CCGS Sir Humphrey Gilbert country of registry Canada
Construction and career
Government service
The icebreaker was constructed by Davie Shipbuilding at their yard in Lauzon, Quebec with the yard number 614 and was launched on 29 October 1958. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, named for an early explorer of the Northwest Passage, was commissioned into the Department of Transport's Marine Service in June 1959. In 1962, all Marine Service icebreakers were transferred to the newly formed Canadian Coast Guard. The vessel was registered in Ottawa, Ontario and homeported at St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador in the Newfoundland Region.On 20 December 1963, the French vessel Douala transmitted a distress signal off the coast of Newfoundland. Sir Humphrey Gilbert had already been detailed to aid a fishing vessel in the Atlantic, but was redirected to Douala as the French ship was in danger of foundering. While heading to Douala a barge broke loose aboard the Coast Guard vessel, causing damage to the ship and it was some time before the barge could be secured due to icing conditions. The Coast Guard vessel was delayed in arriving on the scene by the barge and on 21 December, Douala sank. 19 crew members of Douala were rescued on 22 December, of which two died while returning to Newfoundland. 13 members of the crew died in the water.In 1983, Sir Humphrey Gilbert became the test vessel for the Coast Guard's lay day crewing system. Under the lay day system, each ship has two crews which rotate on a 28-day interval. While on board the ship, the crew perform 12-hour work shifts, seven days a week. At the end of the 28-day interval, the crew rotates off the ship for a four-week break. The trials proved a success and the system was adopted fleet-wide.
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