The Joseph and Clara Smallwood was laid on October 19, 1987 under the hull number 705 in the Versatile Davie Shipyard Lauzon in Québec and launched on May 6, 1989 from the stack. After being taken over by Marine Atlantic on November 28, 1989, the ship began ferry service from North Sydney to Port aux Basques and Argentia in December.
After twenty years of service on the same route that was Joseph and Clara Smallwood after a final crossing retired on 10 March 2011 and in North Sydney launched .
After a five-month layover, the ship was sold in August 2011 under the shortened transfer name Smallwood to a demolition yard in Alang, India, where it was scrapped on October 3, 2011. The three years older sister ship Caribou also arrived in Alang for demolition in October 2011.
