Docking in Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador | |
History | |
---|---|
Name |
|
Owner | Government of Canada |
Operator | Marine Atlantic [1] |
Port of registry | St. John's |
Route |
|
Ordered | 1987 |
Builder | MIL-Davie Shipbuilding, Lauzon |
Laid down | 1987 |
Launched | 1989 |
Christened | 1989 |
Completed | 1989 |
Maiden voyage | 1989 |
In service | 1989 |
Out of service | 2011 |
Identification | IMO number 8604797 |
Fate | Broken up in 2011 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | Gulfspan class icebreaking ropax ferry |
Tonnage | 27,615 GT |
Length | 172.76 m (567 ft) |
Beam | 24.99 m (82 ft) |
Draught | 12.19 m (40 ft 0 in) |
Ramps | shore-based bi-level ramps |
Ice class | Lloyd's 100A1, Northern Baltic 1A Super |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion |
|
Speed |
|
Capacity |
|
Crew | 106 (summer), 68 (winter) |
MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood was a Marine Atlantic [1] passenger/vehicle ferry which operated in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, between Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island in eastern Canada.
She is named after former Newfoundland premier Joseph R. Smallwood and his wife Clara.
MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood entering service in 1989, she was built by MIL Davie Incorporated in Lauzon, Quebec, and was specifically designed for the 520 km (280 nmi) seasonal route between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. [2] A roll-on, roll-off design with a bow visor, Joseph and Clara Smallwood had 2 vehicle decks and 5 decks above, the main passenger deck being Deck 5. [3] She measured 180 m (580 ft) [3] in overall length and 25 metres (82 ft) in breadth, weighing 27,614 tons. Her capacity included 1,200 passengers and 350 automobiles or 77 tractor trailers. [3] She had up to 106 crewmembers.
Joseph and Clara Smallwood was the sister ship to MV Caribou. Caribou was designed and commissioned by CN Marine in the early 1980s and was the culmination of years of research into effective icebreaking ship designs. [3] The resulting hull design which Caribou and Joseph and Clara Smallwood were built to is called "Gulfspan", named in part after the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The "Gulfspan" hull is unique among Canadian ice-reinforced ships in that the ship slices through sea ice, rather than using its weight to ride up onto and crush the ice underneath. This design permits the sister ships to maintain close to regular operating speed.[ citation needed ]
After Joseph and Clara Smallwood replaced MV Ambrose Shea in 1989, the North Sydney-Argentia crossing was reduced from 18 hours to a 14-hour schedule. During the fall, winter and spring seasons, Joseph and Clara Smallwood joined her sister ship Caribou, along with MV Leif Ericson on Marine Atlantic's 178 km (96 nmi) primary route between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Channel-Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and Labrador. [2] Joseph and Clara Smallwood was retired in March 2011, to make way for MV Blue Puttees and MV Highlanders which were on a five-year charter from Stena Line.
On August 11, 2011, it was announced that Joseph and Clara Smallwood had been sold to Merrion Navigation S.A. of the Marshall Islands. [4] Her name was shortened to Smallwood and she sailed to Alang, India and was scrapped along with her elder sister Caribou. [5]
The Gulf of St. Lawrence fringes the shores of the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, in Canada, plus the islands Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, possessions of France, in North America.
Cabot Strait is in Atlantic Canada between Cape Ray, Newfoundland, and Cape North, Cape Breton Island. The strait, approximately 110 kilometres wide, is the widest of the three outlets for the Gulf of Saint Lawrence into the Atlantic Ocean, the others being the Strait of Belle Isle and Strait of Canso. It is named for the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto.
Marine Atlantic Inc. is an independent Canadian federal Crown corporation which is mandated to operate ferry services between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.
Channel-Port aux Basques is a town at the extreme southwestern tip of Newfoundland fronting on the western end of the Cabot Strait. A Marine Atlantic ferry terminal is located in the town which is the primary entry point onto the island of Newfoundland and the western terminus of the Newfoundland and Labrador Route 1 in the province. The town was incorporated in 1945 and its population in the 2021 census was 3,547.
CN Marine was a Canadian ferry company headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick.
The Newfoundland Railway was a narrow-gauge railway that operated on the island of Newfoundland from 1898 to 1988. With a total track length of 906 miles (1,458 km), it was the longest 3 ft 6 in narrow-gauge system in North America.
