History of the
Vancouver Maritime Museum
The Vancouver Maritime Museum is the principal maritime museum on the Pacific Coast of Canada, and one of the major maritime museums on the west coast of North America. A member of the Council of American Maritime Museums and the International Congress of Maritime Museums, the Vancouver Maritime Museum interprets the story of Canada's great Pacific port and its links with the Pacific Rim. The Vancouver Maritime Museum is Greater Vancouver's link to maritime history, art, culture and technology, relating the past to the present and looking to the future through its programs and exhibitions.
The centerpiece of the Vancouver Maritime Museum is the restored Royal Canadian Mounted Police Schooner St Roch. Built in 1928 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 harbour on October 11, 1942. St Roch was 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. 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. Housed over in 1966 and restored to her 1944 appearance by Parks Canada, the ship was maintained by Park Canada with guided tours until 1995.
As the ship was being placed inside a concrete drydock at Kitsilano Point, the City of Vancouver built its new maritime museum next to the drydock as a British Columbia centennial project. Hailed as a model design for small community museums, the two-story building was completed in late 1958 and opened to the public in June 1959. The Museum was operated by the City of Vancouver until the new Vancouver Museum and H R Macmillan Planetarium were built at nearby Vanier Park in 1966. The Maritime Museum was then operated as an integrated unit with the planetarium and museum under the auspices of the Vancouver Museums and Planetarium Association (VMPA) until December 1987.
In 1988, the Vancouver Maritime Museum became an independent entity, operated by the Vancouver Maritime Museum Society, a non-profit, charitable association, under provision of a lease/grant from the City of Vancouver. Robin Inglis, who had served for several years as the director of the Maritime Museum under the VMPA, remained as the head of the Museum. A strong figure in the Canadian museum community, Inglis' ten-year tenure was marked by the addition of professional staff, the creation of public programs, a series of changing exhibitions and the creation of the Museum's Heritage Harbour in front of the building. Changing exhibitions began with the traveling exhibit on the Tudor warship Mary Rose, which brought more than 30,000 visitors to the Maritime Museum. Other exhibitions included the Forbes Collection of Toy Boats, the archaeological saga of the Swedish warship Kronan, and "Enlightened Voyages," the story of Spanish exploration along the British Columbia coast in 1791-1792.
In 1991, James P Delgado, then the head of the US government’s maritime preservation program, was selected as executive director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum. During Delgado’s first several years, the Museum embarked on a new direction to emphasize programs and exhibitions for families with children. At the same time, the Museum also made several physical changes. In 1993, a major new research center, the W B and M H Chung Library, was built inside the Museum. The galleries were remodeled, and a centrally located model workshop installed in the public galleries. In 1994, a new "Children's Maritime Discovery Center" opened, occupying a quarter of the public spaces of the Museum. It proved to be very popular and remains a strong focal point for the Museum's programs, activities and public "face." The 1990s also introduced a retail outlet, the Maritime Store, the launch of a publication program, and exhibitions such as "Empress to the Orient," the story of the Canadian Pacific Railroad's transpacific fleet, "Vancouver's Mariners," which interpreted Captain George Vancouver's charting and mapping of the Pacific Coast in 1791-1795, "Modelmania," a show of the Museum's best ship models, "Titanic, Then and Now," a look at British Columbia's fascination with and links to the lost liner, "Pirates!" a hands-on children's exhibition, and "Shipwreck!" which featured galleries on famous wrecks, shipwreck exploration and archaeology, and British Columbia's submerged heritage. In 2000, the Museum created major exhibitions on “The Quest for the Northwest Passage,” and “Beyond the Canvas: Maritime Art and Stories,” which featured the significant marine art collection of the Bill and Mary Everett Family.
Throughout the 1990s, the Museum focused on advertising itself as "small on the outside, but big on the inside." The Museum's decision to remain at Kitsilano Point and emphasize "quality over quantity" was matched by programs to build ties throughout the region and up the coast as Vancouver's maritime community center and as an interactive, fun learning center.
In June 1995, Parks Canada terminated their operation of St Roch as a result of federal budget cuts and with interim support from the City of Vancouver, the Museum faced the need to not only reintegrate the ship into its operations, but to also find a way to fund the ship's preservation, maintenance, interpretation and operation. The St Roch Preservation Campaign, with an international focus as part of a reenactment of the ship's Arctic and North American voyages, under the auspices of the St Roch Voyage of Rediscovery, was created to raise funds for the ship’s preservation.
The Museum's efforts in 1999-2000 focused on a major, post fire remodeling of the public galleries, new exhibits, and small improvements to the Heritage Harbour and a stronger emphasis on programs and events. A floating wooden boat center was added to the harbour at the end of 1999. The harbour hosted the final North American port of call of the replica of Captain James Cook's barque Endeavour, and at year's end, acquired the large research submersible Ben Franklin. In early 2000, plans to reassemble the submersible, placed along the Museum's western facade, and integrate it into a new educational program were underway. The major initiative of the year, however, was the joint undertaking with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to reenact the historic voyages of St Roch as the major initiative of the St Roch Preservation Campaign. By the end of 2000, and the culmination of the 24,000 nautical mile voyage through the Arctic and around North America, the Museum had reached a worldwide audience. In mid-2001, the voyage, which faced incredible financial hurdles, had not brought significant additions to the preservation fund, but it had covered its own costs and brought the Museum a national profile.
In 2003, the restoration of the submersible Ben Franklin concluded and the craft was rededicated as a land-based exhibition on a new mission – one of education. The Museum hosted the first-ever reunion of the sub’s builders and crew and also dedicated a monument to the sub, its 1969 mission, and its crew. Significant additions to the collections, a record number of Canadian cultural property acquisitions of national treasures, a substantial internet presence with a new website, and growth of children’s programming marked the early 2000s while the Museum embarked on a push to relocate and expand.
Years of discussion, consultation, planning and negotiations concluded in 2005 with the final studies for a new, expanded maritime museum. The resulting vision of the “National Maritime Centre of Canada” was launched on January 11, 2006, with an exciting waterfront location next to North Vancouver’s Lonsdale Quay as an initiative of the City of North Vancouver. The site of the historic Wallace family’s Burrard Dry Dock, the proposed site of the National Maritime Centre will offer a stunning location and space to showcase the maritime heritage and industry of Pacific and Arctic Canada.
In June 2006, Dr James Delgado resigned as the Museum’s executive director and is now the executive director of the Institute for Nautical Archaeology, an internationally based, four decade old global organization.
In 2007, Wesley A Wenhardt was appointed the Museum’s new executive director. Wesley’s background includes nine years as vice president, business development and operations at The Tech Museum of Innovation in Silicon Valley, California, and seven years association with the Canadian Museum of Civilization, both renowned learning centres and visitor attractions. Wenhardt has travelled the globe and worked in science centres, museums, tourism and cultural attractions in the United States, South Africa, Scotland, Canada, and Brunei. He has restored and operated historic projects; launched IMAX theatres, films and science centres; worked for Expo 86 and raised money for worthy causes.
In the immediate future, the Maritime Museum will focus on its exhibits and programming, accenting the many positive features of the Museum, creating greater awareness of the Museum and working to enhance the collections and programs it offers to the community, both residents and tourists. The Maritime Museum is well positioned to inspire people of all ages to discover, explore and research maritime heritage, the Museum’s collections and library.
