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GREETINGS OF THE SEASON 2. Once again, the time has come for us to review the events of the year that soon will be ending, and to pass along to all of you our greetings for the upcoming holiday season. In most years, this has been a task that we have approached with enthusiasm, but that is not so this time around. 2001 was a year in which an apparently booming economy capsized and sank in­ to recession. It was a year in which low water levels again plagued the lake shipping industry. It was a year in which firms all over the spectrum sought protection from bankruptcy. It was a year in which a Welland Canal bridge turned a Seaway-size laker into a constructive total loss. And it was a year in which the lakes' only mailboat sank and drowned its two crew members in the Detroit River. But in years to come, for what will we recall the year 2001? We will remember it for the unimaginably evil events that took place, and the horror and fear we all felt, on the morning of Tuesday, September 11th. It was then that the final nail was driven into the coffin of our col­ lective innocence, the first having been hammered in at 2: 20 on the morning of Monday, April 15th, 1912, the moment the Industrial Revolution ended. The fledgling cruise industry on the lakes suffered major setbacks in 2001. ARCADIA and Great Lakes Cruises Inc. got off to a shaky start, and the ser­ vice ended less than a month later. The promising advent of CAPE MAY LIGHT was scuppered by her owner's apparent overextension that could not survive the repercussions of September 11th. And the proposed conversion of DAY PECKINPAUGH to a barge canal cruise ship never happened. The grain business was not great, but at least there was a "fall grain rush" that saw a number of straight-deckers reactivated. On the other hand, the summer saw an unusual number of ore boats idle, and more went to an early autumn lay-up as the steel industry saw yet more reverses of fortune. The marine museum at Toronto was closed due to municipal fiscal restraint and poor public support, while another piece of history, the last straight- deck bulk carrier built with her pilothouse forward, the CANADIAN TRADER, was sold for scrapping overseas. Perhaps the one bright light on the lake scene shone on the shipbuilding in­ dustry. Pascol at Thunder Bay had lots of repair work, as did Port Weller, and the latter turned out the almost-new CSL LAURENTIEN as well as the in­ credibly ugly "blistered" CSL TADOUSSAC. Port Weller also will do a major reconstruction of CANADIAN CENTURY this coming winter. However, most busy of all were the yards of the Manitowoc Marine Group; Marinette Marine continues to churn out Coast Guard tenders, and will build three big ferries for New York City's Staten Island service, while the Sturgeon Bay yard remains busy with all sorts of new and repair work, and the group has been awarded the contract to build the long-awaited replacement for the U. S. Coast Guard ice­ breaker MACKINAW. There still is no new lock capable of handling 1, 000-foot ships at the Soo, but it would seem that the various levels of government finally are getting their acts together, and the one new lock to replace the outdated Davis and Sabin Locks now seems very likely to be built in the foreseeable future. The summer was one of the hottest and driest on record around the lakes, and the autumn has been unbelievably pleasant. Never before has Ye Ed. done so much canoeing (in his 1918 Ditchburn) in the month of November. But now the weather is turning, and winter seems not far away. It gives us much pleasure to extend our thanks to all who have supported the Toronto Marine Historical Society during 2001. We include the members of the Executive Committee who have attended to the operation of the Society and chaired our entertainment meetings despite a myriad of little (and sometimes huge) problems along the way; the members who are our regular correspondents and contributors to "Scanner" and without whose help we could not produce this newsletter at all; those who answered our call for lay-up listings; those who delivered "Scanner" in their local areas and who helped us to con­