Posts Tagged ‘caribou’

SS Caribou | the album Caribou. It

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Career
Built: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Commissioned: 1925
Classification:
Home Port: St. John’s, Newfoundland
Fate: Sunk by German U-boat in the Cabot Strait, October 14, 1942
General Characteristics
Displacement:
Length:
Beam:
Draught:
Propulsion:
Speed: 14.5 knots
Safety Equipment:
Capacity:
Complement:
Access:
Named After: Caribou

SS Caribou was a passenger ferry used by the Newfoundland government’s ferry service between Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and North Sydney, Nova Scotia. Caribou was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-69 and sunk in the Cabot Strait during the night of October 14, 1942. Caribou was carrying 45 crew and 206 civilian and military passengers. 137 lost their lives, many of them Newfoundlanders. {Of the deceased-2 were rescued but died of exposure+remains of 34 victiums were found}

Caribou was built in 1925 at Rotterdam, Netherlands for the Newfoundland Railway. Launched in 1925, she had a capacity of 3,000 horsepower and was able to reach a speed of 14.5 knots when fully loaded. She also had steam-heat and electric lights in all of her cabins, a luxury at the time. Due to her ice-breaking design, the Caribou also assisted during the seal hunt along the Newfoundland coast each spring.


See also

  • Newfoundland Railway
  • Marine Atlantic
  • CN Marine


External links

  • Railway-Coastal Museum
  • Canadian Military Heritage
  • Paper on topic
  • The History of the Nursing Sisters of Canada
  • The Last Voyage of the S.S. Caribou Includes a list of victims and survivors.

Links

Tags: , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Porcupine caribou | of the album Caribou.

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007

The Porcupine caribou or Grant’s Caribou (Rangifer tarandus grantii) herd is located in the northern Yukon and Alaska. Their name does not derive from the animal porcupine, but from the Porcupine River which runs through a large part of their range. Though numbers fluctuate, the herd is comprised of over ~125,000 animals which migrate over 1,500 miles (900 km) a year between their winter range and calving grounds. They are the primary sustenance of the Gwichʼin, a First Nations/Alaska Native people, who traditionally built their communities based upon the caribou’s migration patterns. They are also routinely hunted by other peoples, including the Inupiat, Inuvialuit, Hän, and Northern Tutchone. There is currently debate on whether possible future oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses much of its historical calving grounds, will have a severe negative impact on the caribou population. For more information on this topic, see Arctic Refuge drilling controversy.


External links

  • Porcupine Caribou Management Board

Links

Tags: ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »