Constructed of steel, Aberdeen was 180feet long with a beam of 31feet and a draught of 19feet. The vessel had a tonnage of . Powered by a quadruple expansion steam engine that drove one screw, Aberdeen had a maximum speed of 13kn. Originally flush-decked and able to set fore and aft sail, she was later rebuilt with a high forecastle and a heavy derrick forward.[1]
Aberdeen was ordered in 1893 from Fleming & Ferguson and constructed at their yard in Paisley, Scotland.[2] The ship was launched on 19 June 1894 and completed in August of that year. The ship was named for the Earl of Aberdeen, the Governor General of Canada at the time.[1] Entering service in 1894, Aberdeen was initially deployed as a lighthouse supply and buoy vessel along the Atlantic coast of Canada. The vessel was later transferred to Quebec before returning to the Atlantic coast in 1904 when the vessel was assigned to Saint John, New Brunswick.[1] [3]
On 13 October 1923, Aberdeen sailed from Yarmouth in thick fog on an inspection tour. She carried a crew of forty-five men under the command of Captain Loran A. Kenney. At about 13:00 Aberdeen was approaching the Black Ledge, about 1.25mile from Seal Island, when she struck the wreck of the trawler Snipe, which had sunk the previous June. The collision ripped a 25adj=midNaNadj=mid hole in her side. The ship filled and settled on the ledge within 15 minutes. Aberdeen sent a mayday signal by radio, and her sister ship sailed from Saint John immediately, along with from Halifax, Nova Scotia and from Briar Island.[4]
The ship had about 500 bags of cement destined for the Cape Sable Light aboard, and also drums of calcium carbide, that caused much concern (as it reacts with water to form the flammable gas acetylene). About 25 of the crew were sent to the Seal Island Light Station in the ship's boats, while the remainder stayed aboard to assist in salvaging as much of the wreck as they could.[4]