St. Roch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the ship. For information on the French Saint see Roch
The St. Roch was a Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner, the first vessel to complete a Pacific to Atlantic voyage through the Northwest Passage.
[edit] History
- 1928 - constructed in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at Burrard Dry Dock Shipyards
- 1929-1939 - supplied and patrolled Canada's Arctic
- 1940-1942 - became first vessel to complete a Pacific to Atlantic voyage through the Northwest Passage
- 1944 - became first vessel to make a return trip through the Northwest Passage and also the first to navigate the passage in a single season
- 1944-1948 - patrolled Arctic
- 1950 - became first vessel to circumnavigate North America, from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Vancouver, British Columbia, via the Panama Canal
- 1954 - returned to Vancouver for preservation
- 1962 - designated a Canadian National Historic Site at the Vancouver Maritime Museum
[edit] Construction
The St. Roch was made primarily of thick Douglas-fir, with very hard Australian Eucalyptus "iron bark" on the outside, and an interior hull reinforced with heavy beams to withstand ice pressure during her Arctic duties. Her length was 31.78 metres (104.25 feet).
