MS ''Arctic Explorer'' was a ship which sank off

St. Anthony Saint Anthony, Antony, or Antonius most often refers to Anthony of Padua, also known as Saint Anthony of Lisbon, the patron saint of lost things. This name may also refer to: People * Anthony of Antioch (266–302), Martyr under Diocletian. Feast ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, in the Strait of Belle Isle, on 3 July 1981. ''Arctic Explorer'' was built by the Hoivolds shipyard of

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporation ...

, Norway as a sealer. She was laid down in March 1973, launched in November, and delivered in January 1974. She had a

gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weigh ...

of 991 GT and a

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provi ...

of 331 DWT, with a length of and a beam of . She was powered by a single diesel engine that gave her a service speed of . At the time of her loss, ''Arctic Explorer'' was owned by the Newfoundland company Carino and charted to Geophysical Service for the purpose of conducting seismic surveys off the

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

coast for British Petroleum. She departed the port of St. Anthony early on the morning of 3 July, and at about 07:40 local time began listing to starboard in the Strait of Belle Isle, according to a survivor. A few minutes after 08:00, a short distress tone was heard by Canadian Coast Guard stations in St. Anthony and Comfort Cove, and the St. Anthony station heard an auto-alarm that would typically precede a distress call, though no voice communication was ever heard from ''Arctic Explorer''. The Coast Guard did not investigate the signals. The crew abandoned ship into two liferafts—the ship's list prevented the launch of lifeboats—and 19 of the 32 crew eventually took refuge on a single undamaged raft. As the Coast Guard had failed to follow up on the signals it received, ''Arctic Explorer'' was not reported missing until the following day, after she had missed three scheduled radio calls with Geophysical Service, which contacted the Coast Guard in the late morning. A DHC-5 Buffalo was dispatched from

Summerside, Prince Edward Island Summerside is a Canadian city in Prince County, Prince Edward Island. It is the second largest city in the province and the primary service centre for the western part of the island. History Summerside was officially incorporated as a town on ...

, and searched the ocean near St. Anthony all afternoon with no result. On 5 July, additional Coast Guard aircraft and ships reached the area to join the search, and shortly after midnight on 6 July a plane spotted the liferaft with survivors onboard. The icebreaker ''Grenfell'' rescued the raft and its occupants; later in the day, eight bodies were located, while the remaining five crewmembers were never found. A

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportati ...

inquiry found that the cause of the sinking was likely the starboard list, but did not find direct evidence; rather, it came to the conclusion by eliminating other possible causes, and the reason for the list to occur in the first place was not found.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arctic Explorer Shipwrecks of the Newfoundland and Labrador coast Maritime incidents in 1981 Icebreakers 1974 ships