MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood

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Career
Commissioned: 1989
Classification: Lloyd's - 100A1
Ice Class - Northern Baltic 1A Super
Home Port: St. John's, Newfoundland
Decommissioned: Currently active
Fate: Currently active
General characteristics
Displacement: 27,614 tons
Length: 179 m
Beam: 25 m
Draught: 6.75 m
Propulsion: Main engines:
4 MAK, 8-cyl diesel bhp(horsepower) 7,000 each
Auxiliary: 3 MAK, 2,400 hp
Propellers: Twin Ka Me Wa
Thrusters: Twin bow Ka Me Wa, Twin aft Ka Me Wa
Speed: Economical speed: 15 knots
Maximum speed: 22 knots
Safety Equipment: 48 x 45 life rafts
4 x 9 life boats
Capacity: Passengers, 1200
Automobiles, 370 or
Tractor Trailers, 77
Complement: 106 Summer, 68 Winter
Access: Ro-Ro bow and stern loading (Bow visor)
Two vehicle decks
Named After: Joseph Smallwood and wife Clara
1st Premier of Newfoundland

The 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. 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, NS and Argentia, NL.

A roll-on, roll-off design with a bow visor, the MV 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 sistership, the MV Caribou'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 the MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood replaced the MV Ambrose Shea in 1989, the North Sydney-Argentia crossing was reduced from 18 hours to a 14 hour schedule. During the fall, winter and spring seasons, MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood joins her sister ship MV Caribou, along with MV Leif Ericson on Marine Atlantic's 96 nautical mile (178 km) primary route between North Sydney, NS and Channel-Port aux Basques, NL.

The MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood will be rebuilt in 2010 from hull up.