MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood was a Marine Atlantic[1] passenger/vehicle ferry which operated in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, between Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island in eastern Canada.

MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood entering service in 1989, she was built by MIL Davie Incorporated in Lauzon, Quebec, and was specifically designed for the 520 km (280 nmi) seasonal route between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador.

[3] The resulting hull design which Caribou and Joseph and Clara Smallwood were built to is called "Gulfspan", named in part after the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

[citation needed] After Joseph and Clara Smallwood replaced MV Ambrose Shea in 1989, the North Sydney-Argentia crossing was reduced from 18 hours to a 14-hour schedule.

During the fall, winter and spring seasons, Joseph and Clara Smallwood joined her sister ship Caribou, along with MV Leif Ericson on Marine Atlantic's 178 km (96 nmi) primary route between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Channel-Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and Labrador.