The end has come at last for the Hall fleet, a veteran of the Canadian lake shipping scene. The company, whose ships sported the famous white "wishbone" and letter 'H' on their stacks, latterly was known as Halco Inc., but suffered major problems when the Augsbury interests sustained financial reverses in the early 1980s. The fleet's major creditor, the Royal Bank of Canada, kept it operating beyond 1983 and acquired full ownership early in 1986. That October, the bank sold off the fleet's tankers, and contracted the operation of the eight bulk carriers to Navican Management Inc., pending efforts by the bank to dispose of the vessels.

Early in 1988, the Royal Bank completed negotiations with Canada Steamship Lines Inc., Misener Shipping and N. M. Paterson & Sons Ltd. for those three fleets to purchase the Halco bulkers. As a result, C.S.L. will take over the FRANKCLIFFE HALL, CARTIERCLIFFE HALL and LAWRENCECLIFFE HALL, while Misener gets OTTERCLIFFE HALL and MAPLECLIFFE HALL. The Paterson houseflag will be flown by BEAVERCLIFFE HALL, MONTCLIFFE HALL and STEELCLIFFE HALL. We understand that new names have been chosen for most of the vessels, but as the renames have not yet been finalized, we will not be able to print them for our readers until the March issue. Please stay tuned...

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