The two displaced Tobermory - South Bay Mouth ferries NORISLE and NORGOMA will be preserved although not in an operating capacity. NORISLE has been given to the North Channel town of Manitowaning where she will be used as a tourist facility and attraction. NORGOMA will go to the Canadian Soo for the same purpose. The ships have been transferred for the sum of $1 each.

The future of SOUTH AMERICAN is very much in doubt. Wm. S. Mellus has withdrawn his support and at the end of July the Mackinac Island Chamber of Commerce was desperately trying to gather enough funds to keep the ship from being reclaimed by the scrappers.

On May 16th, the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company tug WILLIAM C. GAYNOR capsized off Rockaway Point, New York, while putting in time on the east coast. Four men trapped inside the overturned hull were rescued by divers. The GAYNOR formerly served on the lakes for many years.

The Soo River Company, the firm controlled by Robert Pierson Holdings Ltd. which earlier this year purchased Kinsman's steamer SILVER BAY and renamed her JUDITH M. PIERSON, has now acquired two further vessels. During July the company purchased A. T. LAWSON from S & E Shipping Corp. and CHARLES M. SCHWAB from the Interlake Steamship Company. It has not yet been announced when the ships will enter service or what their new names will be. Meanwhile, JUDITH M. PIERSON herself is riding at anchor at the Lakehead awaiting an improvement in the grain trade.

Look for more old lakers to be towed out for scrapping in the near future. The Interlake Steamship Company sold ROBERT HOBSON to Marine Salvage Ltd. late in July and on August 9 the G-tugs GEORGIA and OKLAHOMA brought her into Ramey's Bend where her bowthruster will be removed before she goes overseas. Three Kinsman boats will shortly find themselves at the end of a towline as well. We understand that PETER ROBERTSON, GEORGE M. STEINBRENNER and GEORGE E. SEEDHOUSE have all been sold for scrap and, although the buyer has not been identified, we presume it is Marine Salvage Ltd.

Return to Home Port or Toronto Marine Historical Society's Scanner

Reproduced for the Web with the permission of the Toronto Marine Historical Society.