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Our Ship of the Month No. 108, which appeared in the February issue, was the Playfair canaller MIDLAND QUEEN. We are always pleased when a feature provokes comment from our members, for in that way we can all expand our mutual fund of information regarding the boat in question. That, surely, is the principal reason of the publication of this journal. Regarding MIDLAND QUEEN's machinery, we mentioned the measurements of her triple-expansion engine but could not identify the manufacturer, for contemporary reports indicated only that the machinery came "from the Tyne". Member George Ayoub, of Ottawa, has ascertained that the QUEEN's machinery was built for her by the shipbuilders, namely, the Caledon Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Ltd., Dundee, Scotland, who completed the boat in 1901 as their Hull No. 160. George has also commented upon our remark that MIDLAND QUEEN was registered originally in Great Britain, as were so many of the British-built Canadian canallers. In fact, the registry records indicate that MIDLAND QUEEN was first registered at Toronto in 1901, and that her port of registry was altered to Midland in 1906. MIDLAND QUEEN remained on the Canadian register for the rest of her life, and her registry was finally closed on October 1, 1915. It will be recalled that MIDLAND QUEEN was sunk by gunfire from U-68 in the North Atlantic off Fastnet on August 4, 1915. Member Ron Beaupre of Port Elgin, Ontario, has also added information concerning MIDLAND QUEEN, this being an item excerpted from the May, 1906, issue of "The Marine Review", and reprinted in Vol. 19, No. 9, of "The Detroit Marine Historian", journal of the Marine Historical Society of Detroit. It reads as follows: "The steamer MIDLAND QUEEN had quite a May for herself. Early in the Month, she collided with the WILLIAM G. MATHER (I) at Amherstburg. She went to Wyandotte for repairs. She then went to the Canadian Lakehead for a load of wheat for Kingston. On her downbound trip, she missed the harbour entrance at Port Colborne and went ashore east of the breakwater. She had to be lightered of 10,000 bushels of grain before she could be freed."
We sincerely appreciate the assistance of Ron and George in filling out the story of this most interesting canaller, the first laker sunk by enemy action during World War One.
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