Ship History
The vessel was built by the Casey Boat Building Company Inc., of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, in early 1943, as a 104-foot (32 m) Design 235 U.S. Army Air Force crash rescue boat, and designated P-102. As the largest of the crash boats the Design 235-class were equipped with emergency medical facilities which could accommodate up to 23 people, which the crew of 12 were all cross-trained to operate. Under the name USCB Shearwater, the United States Crash Boat operated from the Naval Air Station Argentia until 10 September 1947, when she was purchased by the Newfoundland Tuberculosis Association for US$5,000 and converted into a floating clinic.
Since the purchase of the boat was funded by the sale of Christmas Seals, she was renamed M/V Christmas Seal. From 1947 the vessel sailed to isolated outports on the coast of Newfoundland, screening residents for tuberculosis, which was a leading cause of death on the island.
Under the command of Captain Peter Troake from 1950, the ship was fitted to provide chest X-rays, and also carried out vaccinations for TB and polio, and tested for diabetes. The ship also provided general health education in the form of leaflets, talks and film shows, as well as providing emergency medical evacuations. A measure of the success of Christmas Seal can been seen in mortality rates; in 1947 there were 500 deaths from TB in the province, in 1958 it was 64. By 1970, the decline in rates of infection, and the improvements in road access on the island, meant that the services of Christmas Seal were no longer required. She was sold to a Lewisporte man who later chartered her to the Bedford Institute of Oceanography.
On the morning of 13 May 1976 Christmas Seal sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, but after three hours suffered an explosion in her engine room. The coast guard and several nearby ships responded to their mayday signal, and the crew of eight were rescued, with only one man slightly injured. The ship burned and eventually sank.
In 1996 wood salvaged from the Christmas Seal was used to build the guitar "Six String Nation" to denote a patchwork of Canadian history.
Read more about this topic: MV Christmas Seal
Famous quotes containing the words ship and/or history:
“... what a family is without a steward, a ship without a pilot, a flock without a shepherd, a body without a head, the same, I think, is a kingdom without the health and safety of a good monarch.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“Bias, point of view, fury—are they ... so dangerous and must they be ironed out of history, the hills flattened and the contours leveled? The professors talk ... about passion and point of view in history as a Calvinist talks about sin in the bedroom.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)