- SS Nascopie
SS "Nascopie" was a
steamship built bySwan Hunter andWigham Richardson ofNewcastle, England . She was launched onDecember 7 ,1911 and achieved speeds of 14.1 knots (26 km/h) during hersea trial s. Her gross tonnage was 1870 tons (5,300 m³) and she was 285.5 feet in length, 43.5 feet at the beam (87.0 m long, 13.3 m beam). Fully laden she drew 17.5 feet forward and 22 feet aft (5.3 and 6.7 m). She was powered by triple expansion steam engines with cylinders 21.5, 35.5 and 58 inches (546, 902, and 1,473 mm) in diameter and a stroke of 42 inches (1067 mm). Her boiler pressure was 180pounds-force per square inch (1.24 MPa) and the two main boilers were 15 feet in diameter and 11.5 feet long, fired by six furnaces.The Nascopie was fitted with an ice breaker bow and her plates were of five-eights inch steel. She carried
Marconi apparatus located beside the wheelhouse on the upper deck. Her maiden crew was from Newfoundland under Captain Smith and they sailed forPenarth, South Wales in late January, 1912 to take on a load a coal bound for St. John's. That winter she was employed in the annual seal hunt of the coast of Newfoundland under Captain Barbour for theJob Brothers mercantile business at St. John's.Soon after
World War I had broken out the Russians was in dire need of ships with ice breaking capacity, and they placed orders with British shipyards and at the same time began a campaign of purchasing icebreakers on the open market. They first went to Ottawa and purchased the icebreakers "Earl Grey" and "Minto". They then purchased from theReid Newfoundland Company the icebreaking mail steamers "Bruce" and "Lintrose". They then began negotiations withA. J. Harvey and Co. for the purchase of "Bellaventure", "Bonaventure" and "Adventure" and with Job Brothers for "Beothic" and "Nascopie". They purchased all except for the "Nascopie" which continued her supply route to service the Hudson Bay operations.The Nascopie was wrecked near
Cape Dorset on July 21, 1947.
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