Lifeboat and Raft Ration Biscuits
Maritime Museum of BC Picture this: you're on a life boat, just launched. The ship you were on has sunk, and you now must wait to be rescued on the high seas. What do you have in your life boat to sustain you while you wait? On minesweeper HMCS Oshawa, these sealed...
Bubble Sextant
Maritime Museum of BC This object might look familiar if you have done celestial navigation, using angular measurements between celestial bodies like the sun and the horizon. This is a sextant. It is a bit different than the ones mariners use, because this one is for...
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra Oil Painting
Maritime Museum of BC This oil painting is of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. it was painted in 1940 by Julio Garcia Condoy, and was added to the Museum's collection in 1958. Bodega y Quadra is probably best known for his encounters with Captain George Vancouver...
Boat Cloak
Maritime Museum of BC This is a beautiful textile object from our Collection, a boat cloak belonging to Rear Admiral Edward William Finch-Noyes. It is made of wool, fully lined, with this gorgeous fastening at the throat, and would have been worn as part of an...
Tattoo Flash Art
Maritime Museum of BC, 011.005.0001 Made by Nova Scotian tattoo artist “Sailor” Jerry Swallow--not to be confused with Sailor Jerry the American tattoo artist from Hawaii, whose tattoos are what we commonly associate with sailing. Tattoos have been around for over...
Dirk and Scabbard
Maritime Museum of BC, 0072 A naval midshipman's dirk and scabbard. A dirk is a type of bladed weapon, quite similar to a dagger or sword. It's kind of in between the two. For a naval midshipman, it would have been more of a ceremonial object. The scabbard is used to...
Joseph Banks’ Globe
Joseph Banks' Globe This is a beautifully detailed globe from 1807, which was made for the Royal Society in London and dedicated to Sir Joseph Banks, its president. Banks was a botanist on Captain Cook’s first voyage, and we can actually see Cook’s journeys...
MV Queen of the North Life Preserver
MV Queen of the North Life Preserver This life preserver is not from the actual wreck of the Queen of the North. It was donated by BC Ferries likely earlier in Queen of the North’s career. She ran aground and sank in 2006 on Gil Island in Wright Sound, near a small...
Barograph
Maritime Museum of BC, 2019.010.0001 Here is an antique working barograph, known as “The Prip.” This was used by sailors to help chart changes in atmospheric pressure.This would help them avoid storms, and know when storms were coming. Connected to a...
Shell Fragment
Maritime Museum of BC, 2020.R.0001 This shell fragment is from the attack on Estevan Lighthouse. The lighthouse came in to service in 1910, and in June 1942 the Japanese submarine, I-26, attacked. Over 20 shells like this one were fired over the course of 40 minutes....