St. Roch (ship)
| St. Roch wintering in the Beaufort Sea. St. Roch wintering in the Beaufort Sea, 1948. | |
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | RCMPV St. Roch |
| Builder: | Burrard Dry Dock Shipyards |
| Launched: | 7 May 1928 |
| Fate: | Designated a Canadian National Historic Site at the Vancouver Maritime Museum, 1962 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Type: | Auxiliary Police Schooner |
| Displacement: | 323 long tons (328 t) |
| Length: | 104 ft 3 in (31.78 m) |
| Beam: | 24 ft 9 in (7.54 m) |
| Draft: | 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails & a 150 hp (112 kW) diesel engine[2] |
St. Roch is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner, the first ship to completely circumnavigate North America, and the second sailing vessel to complete a voyage through the Northwest Passage. It was the first ship to complete the Northwest Passage in the direction west to east, going the same route that Amundsen on the sailing vessel Gjøa went east to west, 38 years earlier.
The ship was most often captained by Henry Larsen.[2] The ship can now be found at the Vancouver Maritime Museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is open to the public for scheduled visits.
Contents
Construction
St. Roch was made primarily of thick Douglas-fir, with very hard Australian "ironbark" eucalyptus on the outside, and an interior hull reinforced with heavy beams to withstand ice pressure during her Arctic duties. St. Roch was designed by Tom Hallidie and was based on Roald Amundsen's ship the Maud.[3]
Service history
St. Roch was constructed in 1928 at the Burrard Dry Dock Shipyards in North Vancouver. Between 1929-1939 she supplied and patrolled Canada's Arctic.
In 1940-1942 she became first vessel to complete a voyage through the Northwest Passage in a west to east direction, and in 1944 became first vessel to make a return trip through the Northwest Passage, through the more northerly route considered the true Northwest Passage, and was also the first to navigate the passage in a single season. Between 1944-1948 she again patrolled Arctic waters. In 1950 she became first vessel to circumnavigate North America, from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Vancouver via the Panama Canal. Finally in 1954 she returned to Vancouver for preservation. In 1962 St. Roch was designated a Canadian National Historic Site at the Vancouver Maritime Museum.
Images
- StRoch - VMM.jpg
St. Roch at Vancouver maritime museum
- St roch vancouver 1.jpg
St. Roch at Vancouver maritime museum
- St roch vancouver 2.jpg
St. Roch at Vancouver maritime museum
- St roch vancouver 3.jpg
St. Roch at Vancouver maritime museum
- St roch vancouver 4.jpg
St. Roch at Vancouver maritime museum
See also
References
- ↑ "Historic Naval Ships Visitors Guide - RCMPV St. Roch". www.hnsa.org. http://www.hnsa.org/ships/stroch.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=ArchivedFeatures&Params=A2134. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
- ↑ "Archaeology Reports-PWNHC". www.pwnhc.ca. http://www.pwnhc.ca/research/archrep/archrep96/central.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
Further reading
- Thompson, John Beswarick. "The more northerly route : a photographic study of the 1944 voyage of the St. Roch through the Northwest Passage" (Ottawa, ON, Canada, Parks Canada. 1974)
External links
| St. Roch
]]- Haze Gray & Underway Photo Feature: St. Roch
- St. Roch page at Historical Naval Ships Association
- Vancouver Maritime Museum
- RCMP Museum
- 360° Virtual Tour of RCMP's St. Roch
- Pages with broken file links
- Canada articles missing geocoordinate data
- All articles needing coordinates
- Exploration ships
- Maritime history of Canada
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Individual sailing vessels
- Ships built in British Columbia
- Museum ships in British Columbia
- Heritage sites in British Columbia
- National Historic Sites in British Columbia
- 1928 ships