Terra Transport (TT) was the name for the Newfoundland Transportation Division, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian National Railway (CN), created in 1979 as a means to organize the company's operations on Newfoundland.
North Sydney is a former town and current community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
M/V William Carson was a CN Marine passenger/vehicle icebreaker ferry named in honour of Newfoundland colonial politician William Carson.
MV Caribou was a Marine Atlantic passenger/vehicle ferry which operated between the islands of Newfoundland and Cape Breton in eastern Canada.
MV John Hamilton Gray was an icebreaking railway, vehicle, and passenger ferry which operated across the Abegweit Passage of Northumberland Strait, connecting Port Borden to Cape Tormentine between 1968–1997.
SS Caribou was a Newfoundland Railway passenger ferry that ran between Port aux Basques, in the Dominion of Newfoundland, and North Sydney, Nova Scotia between 1928 and 1942. During the Battle of the St. Lawrence the ferry participated in thrice-weekly convoys between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. A German submarine attacked the convoy on 14 October 1942 and Caribou was sunk. She had women and children on board, and many of them were among the 137 who died. Her sinking, and large death toll, made it clear that the war had really arrived on Canada's and Newfoundland's home front. Her sinking is cited by many historians as the most significant sinking in Canadian-controlled waters during the Second World War.
German submarine U-69 was the first Type VIIC U-boat of the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) during World War II. This meant that compared to previous U-boats, she could travel further afield for longer, with a payload of fourteen torpedoes, an 8.8 cm (3.5 in) deck gun for smaller vessels and a flak gun for use against aircraft. U-69 was very successful, sinking over 72,000 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping in a career lasting two years, making her one of the longest surviving, continuously serving, U-boats. Her most notable attack was on the civilian ferry SS Caribou, which sank off the coast of Newfoundland five minutes after being torpedoed in October 1942, killing 137 men, women and children. She was rammed and sunk by HMS Fame on 17 February 1943.
The MV Leif Ericson is a commercial passenger/vehicle ferry in service with the Canadian operator Marine Atlantic. She is currently the oldest vessel in the Marine Atlantic fleet. She was built along with two sister ships by Fosen Mekaniske Verksteder, Norway in the early 1990s. These two are Oslofjord and Patria Seaways.
Argentia is a Canadian commercial seaport and industrial park located in the Town of Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is situated on the southwest coast of the Avalon Peninsula and defined by a triangular shaped headland which reaches northward out into Placentia Bay creating a natural harbour 3 km (1.9 mi) in length.
MV Superfast IX is a fast ro-pax ferry owned by the Estonian ferry company Tallink, and was under charter to Canadian operator Marine Atlantic until March 2024. In February 2015, Marine Atlantic announced that the lease on the vessel had been renewed until November 2017 for a cost of Can$40 million. It was subsequently extended again, and the vessel was under Marine Atlantic control up to March 2024. Atlantic Vision operated on Marine Atlantic's services between North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and the Newfoundland ports of Channel-Port aux Basques and Argentia, Placentia.
MV Abegweit were icebreaking railway, vehicle, and passenger ferries which operated across the Abegweit Passage of Northumberland Strait, connecting Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island to Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick. There were two vessels named Abegweit that serviced this route between 1947 and 1997.
MV Blue Puttees is a Ro-Pax passenger/vehicle ferry operated by Marine Atlantic between the islands of Newfoundland and Cape Breton in eastern Canada. She is named after the nickname of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.
MV Highlanders is a Ro-Pax passenger/vehicle ferry operated by the Canadian Crown corporation Marine Atlantic. She operates between the islands of Newfoundland and Cape Breton in eastern Canada and is named after several Nova Scotian infantry regiments which fought in the first and second world wars.
Nova Scotia has two major national parks, Cape Breton Highlands National Park and Kejimkujik National Park. Nova Scotia is also home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites.. The two cultural and one natural site are the town of Lunenberg, the Grand-Pré National Historic Site, and the Joggins fossil cliffs. Nova Scotia is also famous for its numerous historical sites, museums, and natural areas.
... to connect the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador with mainland Canada, Marine Atlantic Inc. is tasked with fulfilling the constitutional mandate to "maintain in accordance with the traffic offering a freight and passenger steamship service between North Sydney and Port aux Basques".
... offer passenger and commercial customers these vital connections between the Island of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.