Q.S.M.V. Abegweit

Built by Marine Industries Limited at Sorel, Quebec, Canada, and launched on June 28, 1947, the Q.S.M.V. Abegweit operated for Canadian National Railway between Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick, and Borden, Prince Edward Island, from August 14, 1947, until March 2, 1983. Designed for year-round service across the Northumberland Strait, where ice could reach 18 feet thick or more, she was constructed as the world’s largest icebreaker, with a hull an inch and one quarter thick, interiors of walnut, mahogany, and oak paneling with solid brass fixtures, and sixteen diesel electric engines delivering 15,400 horsepower to 13-foot nickel-plated propellers. Known as the “Queen of the Northumberland Strait,” she carried a crew of 65, one complete passenger train, 60 autos, and 960 passengers, and steamed 1,145,585 miles. On January 9, 1963, at 2:16 am, she made her most famous rescue when Captain Kean maneuvered the 7,600 ton vessel to save sixteen-year-old Kenneth Blacquiere, who was trapped and drifting on the ice in the Strait. On March 2, 1983, the Columbia Yacht Club took possession of the Abegweit from Canada National Railways, and a volunteer crew from the railway and Columbia members sailed the “Little Queen” 2,000 miles to her new home at the foot of Randolph Street, linking the history of Prince Edward Island, Canada, and Chicago.

Illinois · United States