The 10,000-ton figure refers to the weight of Fort Crevier as measured in Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT) -- the amount of cargo, fuels, water, stores and crew that she could carry when fully loaded. Dead Weight Tonnage is expressed in long tons of 2,240 pounds each.

Gross Registered Tonnage or GRT, which is also used to describe merchant ships -- especially passenger-carrying ships -- refers to the volume of space within the hull and enclosed spaces above the deck which is available for cargo, stores, fuel, passengers and crew. GRT is measured in units of 100 cubic feet and its use dates back to the time when a ship's capacity was measured by how many barrels ("tuns") of wine that a ship could carry. In Fort Crevier's case, as with all the Canadian-built "Forts" and "Parks" and the American-built "Oceans" and "Liberty Ships", the Gross Registered Tonnage would be around 7,100 gross tons.