© Denis Bouvier

Beautifully located at Kits Point in Vanier Park, just east of Kits Beach is the 20 metre shingle and glass A-frame which houses the St. Roch, a wooden schooner built for the RCMP in 1928. It’s part of the Vancouver Maritime Museum (VMM) and is a national historic site. This stunning view was photographed from a West End tower.

Currently under repair, the museum has been allotted $902,000 by the City of Vancouver for upgrades. It was slated for closure in 2008 when there was a proposal to merge it with a new National Maritime Centre in North Vancouver, but that project was scrapped in January 2010 due to lack of provincial support.

The St. Roch has an illustrious history:

Specially designed to withstand Arctic winters, when it would be frozen in ice, it functioned as a mini government in the far north. Using dog teams, RCMP would conduct patrols, investigate crimes, settle domestic disputes, collect taxes, deliver the mail, provide medical treatment and transport Inuit children to and from residential schools. It survived 12 winters functioning in this way, frozen in ice for 10 months at a time.

It was the first ship to sail the Northwest Passage from west to east over a 2-year period (1940–42). In 1944, it travelled the Northwest Passage from the east to west in just 80 days over a more northerly route, and it was the first ship to circumnavigate North America in 1950.

The St. Roch was decommissioned in 1954. In 1958, it was put into dry dock at its present location while the Vancouver Maritime Museum was built next to it. In 1966, the protective A-frame was built around the St. Roch.

Besides the St. Roch, the VMM has a collection of more than 170,000 objects including 35,000 artifacts, 20,000 books, 262 original paintings and artwork and 114,000 photographs, many of valuable historical significance. In future, the VMM plans to expand its facilities to better present its collection.

Also of significance is the two-story restored Ben Franklin submersible which stands in front of the museum. Commissioned by NASA in 1969, it was used in some of the deepest sea dives ever to explore how people would react in an enclosed capsule. The lessons learned have been applied to today’s International Space Station. The sub also made the first dive in search of the Titanic.

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Although partially closed for repairs, the VMM still has many exhibits open. Just check the website: vancouvermaritimemuseum.com

Don Richardson