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Otago Witness, Issue 4042, 1 September 1931, Page 65

The largest ship of her type ever built in a Canadian shipyard has been launched at the Davie shipbuilding yard of the Canadian Steamships Lines at Lauzon, Quebec. This vessel, the Charlottetown, is designed as a combination ice-breaker, car ferry, and passenger ship, and will enter the service of the Canadian National Railways between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. She is 324 feet long, with a moulded beam of 59 feet, depth of 25 feet, and a gross tonnage of 4800. Three heavy steel propellers, one forward and two aft, are to be fitted, that forward being for cutting ice. Accommodation is provided for 10 latest type railway cars, between 40 and 50 motor vehicles, and about 750 passengers, officers, and crew. The cost involved is approximately 2,225,000 dollars. The engines were built and installed by the Canadian Vickers Company, of Montreal, and the ship will have an estimated speed of between 14 and 15 knots. After the launch the Minister of Railways for the Dominion (Air R. J. Manion) stated that the policy of the Government was to encourage the building of ships in Canada.