MV Christmas Seal

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The MV Christmas Seal was a former naval patrol vessel and later a medical ship and oceanographic research platform.

Originally built for the United States Navy as torpedo boat PT 107, she operated as the aircraft crash rescue boat at Naval Air Station Argentia for several years during World War II.

She was purchased in 1944 by the Newfoundland Tuberculosis Association and converted into a floating TB medical clinic for coastal communities in Newfoundland and Labrador. The vessel was outfitted with an X-Ray unit to test residents of outports for the disease. The vessel's purchase and conversion was funded through the sale of Christmas Seals and through other forms of public donations, thus she was renamed the MV Christmas Seal. During her medical service career visiting Newfoundland outports she was captained by Peter Troake. She also carried the Cross of Lorraine at the mast head.

The vessel was sold in 1971 and was chartered by the federal government for oceanographic research through the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in 1976. It was during this charter on May 13 that she struck a reef off Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore and sunk with no loss of life. ^[1] Wood salvaged from the MV Christmas Seal has been used to build a Canadian guitar ^[2] to denote a patchwork of Canadian history.