CCGS Earl Grey
Encyclopedia
CCGS Earl Grey is a Medium-endurance Multi-tasked Vessel in the Canadian Coast Guard
Canadian Coast Guard
The Canadian Coast Guard is the coast guard of Canada. It is a federal agency responsible for providing maritime search and rescue , aids to navigation, marine pollution response, marine radio, and icebreaking...
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She serves a variety of roles, including light ice-breaking and buoy tending, as well as being strengthened for navigation in ice to perform tasking along the shores off PEI
Pei
PEI or Pei may refer to:Places:*Prince Edward Island, a province of Canada*Pei, Tibet, a town in Tibet*Pei County , a county in Xuzhou, Jiangsu, ChinaPeople:*I. M...
. Eary Grey was built in 1986 in nearby Pictou, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
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Like her sister ship, the CCGS Samuel Risley
CCGS Samuel Risley
The CCGS Samuel Risley is a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker and buoy tender assigned to the Upper Great Lakes area ....
, she carries a large and powerful crane on her long low afterdeck for manipulating buoys.
Career
Since her commissioning in 1986, CCGS Earl Grey has served a number of roles in CCG's Maritime Region, most notably in fall 1998 while assisting in the recovery of wreckage from the crash of Swissair Flight 111Swissair Flight 111
Swissair Flight 111 was a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on a scheduled airline flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva, Switzerland...
.
On March 21, 2001 CCGS Earl Grey, , , , , and the commercial ocean going salvage tug Ryan Leet
Ryan Leet
The Ryan Leet is an ocean-going salvage tug.She is owned and operated by Secunda Marine Services, based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.She was launched in 1978 and was previously known as the Abeille Provence and Salvor Commander....
all tried to render assistance to the container ship Kitano
Kitano (container ship)
The Kitano is a Japanese container ship.She was launched in Japan, in 1990.-2001 fire:The Kitano left the Port of New York at 0730 on 21 March 2001....
which had caught fire off Chebucto Head
Chebucto Head, Nova Scotia
Chebucto Head is a Canadian headland on Nova Scotia's Chebucto Peninsula located within the community of Duncan's Cove, Nova Scotia.Chebucto Head forms the most easterly point on the peninsula and is used to define the southwestern limit of Halifax Harbour; historically known to the Mi'kmaq Nation...
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In the 2009 budget for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Canadian Coast Guard, requested funds to refit the Earl Grey and some of CCG's other large vessels.
Predecessor
In 1909 the Government of Canada ordered an icebreaking passenger steamship for service in the Northumberland StraitNorthumberland Strait
The Northumberland Strait is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada...
to connect the ports of Charlottetown and Georgetown
Georgetown, Prince Edward Island
Georgetown is a Canadian town and the county seat of Kings County, Prince Edward Island. As of 2011, the population was 693.-Geography:Georgetown, Capital of Kings County, sits on an 8 kilometre long peninsula formed by the Cardigan and Brudenell Rivers, Along with Georgetown Harbour...
on Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
with the mainland port of Pictou
Pictou, Nova Scotia
Pictou is a town in Pictou County, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Located on the north shore of Pictou Harbour, the town is approximately 10 km north of the larger town of New Glasgow....
. She was commissioned in 1910 by then Governor General, Albert Grey as the (Canadian Government Ship Earl Grey). She was sold in 1914 to Imperial Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, an ally during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The ship, christened Canada and later Fyodor Litke, operated in the Arctic until 1958.