1888: A Pioneering Canadian Icebreaker is Launched in Scotland

October 16, 1888

CGS (Canadian Government Ship) Stanley, which is widely considered to be Canada’s first fully functional icebreaker, was launched at the shipyard of Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited (Fairfields) in the burgh of Govan (now part of Glasgow) in Scotland. This steamship was named after Frederick Arthur Stanley (1841-1908), 16h Earl of Derby, who served as governor general of Canada from 1888 to 1893. (He is best known today as the person for whom the Stanley Cup, the National Hockey League championship trophy, was named.)

CGS Stanley was designed and constructed by Fairfields to replace the substandard icebreaker Northern Light in vicinity of Canada’s Atlantic province of Prince Edward Island. Along with serving an icebreaker, Stanley was used during the winter as a ferry service between Prince Edward Island and its fellow Atlantic province of Nova Scotia. During other parts of the year, Stanley was routinely deployed for duties such as setting up and maintaining buoys; and delivering supplies to lighthouses. She was also used as a fisheries patrol vessel.

In addition, both Stanley and icebreaking freighter CGS Earl Grey were utilized in both 1910 and 1912 to help survey routes between the town of Churchill and present-day ghost town of Port Nelson within the Hudson Bay region of Canada’s province of Manitoba. Stanley was used as well to carry out at least one rescue mission. This took place in 1922, when she rescued and towed to safety the freighter Cairnmona after that steamship became stranded off the coast of Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island due to structural damage.

Stanley was placed out of service in 1935. She was sold the following year and subsequently scrapped. (The attached photo features Stanley escorting two other vessels.)

Photo Credit: Public Domain

For more information on CGS Stanley, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CGS_Stanley