RCMPV ''St. Roch'' is a

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

schooner, the first ship to completely circumnavigate North America, and the second vessel to transit the

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arc ...

. She was the first ship to complete the Northwest Passage in the west to east direction (Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean), using the same route that Amundsen on the sailing vessel ''

Gjøa ''Gjøa'' was the first vessel to transit the Northwest Passage. With a crew of six, Roald Amundsen traversed the passage in a three-year journey, finishing in 1906. History Construction The square-sterned sloop of 47 net register tonna ...

'' had traversed east to west, 38 years earlier. The ship was most often captained by Henry Larsen. Liverpool-born Sgt. Fred S. Farrar RCMP (1901-1954) was a crew member of ''St. Roch'' for various voyages including the 1950 voyage that circumnavigated North America; he wrote the book ''Arctic Assignment: The Story of the St. Roch'' which was published posthumously in 1955. The Stan Rogers song "Take It From Day To Day" is the lament of a crew member on ''St. Roch''. The ship is located at the

Vancouver Maritime Museum The Vancouver Maritime Museum is a maritime museum devoted to presenting the maritime history of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the Canadian Arctic. Opened in 1959 as a Vancouver centennial project, it is located within Vanier Par ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada, and is open to the public for scheduled visits.

Construction

''St. Roch'' was made primarily of thick Douglas fir, with very hard Australian "

ironbark Ironbark is a common name of a number of species in three taxonomic groups within the genus ''Eucalyptus'' that have dark, deeply furrowed bark. Instead of being shed annually as in many of the other species of ''Eucalyptus'', the dead bark accum ...

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as e ...

on the outside, and an interior hull reinforced with heavy beams to withstand ice pressure during her

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

duties. ''St. Roch'' was designed by Tom Halliday and was based on

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amundsen beg ...

's ship ''Maud''.

Service history

''St. Roch'' was constructed in 1928 at the

Burrard Dry Dock Burrard Dry Dock Ltd. was a Canadian shipbuilding company headquartered in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Together with the neighbouring North Van Ship Repair yard and the Yarrows Ltd. yard in Esquimalt, which were eventually absorbed, Bu ...

Shipyards in North Vancouver. Between 1929 and 1939 she supplied and patrolled Canada's Arctic. In 1940–1942 she became the first vessel to complete a voyage through the Northwest Passage in a west to east direction, and in 1944 became the first vessel to make a return trip through the Northwest Passage, traversing the more northerly route considered the true Northwest Passage, and was also the first to navigate the passage in a single season. Between 1944 and 1948 she again patrolled Arctic waters. On May 29, 1950, she became the first vessel to circumnavigate North America, travelling from Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, to Vancouver via the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

. In all she made three arctic voyages.

Exhibition

In 1954, the ''St. Roch'' was decommissioned in Halifax and returned to Vancouver. In 1958, she was placed in dry dock at Kitsilano Point for restoration, partly inspiring the location of the planned

, which opened the following year.The St. Roch Research Collection
Vancouver Maritime Museum Archives In 1962, ''St. Roch'' was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

. Although the ship was placed indoors in an A-frame building adjoining the museum, it remained formally under the control of Parks Canada. In 1995 Parks Canada handed over full control of the ''St. Roch'' to the museum.

Images

File:StRoch - VMM.jpg, ''St. Roch'' at Vancouver Maritime Museum File:St roch vancouver 2.jpg, ''St. Roch'' at Vancouver Maritime Museum File:St roch vancouver 3.jpg, ''St. Roch'' at Vancouver Maritime Museum File:St roch vancouver 4.jpg, ''St. Roch'' at Vancouver Maritime Museum

References

External links

St. Roch Research GuideVancouver Maritime Museum

Remembering Constable Albert Chartrand, crew member on board the St. Roch from 1938 - 1942

RCMP Museum

360° Virtual Tour of RCMP's ''St. Roch''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Roch Exploration ships Maritime history of Canada Royal Canadian Mounted Police Individual sailing vessels Ships built in British Columbia Museum ships in Canada Museum ships in British Columbia National Historic Sites in British Columbia 1928 ships Schooners Sailing ships of Canada Police vehicles