Name Aberdeen Operator Department of Marine Laid down 1893 Construction started 1893 Length 55 m | In service 1893-1923 Launched 1894 | |
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CGS Aberdeen was a Canadian Government Ship launched in 1894, which served as a Lighthouse supply and buoy vessel. Originally flush-decked and able to set fore and aft sail, she was later rebuilt with a high foc'sle and a heavy derrick forward. After serving in the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and the Saint Lawrence River, she was wrecked off Seal Island, Nova Scotia in October 1923.
Loss
On Saturday, October 13, 1923, Aberdeen sailed from Yarmouth in thick fog on an inspection tour. She carried a crew of forty-five men under the command of Captain Loran A. Kenney, along with Marine Agent J. C. Chesley, Engineer P. F. Morrison, and John Kelley, the Superintendent of Lighthouses, aboard.
At about 13:00 Aberdeen was approaching the Black Ledge, about 1.25 mi (2.01 km) from Seal Island, when she struck the wreck of the trawler Snipe, which had sunk the previous June. The collision ripped a 25-foot-long (7.6 m) hole in her side. The ship filled and settled on the ledge within 15 minutes. Aberdeen sent a mayday signal by radio, and her sister ship Laurentian sailed from Saint John immediately, along with Acadia from Halifax, and Arleux from Briar Island.
The ship had about 500 bags of cement destined for the Cape Sable Light aboard, and also drums of calcium carbide, that caused much concern (as it reacts with water to form the flammable gas acetylene). About 25 of the crew were sent to the Seal Island Light Station in the ship's boats, while the remainder stayed aboard to assist in salvaging as much of the wreck as they could.