"The "NORTHERN OSPREY" had departed Mulgrave, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, on 15 June 1990, bound for shrimp fishing grounds off eastern Labrador.

While manoeuvring in ice-infested waters, on 27 June, the vessel sustained damage to her shell plating on the starboard bow in the vicinity of a common bulkhead between a fuel oil tank and the fish hold. As a result of this, fuel oil gained entry to the fish hold, followed some hours later by sea water.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada determined that, while operating in ice conditions, it is most probable the vessel was holed, due to contact with ice. The holing was not detected and, in an effort to remove oil from the fish hold because it could not be effectively pumped, the watertight subdivision was lost when a manhole cover to the pipe tunnel and an access door from the pipe tunnel to the engine-room were removed/opened to drain the oil, and not replaced/closed. Sea water then flooded the hold and engine-room, and the vessel was lost." - Transportation Safety Board of Canada