Bruce
Although second in alphabetical order, the SS Bruce was the first ship from the fleet involved in the ferry services beginning in 1897 from Placentia to North Sydney, Nova Scotia. The Bruce was one of the largest in the Fleet measuring at 237 feet long and 33 feet wide. She was a steel ship averaging 15.5 knots and built to withstand the powerful force of the Arctic ice. Like most of Reid’s ships, the Bruce was built in Glasgow, Scotland by A. & J. Inglis. The Bruce could comfortably hold 70 first class passengers, 160 passengers in total.
The Bruce journeyed to North Sydney regularly three times a week until a tragic day in 1911. On March 24, the Bruce ran aground on the rocks Main-a-Dieu near Loiusberg. The ferry was encased with ice and snow which caused the captain to misjudge his location thus ending the life of the SS Bruce.
The Alphabet fleet was set up between the Newfoundland government and the Reid Newfoundland company under Robert G. Reid after the completion of the railway across the Island of Newfoundland in 1898. By 1900 there were 8 vessel's and 4 more were added later.
The Reid family originated in Scotland and all ships were built there, with the names beginning with a letter of the alphabet starting with A and each name had to end with E. The name also had to be from a scottish location. There was no ship named with the letter J as there was no place in Scotland that begins with J and ends with E.