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| | "Burin", just launched at Clarenville, Newfoundland, 1944
| | Title: | Clarenville Ship Building Project Photograph Collection | | Dates: | 1943-1946 | | Location: | PF-503 | | Physical_Description: | 61 photographs : b&w ; 19 x 24 cm or smaller | | Restrictions on Access: | No restrictions | | Adm. Hist/Bio. Sketch: | During the Second World War Newfoundland began to experience a shortage of coastal ships and in 1942 the Commission of Government decided to build 10 new vessels using local materials. Clarenville was chosen because of its proximity to the railway and because many men in the area had wooden boatbuilding experience. Halifax ships' architect William Roue produced a design for a 322-ton capacity wooden, single-screw vessel 135 ft. long with a 28 ft. beam, powered by a 600 h.p. diesel. At a time when most ships were built of steel, the use of wood was unusual and led to the ships' being called the "Splinter Fleet" even before the first vessel was launched.
Ten vessels were completed between 1944 and 1947 - Clarenville, Trepassey, Glenwood, Placentia, Twillingate, Ferryland, Codroy, Burin, Bonne Bay, and Exploits. The M. V. Clarenville was the first launched on 12 July 1944, and was immediately commissioned by the Newfoundland Railway to carry freight and passengers on the northwest coast. The Splinter Fleet carried fish to the Caribbean and returned with coal, molasses, rum and salt. The M.V. Trepassey went to London and was chartered by the Royal Navy as a supply ship to bases in Antarctica. In 1949 the government sold the fleet.
The government sold the shipyard in 1948 to Spencer Lake and Basil Fearn and it was renamed the Newfoundland Shipyard. The shipyard changed hands again about 1968 when
it became Clarenville Industries. One fishing boat was built, then the shipyard lay idle for sometime until 1971 when local businessman Ralph Mercer and shipbuilder Eleazer Hiscock acquired a 10-year lease on the property from the federal government. There followed a 12-year period of intense building activity when 53 fishing boats of between 45 and 50 feet were constructed. The shipyard was sold to Burry's of Glovertown in the mid 1980s, and to Canadian Maritime Engineering Ltd. in 2019.
-From Decks Awash, March-April 1985 | | Scope and Content: | Photos of shipbuilding at Clarenville, Newfoundland. Ships included are some of the Splinter Fleet, such as the "Burin", "Bonne Bay" and "Codroy". | | Terms Governing Use: | Copyright expired. | | Subject: | Clarenville Shipyard (Clarenville, N.L.) |
| Subject: | Burin (Ship) |
| Subject: | Bonne Bay (Ship) |
| Subject: | Codroy (Ship) |
| Subject: | Clarenville (Ship) |
| Subject: | Trepassey (Ship) |
| Subject: | Investigator II (Ship) |
| Subject: | Shipbuilding--Newfoundland and Labrador--Clarenville |
| Subject: | Clarenville (N.L.) |
| Subject: | Photographs |
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