Ship of the Month - cont'd. 12. After repairs were completed, she left for Tonawanda with her cargo of lum ber. Upon arriving there, she immediately was seized for non-payment of debt. The King Iron Works, of Buffalo, had made repairs to her machinery about four years earlier, and apparently had not been paid. Payment of the princely sum of $94 .3 0 , plus interest and cost of libel service, was arran ged, and accordingly the steamer was released. Early in June of 1 8 9 2 , KINCARDINE was bound for Collingwood, laden with bar rels of salt. She stranded on the rocky shore of Cabot Head, not far from Wingfield Basin, or about twenty miles east of Tobermory. With her bow on shore, her stern settled in fifteen feet of water. There was about seven feet of water in her hold. The only salvage effort made was that a tug was sent up from Collingwood, and the tug carried away about 200 barrels of salt. The fish tug CLUCAS departed Tobermory on June 10th with the tug ADAM AINS LIE in tow. They were bound for the Owen Sound drydock, where the AINSLIE would receive some repairs to her machinery. As they passed the KINCARDINE wreck, they observed her to be on fire. The "Owen Sound Times" of Thursday, June 16th, reported: "The whole portion of the barge which was above water was consumed. There seems to be no doubt that the fire was of incendiary ori gin, as the boiler and engine were beneath water and no one was supposed to be on board. The KINCARDINE was slightly rebuilt here this spring, and has been ashore four or five times since she went out. She was owned, we under stand, by Capt. A. Thompson, Mr. Chas. Richardson and Mr. Christie, of the Michaels Bay Lu m b e r Co. There was no marine insurance on her, but a fire in surance of $ 6 ,5 0 0 ." The last sentence of the press report certainly makes one appreciate the man ner in which the fire aboard KINCARDINE might have occurred... In any event, what remained of KINCARDINE after the fire was left to the elements for four years. Early in October of 1 8 9 6 , the Collingwood tug SAUCY JIM was at work at the site of the wreck, recovering the engine. Today, hikers travelling along the Bruce Trail can see a large piece of rus ting metal partially buried in the rocks and gravel of the Georgian Bay shoreline, just west of Wingfield Basin. This, undoubtedly, is part of KIN CARDINE'S boiler, and today it remains as the only physical trace of her ex istence, almost a century after the steamer's loss. * * * Author's Note: Several persons made contributions to the preparation of this feature. We extend special thanks to researchers Pat Folkes, Bill McNeil and Rick Neilson, all of whom are members of the Ontario Marine Heritage Commit tee. We also should like to thank Peter Warwick, and fellow T. M. H. S. members George Ayoub, Ivan Brookes, Alan Mann and Gerry Ouderkirk. * * * Ed. Note: The photo of KINCARDINE at Owen Sound, seen on our photopage this issue, was taken in 1888 or 18 8 9 , and features a number of famous vessels. From left to right, we see CAMPANA, KINCARDINE, an unidentified vessel, CAM BRIA, an unidentified tug, CARMONA, METEOR, and the government hydrographic steamer BAYFIELD. * * * WITCROIX, ANYONE? Your Editor would appreciate hearing from anyone who might have knowledge of the "final" disposition of the tanker WITCROIX, the former COASTAL CLIFF and BRUCE HUDSON, which went to the Caribbean after the conclusion of her lake career. The last report of her that we have indicates that she was laid up at St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands, in 1976, but we have no idea what hap pened to her after that, although she still was listed in the 1982-1983 Lloyds Register. Can any of our members assist? * * * * *