Maritime Museum et al

Vancouver

Vancouver Maritime Museum houses an entire ship. True. They brought the ship up into a specially prepared dry dock, put an A-frame over the top and then restored the ship to the condition it had been in 1944. This is the St Roch, used by the RCMP (Mounties) to service artic outposts from 1928 until retired in 1954. When the ship was blocked in by ice they patrolled using dog-sleds. During the war (1940-42), the ship did an east-west crossing of the Northwest Passage. It took several years, as the ship was trapped by ice for two winters and had to wait it out. In 1944 it did the first east-west crossing, taking only 86 days, by a more northerly route. A video recounts the story, after which you are allowed to roam over the boat for 20 minutes. For a New Zealander used to tales of the Antarctic, this was a new angle on polar journeys, which I found very interesting.

In the photos you will see a tent erected on the deck. This was where, in 1944, for the west-east crossing, a family of Inuits travelled with the crew to help out in the areas of their experience – very necessary. The family consisted of a husband and wife, their 5 children and the children’s grandmother. All these people in one small tent, on deck where temperatures could get down to minus lots and lots. One night, in the fog, when the captain had no idea where they were, the grandmother was summoned to the bridge and was able to tell them exactly where they were – checked out by the sailors with their instruments the next day, when it cleared. I guess the ship is interesting but the stories attached even more so.

That was only the first part of the museum. The rest dealt with the maritime history of Vancouver, including the ships that used to link Vancouver with Japan and Hong Kong (a nice link here with the St Nazaire virtual trip to Yokohama), a section on pirates, a lovely hands-on section for children, which attracted several young men while I was there, and some amazing model ships. The latter were sometimes made by prisoners of war. One was finely carved in bone and detailed down to the last centimetre of flaps opening for cannons. Quite amazing.

To get around I took a daypass on an aquabus, little vessels that ply the waterway, stopping every 5 minutes or so. During the course of the day I saw a seal and two more bald eagles which have a nest in a tree near the Maritime museum. One came to rest on a pole and the other on the top of the A-frame of the museum. I started my water journey at the Granville Market, which is a covered market, spreading over several buildings. One has mostly produce, while the others have crafts, books, toys, clothes, and even a shop selling mostly rubber stamps – a huge variety. Halloween is everywhere, especially in the ‘goodies’ area but also in the shop windows and decorations in general.

From the Maritime museum it was a half-hour journey to the end of the line, where I decided against Science World (head too full of the Maritime museum). Instead, I took a couple of trips on Skytrain, a driverless system which links the city and suburbs and is currently being extended for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and walked to the Chinese Garden. This seems smaller than the one in Sydney but has been constructed with the genuine article, imported from China – even the pebbles for the courtyard. Chinatown also houses a big Chinese Cultural Centre. There are many Chinese in Vancouver. (Wikipedia says about 30% of the population.)

The photos are in two sections, the Maritime museum and the rest of the day, which includes the Chinese Gardens, a lot of photos from the waterway and some of Granville market. Science World is the big round building seen from the waterway (False creek).

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/MaritimeMuseum

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/ChineseGarden