes to batt le the spring ice, the U . S. Coast Guard has a strange vessel w o r k i n g in the St. Mary's River this spring. She is U . S . C . G. JUNIPER, built in 1995 at Marinette, Wisconsin, by the M a r i n e t t e Mar i n e Corporation. J U N I PER is the first of a new class of s e a g o i n g buoy tenders, and she wil l be u n d e r g o i n g operat i o n a l testing and e v a l u a t i o n before taking up her d e s i g nated stat i o n at Newport, Rhode Island. Part of that test i n g will include i c e b r e a k i n g trials on the lakes and, p a r t icularly, in the St. Mary's River, where ice conditions may sore ly try even the best icebreakers. The C a n a d i a n Coast G u a r d fleet of lake i cebreakers will be a u g m e n t e d by PIERRE R A D I S S O N and, we believe, one other salt water icebreaker. The 1996 n a v i g a t i o n seas on at the Port of Toronto op e n e d on M a r c h 21st with the a r r i v a l of the Essroc cement carrier S T E P H E N B. ROMAN. Her master, Capt. James Leaney, was p r e s e n t e d with the tradit i o n a l top hat to mark the o c c a sion. In recent years, the R O M A N has almost always b e e n the first ship to bring cargo to Toronto, as she u s u a l l y is r u n n i n g before the canals open.