[BCMA] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Vancouver Maritime Museum welcomes historic ship to harbour this summer

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VANCOUVE MARITIME MUSEUM

Welcomes Arctic Sailing Ship North Star of Herschel Island to Heritage
Harbour

(VANCOUVER, BC July 2013) There’s a new kid on the block (or dock as the
case may be) at the Vancouver Maritime Museum. Built in 1935, Arctic
sailing ship *North Star of Herschel Island* sailed into the museum’s
Heritage Harbour last week and is settling in with her neighbours.

She is a contemporary of RCMP *St. Roch* (on display in the Vancouver
Maritime Museum) and the two ships were often working in the Beaufort Sea
at the same time. Her first Captain, Fred Carpenter, was a good friend with
*St. Roch's* Captain, Henry Larson. A book about her complete history is
available in the Vancouver Maritime Museum gift shop.

*About North Star of Herschel Island (NSHI)*

*North Star of Herschel Island* is the last of the sailing Arctic cargo
ships. She is the only fully rigged ship in Canada, meaning that she
crosses squares on each of her three masts. Sails can be handled from on
deck and it is possible for the ship to be sailed single-handedly. *NSHI *was
built in 1935 in San Francisco at the Geo. W. Kneass shipyard and shipped
to the Arctic aboard the 600 ton trading ship Patterson. She had originally
been built for two Inuit fox trappers. She was used from 1936 to 1961 for
transport of the winter’s catch of fur to market in early August and for
transportation of supplies from Aklavik and Tuktoyaktuk to Sachs Harbour on
Banks Island in late August and early September--- when ice conditions
permitted sea navigation. Except for three winters frozen in the ice, each *
NSHI* was hauled onto the beach and launched the following spring using
three purchase tackle and hand winched by the whole village over skids of
freshly killed seals.

*NCHI* was left on the beach in 1961 when cargo flights took over the
transportation and remained on the beach until 1968. She was purchased by
her second owner in 1967 and refit for navigation in the Beaufort Sea. From
1968 until 1973 she was used for scientific investigations in the Arctic
Ocean. Subsequent voyages included surveying the British Columbia Alaska
boundary, ecological adventures, sail training and searching for mermaids.

*North Star of Herschel Island* is the home of her present owners, Bruce
and Sheila MacDonald, and is no longer a commercial ship but is now a
private vessel.

For more information about North Star of Herschel Island visit
www.northstarofherschelisland.com or stop by the Vancouver Maritime
Museum’s Heritage Harbour.

The *Vancouver Maritime Museum *celebrates the profound significance of the
ocean and waterways of the Pacific and Arctic, through the preservation and
growth of our extraordinary collection, and as a centre for dialogue,
research and experience. To learn more about the museum go to
www.vanmaritime.com

###

-- 
*Jen Hill*
Marketing Officer
Vancouver Maritime Museum
1905 Ogden Ave | Vancouver, BC, V6J 1A3
604-257-8302 | @vanmaritime
jen at vancouvermaritimemuseum.com

ON NOW: Tattoos & Scrimshaw - the Art of the Sailor
March 14 - October 13
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