The vessel shown on the current one-dollar peace stamp issue of Canada, the Abegweit, is the world's largest ice-breaking train ferry. She was launched by Marine Industries Limited, at Sorel, Canada, last September, and is expected to be on the service between Borden, P.E.I., and Cape Tormentine, N.B., this summer. A minimum of ceremony was observed at the launching, even the naming of the vessel being postponed to a later date, after more of the interior work is completed. The ship will be operated by the Canadian National Railways for the Department of Transport. Her dimensions are 372 ft. x 63 ft. x 24.9 ft., and she is the largest all-welded vessel yet built in Canada. She has four screws, two aft and two in the bows, the bow propellers serving the dual purpose of making easier manoeuvrability and, when the vessel is in icebound waters, drawing the water from beneath the ice immediately ahead of the ship, thus enabling the weight of the bows to break the ice more easily.
To enable her to rock herself free of pack ice the Abegweit has large heeling and trimming tanks amidships. Her carrying capacity is 19 railway freight cars (the Canadian version is about twice that of our own), 60 motor-cars and 950 passengers. Her speed will be 16Y2 knots. At the launching her weight was 4.300 tons as compared with the regular 3,500 tons launching weight of large cargo ships. She has been built to replace the ferry Charlottetown, which was sunk off the coast of Nova Scotia while en route to St. John, N.B., for a refit. The Abegweit is the first heavyweight peacetime "speciality" ship built in the Dominion, and is fittingly reproduced on the peace stamp issue.
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