MV Caribou
Caribou at North Sydney
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| History | |
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| Name: |
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| Owner: | Government of Canada |
| Operator: | Marine Atlantic |
| Port of registry: |
 Canada St. John's
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| Route: | North Sydney, Nova Scotia - Port aux Basques, Newfoundland |
| Ordered: | 1984 |
| Builder: | Davie Shipbuilding |
| Laid down: | 1984 |
| Launched: | 1985 |
| Completed: | 1986 |
| In service: | 1986–2010 |
| Identification: | IMO number: 8301876 |
| Fate: | Broken up in 2011 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type: | Gulfspan class icebreaking ropax ferry |
| Tonnage: | |
| Length: | 172.76 m (567 ft) |
| Beam: | 24.99 m (82 ft) |
| Draught: | 12.19 m (40 ft 0 in) |
| Ramps: | shore-based bi-level ramps |
| Ice class: | 1A Super |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: |
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| Capacity: |
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| Crew: | 108 (summer), 68 (winter) |
MV Caribou was a Marine Atlantic passenger/vehicle ferry which operated between the islands of Newfoundland and Cape Breton in eastern Canada.
Caribou was named in memory of her predecessor the SS Caribou which was sunk off Port aux Basques by a German U-boat on October 14, 1942 with the loss of 137 passengers and crew.
Entering service in 1986, she was built by Versatile Davie in Lauzon, Quebec, and is specifically designed to traverse the 178 km (96 nmi) route across the Cabot Strait between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Channel-Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and Labrador.
A roll-on, roll-off design with a bow visor, Caribou had 2 vehicle decks and 5 decks above, the main passenger deck being Deck 5. She measured 179 metres in overall length and 25 metres in breadth, weighing 27,212 tons. Her capacity included 1,200 passengers and 370 automobiles or 77 tractor trailers. She had up to 106 crewmembers.
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 Caribou and 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.
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