MIKULA

This scale model of the MIKULA icebreaker is a replica of the first icebreaker built on Canadian soil by the Vickers Canada Limited shipyard, in 1916. The ship was a clear improvement in terms of size, power and icebreaking means over other icebreakers used in the country.

First named J.D. HAZEN in tribute to a famous New Brunswick premier, the icebreaker was nearly immediately sold to the Russian government, which renamed it MIKULA SELEANINOVICH. When the Allied Forces retreated from the City of Arkhangelsk in 1920, the French forces seized the ship as a war trophy.

Three years later, the Canadian government acquired the MIKULA directly from the French government. The icebreaker then continued her career clearing the Saint Lawrence Seaway by breaking ice until 1937.