7. Marine News - cont'd. On May 3 0 , th e 7,000 h. p. tug THUNDER arrived from Port Arthur, Texas, at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, on her way to Ontonagon to retrieve the U. P. S. Co. -built barge that has languished there in unfinished state. The barge was to be brought to the Soo, where "The Ontonagon Tug" (which has been at the Carbide Dock since last December) would be put in the notch and THUNDER would take both to Texas for the new owner, the Marine Specialty Company. For a variety of reasons, the barge could not be launched immediately, so THUNDER returned to the Soo on July 18 after waiting at Houghton. Her crew secured the fittings on the big pusher-tug, including her two large MAK diesel engines, and the two departed the Soo on July 26, with the Welling ton tug IROQUOIS assisting as far as Montreal. It is interesting to note that the U. S. authorities reported "The Ontonagon Tug" simply as a "hulk" when the tow passed down the Seaway! It was planned that, as soon as legal clearance could be obtained to overcome difficulties posed by the new ow ners of the shipyard site, the Wellington tug CHIPPEWA would head for On tonagon, arrange for the barge to be floated, and then tow it to the Soo and on to Montreal. We would be remiss if we did not mention that, while she lay at the Soo, "The Ontonagon Tug" was very carefully examined by rep resentatives of a major Canadian lake fleet which was pondering the use of the tug as a possible method of "repowering" one of its self-unloaders whose engine is nearing the end of its usefulness. On July 14, the Paterson motorship SOODOC (II) arrived at Montreal, this being her first visit to the port since she was placed under foreign re gistry for the winter. Whilst at Montreal, SOODOC reverted to the Canadian flag and the home port of Thunder Bay reappeared on her stern. SOODOC was at Montreal to load a cargo for delivery to the Arctic regions. The idle self-unloading motorship SAMUEL MATHER (VIII), (a) HENRY FORD II (89), was towed from Dearborn to Toledo on June 23 by the tug SHANNON, as sisted in the Detroit River by BANTRY BAY and at Toledo by GALWAY BAY. The vessel was moored at the Hocking Valley Docks, still in Rouge Steel livery and with no name on her bows but the new name painted on her stern. It is not clear what the new owner of the venerable ship, the Lakes Shipping Com pany (an affiliate of the Interlake Steamship Company), intends to do with the MATHER, but one wonders why the company went to the expense of renam ing the vessel if it did not have plans for her. Work has progressed on the conversion of the venerable steam carferry CHIEF WAWATAM to a barge for Purvis Marine. The hull, lying at the Government Wharf at the Canadian Soo, has been cut to the main deck, with a high bul wark left around the deck and with the bow Seagate still in place. A tow ing notch has been built out of the stern of the steamer. She may make a good barge, but it will be very difficult for anyone who knew the ferry in her glory days not to remember what once was... An unusual summer visitor to Toronto has been the Misener motorship DAVID K. GARDINER, (a) LAWRENCECLIFFE HALL (ll)( 8 8 ), which arrived on May 24 and laid up on the south side of the Leslie Street slip. During the summer, the GARDINER has received considerable hull plating replacement and her cabins have been painted. As yet, however, her hull still has not been repainted in Misener blue. Other summer lay-ups here have been WHITEFISH BAY, EVA DESGAGNES, STELLA DESGAGNES and ELMGLEN, in addition to those permanent residents, METIS, HOCHELAGA and CONGAR. CANADOC also laid up for a month. In previous issues, we reported the ongoing exploits of the barge OLS-30, which capsized last autumn in Lake Huron whilst loaded with liquid calci um chloride. Salvage crews from McAllister Towing and from Donjon Marine, of New Jersey, were back at the wreck site on May 1st with the tugs PAT RICIA B. McALLISTER, CARL WILLIAM SELVICK and VENTURE, and the big salvage barge McALLISTER 252. The stricken barge eventually was lifted and, on May 14 was towed, upside-down, into Calcite harbour. There, what little cargo still remained in the barge (most of it had leaked out during the winter) was pumped into the barge HANNAH 2901, which had been brought from Chica go by the tug BETTY GALE. Pumping of the cargo began on May 16, the barge