MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood
history{|
,St. John's
|Ship route=Channel-Port aux Basques—North Sydney (fall, winter, spring)
Argentia-North Sydney (summer)
|Ship ordered=1987
|Ship builder=MIL-Davie Shipbuilding
|Ship original cost=
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|Ship laid down=1987
|Ship launched=1989
|Ship completed=1989
|Ship christened=1989
|Ship acquired=
|Ship maiden voyage=1989
|Ship in service=1989
|Ship out of service=
|Ship identification=IMO number 8604797
|Ship fate=
|Ship status=In service
|Ship notes=
}}
|Ship displacement=
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|Ship ramps=shore-based bi-level ramps
|Ship ice class=Lloyd's 100A1, Northern Baltic 1A Super
|Ship power=4 × MaK 8 cylinder diesels
combined 20600 kW
|Ship propulsion=2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
2 stern thrusters
|Ship speed= (maximum)
(service)
|Ship capacity=1200 passengers
370 cars, 77 trucks
lane metres
|Ship crew=106 (summer), 68 (winter)
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MV ''Joseph and Clara Smallwood is a Marine Atlantic passenger/vehicle ferry which operates between Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island in eastern Canada. Named after former Newfoundland and Labrador politician Joseph R. Smallwood and his wife Clara.
Concept and construction
Entering service in 1989, she was built by MIL Davie Incorporated in Lauzon, Quebec, and is specifically designed for the 280 nautical mile (520 km) seasonal route across the Cabot Strait between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. A roll-on, roll-off design with a bow visor, the Joseph and Clara Smallwood has 2 vehicle decks and 5 decks above, the main passenger deck being Deck 5. She measures 179 metres in overall length and 25 metres in breadth, weighing 27,614 tons. Her capacity includes 1,200 passengers and 370 automobiles or 77 tractor trailers. She has up to 106 crewmembers.
Her sister ship, 's design had been commissioned by CN Marine in the early 1980s and was the culmination of years of research into effective icebreaking ship designs. The resulting hull design which MV Caribou and MV 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 icebreakers in that the ship slices through sea ice, rather than using its weight to ride up onto and crushing the ice underneath. This design permits the sister ships to maintain close to regular operating speed.
After MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood replaced in 1989, the North Sydney-Argentia crossing was reduced from 18 hours to a 14 hour schedule. During the northern hemisphere fall, winter and spring seasons, MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood joins her sister ship Caribou, along with on Marine Atlantic's 96 nautical mile (178 km) primary route between North Sydney, NS and Channel-Port aux Basques, NL. The Joseph and Clara Smallwood will be rebuilt in 2010 from hull up. On July 1, an engine system failed on the Joseph and Clara Smallwood, making the summer crossing from Argentia, NL-North Sydney, NS 17 hours.»http://www.marine-atlantic.ca/en/schedule/crossing.shtml