When the Patrick Morris got up steam

Our two previous columns concerned a 1960s photo of part of the new Trans Canada Highway, part of the Humber River and part of the old railway line in the vicinity of Corner Brook. A train on the track had been hooked with a series of flatcars and new vehicles were on board – most of those were Ramblers. Here is another reader response, prompted by the photograph.

Dear Paul,

In reference to your articles regarding cars being transported across Newfoundland by train in the 1960’s , I would like to report something that happened before the cars were loaded onto the trains.

In the fall of 1965 I worked on the CN Marine (later Marine Atlantic) freight ferry SS Patrick Morris on the run between North Sydney and Port aux Basques.

A large part of our cargo, at that time of year, were vehicles for the new model year. There were no problems with this type of cargo until the weather in North Sydney turned cold in November, then the strange problem began to occur, namely, many of the new cars had broken or shattered windshields or rear windows when we arrived in Port aux Basques.

The CN Police first believed that some member or members of the ship’s crew were responsible for these acts of vandalism, so after several crossings, CN Policemen were posted on the car deck during the crossing to prevent the damage and possibly catch the culprit or culprits. That first crossing with the CN Police posted on the car deck turned out to be a very busy one, as windshields began breaking in all areas of the deck with only the police present. The case was soon solved. When the cars were driven on board all the windows were closed and remained so for the crossing. The Morris was a steam ship and the car deck was directly above the boiler and engine rooms so when we got under way, it became very hot, compared to the temperature during loading, so as the air inside the vehicles heated and expanded it popped the windows of some of them.

The solution, crack open the driver-side windows of all vehicles before leaving Sydney. Problem solved: no more damage and ship’s crew were vindicated.

I thought this might bring a smile to your face or a chuckle to your readers.

Regards,