Newly constructed corvettes, HMCShips TRENTONIAN (foreground) and NORSYD received orders to sail from Quebec City to Halifax on 26 December 1943. NORSYD remains secured on the wall, while the local pilot uses TRENTONIAN to break the dense ice blocking the ships from sailing.  The pilot continues to ram TRENTONIAN’s bow into the thick ice, despite her skippers, Lt Harrison’s protests.  Not designed to break ice, the repeated ramming of the ice starts to damage the corvettes hull, causing minor leaks.  The abuse of his ship stops when Harrison threatens to have the pilot thrown over the side.  With TRENTONIAN’s ships company eager to carry out their skippers orders, the pilot calls for an icebreaker to free the corvettes.

Roger Litwiller Collection, courtesy Jack Harold, RCNVR. (RTL-JH080)