M/V North Gaspe served Nassau from West Palm Beach FL 1946-1948

 
MAILBOAT NAME: SS North Gaspe
PAST NAMES: none
DIMENSIONS: 888 tons, 180′ LOA, 35′ beam, 18′ draft, steel hull,  propeller 
CONSTRUCTION: Davie, George T. Shipbuilding & Repair, Ltd., Lauzon, P.Q., Canada
YEAR BUILT: 1938, official # 170716
EARLY CAREER: from Gulf of St. Lawrence ports and Newfoundland, Canada
BAHAMAS CAREER: West Palm Beach FL-Nassau run 1946-1948
CAPTAINS: during WWII at least, Capt. Alphonse Bégin, possibly after that
FATE: sold to the Ministry of Tourism, Ecuador in 1972 – probably in the Galapagos, new name Iguana
OWNERS: West India Fruit & Steamship Company, Canada, part of Clarke Steamship
 
An excerpt from my upcoming book, “St Lawrence Saga: The Clarke Steamship Story” follows below.  Clarke operated the 3,445-ton New Northland between Miami and Nassau in 1927-31 and again in 1935-39, plus the much smaller 640-ton Jean Brillant in 1942-46. Their 888-ton North Gaspé and 1,205-ton North Shore also operated between West Palm Beach and Nassau for the West India Fruit & Steamship Company in 1946-48. This excerpt is from the chapter on World War II. Comments and corrections are always welcome. The full manuscript can be found here:

http://clarkesteamship.wordpress.com/

 
The North Gaspe survived a German U-boat torpedo attack, according to www.uboat.net:
 
“At 18.43 hours on 21 Jan 1942, U-203 fired a spread of four torpedoes at steamer of estimated 8000 tons, heard a detonation after 6 minutes 52 seconds and thought that the ship sank. Apparently, the North Gaspe (Master Alphonse Bégin), a Canadian ship under charter by the US Army Transport Service, was slightly damaged by the explosion of a torpedo close to the ship about 44 miles south of Cape Race, but managed to reach port safely. On board was a US Army gun crew and a communication unit.”
 

Ownership Changes

OwnerDateRegistryOfficial Number
Dingwall Shipping Co., Ltd.1971CANADA 170716
Clarke Steamship Co., Ltd.1938 – 1962CANADA 170716
Orleans Shipping Co., Ltd.1962 – currentCANADA 170716
North Star Shipping, Ltd.1971 – 1972CANADA 170716
Maritima de Turismo1972 – currentECUADOR

Name Changes

NameDateRegistry
IGUANA1972 – currentECUADOR
Source: http://greatlakes.bgsu.edu/vessel/view/005300