Canada’s newest icebreaker, the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Captain Molly Kool, was in Corner Brook for a crew change this week before heading to St. John’s to begin preparations for the winter season.
The Captain Molly Kool is the first of three medium icebreakers to be refitted for the coast guard and the recent start of its service marked the first time Canada has added to its icebreaking fleet in 25 years. The other two new ships are still being refitted.
The vessel’s namesake, Capt. Myrtle (Molly) Kool, was the first woman in North America to become a master mariner. The native of Alma, New Brunswick, who hailed from a family of mariners, was born in 1916, became a licensed ship captain in 1937 and was awarded her coastal master’s certificate in 1939.
The ship, which will also be available for search and rescue and environmental response missions, measures 93.7 metres in length and has a beam of 18 metres. It can maintain a speed of three knots through ice up to one metre thick.
