A smashing day aboard an icebreaker on P.E.I. waters

With the recent mild temperatures, you might think there wouldn't be much need for an icebreaker on P.E.I. 

But the persistent northeasterly winds over the past week have pushed ice from the middle of Northumberland Strait to the shores of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. There's also thick ice remaining in some harbours, including Summerside.

This week, that was a job for the Canadian Coast Guard ship Sir William Alexander.  

"There's a commercial ship coming in a couple of days," Capt. Stéphane Legault tells me as I accompany him aboard the icebreaker in Charlottetown.

"So we're going to go prep the harbour so they can make their entry safely."

The trip by car from Charlottetown to Summerside is only about 45 minutes. But by water, the Coast Guard ship will take about five hours to reach its destination. 

On the way, the the ship will pass under the Confederation Bridge. The 12.9-kilometre structure holds the title as the world's longest bridge over ice-covered waters — though on this day, there are just a few ice chunks being blown toward the mainland.

That wind is what Legault hopes will help him with his task when he arrives at his destination later in the afternoon. 

"The ice that's in Summerside is all shorefast ice so it hasn't broken out yet." he said. "So we're hoping to use that wind to start breaking the ice and it'll hopefully flush out fairly easily and get the harbour ready for the ship coming in."

As the ship approaches the Confederation Bridge, it radios Marine Traffic Services to ensure there are no other vessels in the area. Once under the bridge, the Sir William Alexander begins the last leg of its journey.

Soon, the ice pack that's locked in Summerside harbour for the past few weeks is visible. 

That's the cue for the ship's chief engineer, Darrin Ackerman, to fire up all engines. "We're going to put our third engine online to give us maximum horse power."  

The ship finally rams into the harbour ice, filling the air with thunderous cracking as the ship's bow cuts a path, tossing aside huge ice floes and sending them drifting into the dark frothy waters.  

Unlike a snowplow that simply pushes the snow aside, the icebreaker's bow actually rides on top of the ice, until the weight of the ship crashes down, cracking the ice.

"You can actually feel the ship riding up onto the ice and breaking under its weight," Legault said.

The Sir William Alexander cuts a path to the Summerside wharf, then backs up, and makes another path to make it easier for the commercial ship to enter the harbour. The shipping companies that use the icebreaking service provided by the Coast Guard pay an annual fee of about $6,000.

With the job completed, the icebreaker ties up for the night in Summerside. There will still be lots of drifting ice that will keep the crew of the Sir William Alexander busy during their 28 days at sea.

But for now, Capt. Legault will take pride in another satisfying day at work.

"At the end of the day you can see that you have accomplished something. You see the ice all broken up," he said. "There is a sense of accomplishment for me as opposed to paper work."

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