MV Kipawo

MV "Kipawo" is a historic Canadian passenger and freight ferry.

"Kipawo" was launched on December 5, 1924, by the St. John Drydock & Shipbuilding Co. for the Dominion Atlantic Railway and commissioned into service on April 1, 1926. The vessel's name is a portmanteau of the first 2 letters from three different ports on the Minas Basin: Kingsport, Parrsboro and Wolfville.

During World War II "Kipawo" was requisitioned by the Royal Canadian Navy and saw service in Conception Bay, Newfoundland as a tender for anti-submarine nets off the iron ore loading piers at Bell Island.

During the post-war years until retirement in 1977, "Kipawo" saw service as a small passenger and vehicle ferry from Bell Island to Portugal Cove, ending 51 years of service, approximately 45 of those as a ferry and currently the second-longest continuous service as a ferry in Canada (SS "Prince Edward Island" having operated from 1915-1969).

Following retirement from ferry service in Newfoundland, "Kipawo" saw service as a private tour boat in the waters off Terra Nova National Park for several years. While en route to St. John's one day in the late 1970s, she sought shelter in Bonavista Bay from a storm but ran aground and remained there deteriorating for several years. The vessel was purchased in 1981 by the Kipawo Heritage Society of Wolfville and was returned to Minas Basin in 1982.

Not long after returning to the Minas Basin, "Kipawo" was purchased by the Town of Parrsboro for a museum and was deliberately beached in a tidal inlet immediately south of the town while funding arrangements were secured. By 1986 the museum concept was shelved in favour of a locally-developed theatre company, the Ship's Company Theatre, which began to use the "Kipawo" as their performance centre. In 2004, the theatre company expanded its facilities with an expanded performance hall which architecturally incorporates the "Kipawo" into the outdoor lobby.

References

* Canadian Pacific's "Dominion Atlantic Railway" (Volume 1), Gary Ness, page 5
* Marguerite Woodworth, "History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway", page 148
* George Musk, "Canadian Pacific: Story of the Famous Shipping Line", 1981, page 260

External Links

[http://www.bellisland.net/history/kipawo.htm Belle Island Net Kipawo Web Page]