M/V North Shore which served Nassau from Florida, photo shared by Kevin Griffin
Source: http://clarkesteamship.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/chapter-9.pdf
MAILBOAT NAME: M/V North Shore
PAST NAMES: HMCS Lindsay (Royal Canadian Navy)
DIMENSIONS: 203′ LOA, 33′ beam, 1,025 tons, 95 passenger berths, 368 tons deadweight (cargo carrying capacity), 2,750 HP four-cylinder triple-expansion engine
CONSTRUCTION: Midlands Shipyards Limited, Ontario, rebuilt in the UK 1946
YEAR BUILT: 1943
EARLY CAREER: from Gulf of St. Lawrence ports and Newfoundland, Canada
BAHAMAS CAREER: West Palm Beach FL-Nassau run 1946-1948
CAPTAINS: Capt Alphonse Bégin, who also served on the North Gaspe in WWIIFATE: not known
OWNERS: Clarke Steamship Company, Canada
Kevin Griffin writes; “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.”
“As the company’s premier post-war passenger ship, at 208 feet in
length overall and with a beam of 33 feet, the North Shore was painted with
a white hull and green boot-topping. . A green riband was later added, after
her delivery voyage to Quebec and Montreal. With accommodation for 48
first- and 28 second-class passengers, and 19 on deck, she had a crew of 49,
including deck, engine and steward departments. Her role would be to carry
passengers and fast freight, while other ships would handle bulkier and
heavier cargoes. The North Shore‘s 76 berths gave her a higher overnight
capacity than either the North Gaspé or the Gaspesia, and although she took
far fewer deck passengers than either of those ships, she was equipped with
a dormitory, a great advance on having to sleep on couches, in corners and
in corridors.
For express freight, the North Shore was equipped with a single
forward hold served by two three-ton derricks and she could carry 200 tons
of cargo, of which 100 tons was refrigerated – mainly fresh fruits and
vegetables for the North Shore.”
“
evious winter, returned to West Palm Beach in the North Shore. After a
last North Shore voyage, departing Montreal in November with food, fuel oil,
hardware and a pair of aircraft skis for Sept-Iles, she left for Halifax and
carried a cargo of 100 tons of turkeys and meats, or about five truckloads, to
Nassau on her way to Palm Beach, where she arrived on December 18. Once
there, she began a series of 7-day cruises from West Palm Beach to Nassau
and Havana that followed the route of the New Northland’s first cruises from
Palm Beach to Nassau and Havana twenty years earlier. Havana was reopening
after the war and while the North Gaspé had been able to offer a
basic service the previous year, the newer and larger North Shore would now
be used for cruising as well.
The North Shore’s first cruise, a Christmas one, left West Palm Beach
on December 23, 1946, just five days after the New Northland sailed from
Jacksonville on her first cruise for Seaway Line. And on the same day the
North Shore left Palm Beach, the North Coaster arrived at Quebec on her last
trip of the season before heading south to join her fleetmate. The “Palm
Beach Post” covered the North Shore’s first West Indies cruise on the day she
sailed: