MV Abegweit (1982)
MV Abegweit at Cape Tormentine
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| History | |
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| Name: | MV Abegweit |
| Namesake: | Her predecessor MV Abegweit which was retired in 1982. Epekwit'k or Abegweit is the Mi'kmaq Nation's name for Prince Edward Island. |
| Owner: | Marine Atlantic |
| Operator: | Marine Atlantic |
| Builder: | Saint John Shipbuilding & Dry Dock of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Yard number: | 1136 |
| Launched: | Fall 1981 |
| Refit: |
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| Homeport: | Borden, PEI-Cape Tormentine, NB |
| Fate: | Removed from service in 1999 and scrapped in 2004. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | RoRo ferry |
| Displacement: | 12,000 tons |
| Length: | 401 ft |
| Beam: | 70 ft |
| Draught: | 20 ft |
| Ice class: | 1A Super Baltic |
| Installed power: | 6 main engines Ruston V16 diesel driven gear boxes |
| Speed: | 18 knots |
| Crew: | 34 |
MV Abegweit were icebreaking railway, vehicle, and passenger ferries which operated across the Abegweit Passage of Northumberland Strait, connecting Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island to Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick. There were two vessels named Abegweit that serviced this route between 1947 and 1997.
The word Abegweit is derived from the Mi'kmaq word for Prince Edward Island, Epekwit'k, meaning "cradled (or cradle) on the waves."
In the late 1970s, Canadian National Railway (CN) underwent a corporate reorganization which saw all of its ferry services placed under a subsidiary named CN Marine. CN Marine began the process of planning the design with German & Milne for a replacement of MV Abegweit, a vessel which entered service in 1947.
The new vessel was to be named MV Straitway and unlike MV Abegweit, was designed as a RoRo ferry which permitted faster loading and unloading. She was also custom designed for the protected waters of Northumberland Strait. This permitted German & Milne to depart from traditional vessel design by eliminating the need for a conventional hull and bow.
The new vessel was laid down as hull 1136 at Saint John Shipbuilding & Dry Dock in Saint John, New Brunswick and was launched in the fall of 1981.
While the new vessel was still in the midst of construction in late 1981, it was decided that the name MV Straitway would be changed to MV Abegweit, the same name as the vessel soon to leave service. Since the new vessel would be taking the same name, it was necessary to rename the original vessel for its last months of service. The name chosen for the original MV Abegweit was MV Abby and she was discarded when the new MV Abegweit entered service in 1982. A curious phenomenon arising out of CN Marine's name-switch operation is that many in the general public assume the new vessel's name was "Abegweit II" - this is not the case as she was officially registered as MV Abegweit.
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Wikipedia