The MV Kipawo Ferry
MV Kipawo Ferry leaving Wolfville, Nova Scotia Many people may still remember the MV Kipawo. Here is her story. For two hundred years a ferry ran between Wolfville, Kingsport and Parrsboro across the Minas Basin and Bay of Fundy. Up until 1840 the township of Parrsboro was considered part of Kings County, even though it was separated from the rest of the county by the Minas Basin. In it’s heyday this was an important service between these ports transporting people, vehicles and cargo. People also fondly remember the ferry service as it proved to be a social trip and many courtships and romances were started on the ferry. The last ferry on this run was the MV Kipawo which was launched on December 5, 1924 by the St. John Dry-dock & Shipbuilding Company. It was the first ship ever built by that yard. She was built for the Dominion Atlantic Railway and was commissioned into service on April 1, 1926 for the ferry run. Her name was determined by using the first two letters of the three ports she was built to serve – Kingsport, Parrsboro and Wolfville. She could carry eight cars and up to 120 passengers across the bay. The MV Kipawo boasted a car sling that was developed by her Nova Scotia crew and that was later copied by the Germans. The Germans used the sling to hoist their tanks and trucks from dock to dock during war time. During World War II the MV Kipawo was registered for use in the Canadian Navy. There was a misspelling of her name and she was registered the “Kipawa”. She was used to patrol the St. Lawrence River checking cargo & crews of other ships entering the Gulf area. She was also used for service in Conception Bay, Newfoundland as a tender for anti-submarine nets of the iron ore loading piers at Bell Island. After the war she was declared unseaworthy and sold at public auction. She was purchased to make the ferry run between Portugal Cove and Bell Island near St. John’s, Newfoundland. While in this service she caught fire once and had to be partially sunk to put out the flames. She was later re-floated and used later as a private tour boat off Terra Nova National Park for several years. One day in the late 1970’s she was on route to St. John’s when she had to take shelter in Bonivista Bay from a storm but she ran aground and ended up staying there deteriorating.
At the time of her retirement in 1977 she ended 51 years of service with 45 of them as a ferry. This made her the second longest vessel used for ferry services in Canada; beat only by the SS Prince Edward Island. In 1981 she was discovered lying beaten and battered by a RCMP officer from Parrsboro while he was stationed there. A salvage effort was made but she sank again. In 1982 a group from Wolfville and Parrsboro formed the Kipawo Heritage Society arranged to have her towed back to Halifax Harbour. The fifty-seven year old vessel was welcomed back with a party. She was later towed to Parrsboro where she was bought by the town to be converted into a floating museum. This idea fell through but was set up as a stationary stage for the Ship’s Company Theatre in Parrsboro in 1986.
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