The Caribou was built under hull number 705 in the Versatile Davie Shipyard Lauzon in Québec and was launched on October 25, 1984. After the takeover by Marine Atlantic in April 1986, the ship began the ferry service from North Sydney to Port aux Basques on May 12th. The Caribou got its name in memory of a passenger ship of the same name , which was put into service in 1925 and sunk in 1942 in Cabotstrasse by a German submarine. Caribou is the North American name for reindeer .
After almost a year of berth, the Caribou went to a demolition yard in Alang, India, in August 2011 under the shortened transfer name Caribo , where it arrived on October 12 for scrapping. Her sister ship Joseph and Clara Smallwood arrived at the same time as the demolition.