MV Kipawo
MV Kipawo
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| History | |
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| Name: | Kipawo |
| Owner: | Dominion Atlantic Railway |
| Builder: | St. John Drydock & Shipbuilding Co. |
| Launched: | December 5, 1924 |
| Status: | Permanently drydocked Parrsboro, Nova Scotia |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 200 Gross Tons |
| Length: | 123 ft (37 m) |
| Beam: | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Depth: | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | Fairbanks-Morse Oil Engine |
MV Kipawo is a historic Canadian passenger and freight ferry built to operate in the Bay of Fundy and which later served in Newfoundland and inspired the creation of a theater company.
Kipawo was launched on December 5, 1924, by the St. John Drydock & Shipbuilding Co., the first ship ever built by that yard.Kipawo was ordered for the Dominion Atlantic Railway and commissioned into service for the railway 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.
Kipawo provided passenger and freight service from the spring to the fall across the Minas Basin. Her sailings were scheduled to connect with Dominion Atlantic passenger trains at Wolfville and Kingsport as tides permitted. The ferry used an innovative sling system to load automobiles.
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).
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