[BCMA] Vancouver Maritime Museum : EXHIBIT CLOSURE - National Heritage Site, RCMP schooner St. Roch Closed Until Late Fall

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Vancouver Maritime Museum
 
EXHIBIT CLOSURE 
National Heritage Site, RCMP schooner St. Roch Closed Until Late Fall
 
VANCOUVER, BC (July 2012)  ‹ Every Ship Needs a Safe Harbour.
(Image 
<https://twitter.com/vanmaritime/status/224959498685657089/photo/1/large> )
Nearly fifty years after RCMP schooner St. Roch was brought ashore and the
A-frame shelter built up and around her, the Vancouver Maritime Museum and
the City of Vancouver are undertaking much-needed repairs to the building
and fire suppression system to protect her from fire and water damage.
 
Although the A-frame shelter and St. Roch will be inaccessible during the
repairs, all our other galleries will remain open, including featured
exhibits: DON¹T EAT THE WHALE MEAT and GIRL IN WETSUIT: A Journey to a
Vancouver Icon. The Vancouver Maritime Museum is offering a variety of
activities and crafts throughout the summer.
 
About St. Roch
Built for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force to serve as a supply ship
for isolated, far-flung Arctic RCMP detachments, St. Roch was also designed
to serve when frozen-in for the winter as a floating detachment with its
constables mounting dog sled patrols from the ship.
 
Between 1940 and 1942 St. Roch navigated the Northwest Passage, arriving in
Halifax harbor on October 11, 1942. St. Roch was only the second ship to
make the passage, and the first to travel the passage from west to east. In
1944, St. Roch returned to Vancouver via the more northerly route of the
Northwest Passage, making the trip in a record breaking 86 days. The epic
voyages of St. Roch demonstrated Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic during
the difficult wartime years, and extended Canadian control over its vast
northern territories.
 
Retired after returning from the Arctic in 1948, St. Roch was sent to
Halifax by way of the Panama Canal in 1950. This voyage made St. Roch the
first ship to circumnavigate North America. Returned to Vancouver for
preservation as a museum ship in 1954, St. Roch was hauled ashore in 1958.
In 1966 the A-frame building was built over her to protect her, and the
Canadian Parks Service restored her to her 1944 appearance. The ship is the
centerpiece of the Vancouver Maritime Museum at Kitsilano Point.
 
Information about St. Roch and her designation as a National Heritage Site
can be found HERE 
<http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=83&utm_source=July+St.+R
och+Closure+announcement&utm_campaign=Summer+2012+News&utm_medium=socialshar
e> . 
 
For more information go to www.vanmaritime.com <http://www.vanmaritime.com>
or contact:
Jen Hill
Marketing Officer
jen at vancouvermaritimemuseum.com <mailto:jen at vancouvermaritimemuseum.com>
604-257-8300/Direct 604-257-8302
 
The Vancouver Maritime Museum is a not-for-profit museum and gallery that
celebrates the profound significance of the oceans and waterways of the
Pacific and Arctic, through the preservation and growth of its extraordinary
collection, and as a centre for dialogue, research, and experience.
 
 
###






Jen Hill
Marketing
604.257.8302
@vanmaritime

Vancouver Maritime Museum
1905 Ogden Avenue
Vancouver BC  V6J 1A3
www.vanmaritime.com


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