M/V William Carson was a CN Marine passenger/vehicle icebreaker ferry named in honour of Newfoundland colonial politician William Carson.
Built by Canadian Vickers Ltd. in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, William Carson measured 351 feet (107 m) in length and displaced 8,300 tons. Primarily a freight/cargo ferry, she had a capacity for 260 passengers and 60 cars which were loaded through a side ramp. [1]
Designed for service between Port aux Basques and North Sydney, Nova Scotia by Canadian National Railways, she was commissioned in 1955. One of the largest vessels built in Canada at the time, her large size forced her to use the more spacious harbour at Argentia for her first three years in service while the Port aux Basques harbour was modified to accept her. [1]
William Carson was reassigned to the seasonal Labrador coastal service in 1976, operating between Lewisporte and Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
In 1977, early in only the second season on the Labrador run, William Carson sank in 500 feet (150 m) of water on the night of 2 June / morning of 3 June 1977 after striking a small iceberg while navigating 12 nautical miles (22 km) off Battle Harbour. [2] All 129 passengers and 29 crew aboard at the time survived. [3]
The evacuation was carried out efficiently and passengers and crew waited in lifeboats in the icefield while watching their ship sink. Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers and Canadian Forces helicopters were dispatched to rescue the survivors. [4] Most of the survivors were taken to St. John's, Newfoundland by military transport. However, the military was criticized in the Canadian House of Commons for taking three hours to send helicopters to rescue the survivors. [3]
The Strait of Belle Isle is a waterway in eastern Canada, that separates Labrador from the island of Newfoundland, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
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.
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.
CCGS Henry Larsen is a Canadian Coast Guard Improved Pierre Radisson-class icebreaker serving in the Newfoundland and Labrador region and based in St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Entering service in 1988, Henry Larsen is the fourth ship and of an improved design over the rest of the ships in her class. The ship operates in the Arctic Ocean during summer months.
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.
Twillingate is a town of 2,121 people located on the Twillingate Islands ("Toulinquet") in Notre Dame Bay, off the north eastern shore of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The town is about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Lewisporte and Gander.
MV Caribou was a Marine Atlantic passenger/vehicle ferry which operated between the islands of Newfoundland and Cape Breton in eastern Canada.
The Newfoundland–Labrador fixed link is any of various proposals for constructing a fixed link consisting of a combination of bridges, tunnels, or causeways across the Strait of Belle Isle, connecting the province of Newfoundland and Labrador's mainland Labrador region with the island of Newfoundland. This strait has a minimum width of 17.4 km.
Sadko was a Soviet icebreaker known for its role in scientific expeditions in the Arctic. Built as SS Lintrose in 1913 for ferry service in Newfoundland, she was sold to the government of the Russian Empire in 1915 and renamed Sadko. In Russia, she was used as a freighter in the Arctic before sinking in 1916.
The steamship Malygin (Малыгин) was a Soviet icebreaker of 3,200 tonnes displacement. She was named after Stepan Malygin.
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.
Isle aux Morts is a small town on the Southwest Coast of the Island of Newfoundland, with a population of 559 (2021). The town is located approximately 16 km (9.9 mi) east from the Marine Atlantic Ferry Terminal in Port aux Basques along Route 470.
Rose Blanche–Harbour le Cou Town on Newfoundland's southwest shore, about 45 km from Port aux Basques, at the end of Route 470.
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.
The Alphabet Fleet was a fleet of vessels owned and operated by the Reid Newfoundland Company as part of the provisioning of the 1898 Railway contract between the Dominion of Newfoundland and the Reid Newfoundland Company. The vessels were named after places in Scotland, the native homeland of Sir Robert Gillespie Reid, founder of the Reid Newfoundland Company.
SS Kyle is a 220-foot (67 m) steam ship that is aground in the harbour of the Town of Harbour Grace, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. She ran ashore in February 1967. Intended to transport supplies and provide transportation from Carbonear to Labrador, she was also used to transport infantry to Canada during World War II. After her grounding on the shores of Riverhead, Harbour Grace, she has had several owners, from the Earle Brothers Freighting Company, Dominion Metals, and the Government of Newfoundland. Plans to have the vessel moved to the town of Salmon Cove, Newfoundland, and turned into a museum were later aborted due to financial implications.
MV Patrick Morris was a train ferry regulated by the Canadian National Railway (CN) that sank on her run from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland during a storm in the early morning of 20 April 1970 while responding to a mayday call from the Newfoundland-based herring seiner FV Enterprise. The ship's Captain Roland Penney was given permission to leave North Sydney ahead of schedule to assist the distressed wood-hulled fishing vessel .No passengers were aboard Patrick Morris when she set sail shortly before midnight for the rescue mission on 19 April.
Route 470, also known as La Poile Highway, is a highway on the West Coast of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the last provincial highway off Route 1 before approaching the Marine Atlantic Ferry to Nova Scotia, in Channel-Port aux Basques. The route is 42.8 kilometres (26.6 mi) in length. During much of the journey, there is plenty of barren land on both sides of the road, until arriving at its final community, Rose Blanche. Route 470 also carries the designation of Granite Coast Scenic Drive.