MV ''Northern Ranger'' was a Canadian ice-breaking coastal

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

operating in

Newfoundland and Labrador 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 ...

. The ship entered service in 1986 for coastal service in

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

. The vessel provided service between

Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador Nain (Inuit language: ''Nunainguk'') is the northernmost permanent settlement in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, within the Nunatsiavut region, located about by air from Happy Valley-Goose Bay. The town was established as a Mo ...

and

Happy Valley-Goose Bay Happy Valley-Goose Bay (Inuit: ''Vâli'') is a town in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Located in the central part of Labrador on the coast of Lake Melville and the Churchill River, Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the largest popul ...

, stopping at points between. The ferry was owned and operated by the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. At the end of 2018, the ship was taken out of service and replaced by a newer vessel on the route between Nain and Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

Description

''Northern Ranger'' is

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the stern ...

with a and a . The ferry has a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of . The ship is powered by a

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

turning one

screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to fa ...

. The ship has a maximum speed of .Equasis has the gross tonnage as 2,556, while the Miramar Ship Index has the tonnage at 2,565. This may just be a typographical error. The vessel has capacity for 131 passengers and 100 tons of cargo.

Service history

The vessel was constructed by Port Weller Dockyards in St. Catharines, Ontario with the

yard number __NOTOC__ M ...

75. The ferry was launched on June 11, 1986 and completed in October later that year. ''Northern Ranger'' entered service in 1986 with

Marine Atlantic Marine Atlantic Inc. (french: Marine Atlantique) is an independent Canadian federal Crown corporation which is mandated to operate ferry services between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. Marine Atlantic's corporate hea ...

. ''Northern Ranger'' is named after her predecessor, SS ''Northern Ranger'', launched in Scotland in 1936 and operated by the

Newfoundland Railway The Newfoundland Railway operated on the island of Newfoundland from 1898 to 1988. With a total track length of , it was the longest narrow-gauge railway system in North America. Early construction ] In 1880, a committee of the Newfoundland Leg ...

and later

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

s for thirty years. In 1997, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador took over all intraprovincial ferry service from the federal

crown corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

in exchange for a one-time payment for highway construction and capital costs toward improving the ferry service. ''Northern Ranger'' was transferred from federal ownership under

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 ...

to that of the Department of Transportation and Works. The vessel was then operated by Nunatsiavut Marine Inc. (NMI). The ferry offered weekly service from

Rigolet Rigolet (Inuttitut: ''Tikigâksuagusik'') (population 310) is a remote, coastal Labrador community established in 1735 by French-Canadian trader Louis Fornel. The town is the southernmost officially recognized Inuit community in the world. Locat ...

Makkovik Makkovik (Inuit: ''Maggovik'') is a town in Labrador in eastern Canada. It had 365 residents in 2021. The main industry is snow crabbing and there is a fishing cooperative. Makkovik is only accessible by air or sea. History The Makkovik area has ...

Postville Postville is a village in Allamakee and Clayton counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. It lies near the junction of four counties and at the intersection of U.S. Routes 18 and 52 and Iowa Highway 51, with airport facilities in the neighboring co ...

, Hopedale, Natuashish and Nain with a return trip. On weekends, the vessel travels from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to Rigolet,

Cartwright Cartwright may refer to: * Wainwright (occupation), a tradesperson skilled in the making and repairing of carts or wagons * Cartwright (surname), including the list of people Places ; Australia * Cartwright, New South Wales ; Canada * Cartwr ...

Black Tickle Black Tickle (Inuttitut: ''Kikkertet'') is a " remote Aboriginal settlement" and designated place in Newfoundland and Labrador on the Island of Ponds. In the 2021 census Black Tickle had a population of 87. Locations in Labrador south of Black ...

and return. As of January 1, 2019, ''Northern Ranger'' was taken out of service and decommissioned. The vessel was replaced by a new ferry, , that began sailing in early June 2019.

Notes

References

External links

The original ''Northern Ranger'' photograph

Photos from Shipspotting.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Ranger, MV Ferries of Newfoundland and Labrador Marine Atlantic 1986 ships Ships built in Ontario