Their response to the obstacle was an "Ice Boat", a craft capable of traversing all three of the above mentioned barriers. The boat went into service December 19, 1827. It remained in service for 90 years, until icebreaking ferries became available.
The plaque memorializing the service is mounted along Highway 10 at Cape Traverse, in an odd shaped kiosk on the south side of the highway, opposite the Cape Traverse United Church.
Nearby is another CNHS plaque relating the story of the laying of the first substantial submarine cable in America, from nearby Carlton Head, PEI to Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick.
The CNHS plaque at the site reads as follows:
ICE BOAT SERVICE
On December 19, 1827, a new mail service began from Cape Traverse across the icy Northumberland Strait to Cape Tormentine. The ice boat, small, sturdy, and fitted with runners, could be used in water or on ice, and soon became standard equipment for the service. With calculated daring ice boat expeditions conquered drifting ice and sudden storms to bring passengers and mail safely to land. Until the first car ferry ice breaker began duty in 1917, the Capes Ice Boat Service afforded the quickest and most reliable means of winter communication between Prince Edward Island and the mainland.