Location | 744 Douglas Street Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3M6 |
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Coordinates | 48°25′34″N123°22′08″W / 48.4260°N 123.3688°W |
Type | Maritime museum |
Website | mmbc |
The Maritime Museum of British Columbia (MMBC) is a museum in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, that engages people with the maritime culture and history of the Pacific Northwest through rotating exhibits, educational and community-based programs, research services, and more.
In 2015 the MMBC completed its relocation from its long-term home in Bastion Square to a Society Office in Nootka Court at 634 Humboldt St., Victoria, with its collections being stored off-site in a climate-controlled facility. In August 2021, the MMBC moved to its current interim location at 744 Douglas St., with space to house exhibits that display artefacts from the collection, public research space, a gift shop, and staff offices.
The Maritime Museum of BC was opened by naval officers in 1955 at Signal Hill in Esquimalt, British Columbia and later went through name changes. [1] The Maritime Museum of British Columbia Society was registered in 1957 as a non-profit society and would follow a broader Pacific coastal heritage mandate. The Museum moved in 1963-64 to 28 Bastion Square in downtown Victoria. The corresponding Maritime Museum of British Columbia Foundation was established sixteen years later to develop long-term support for the Society.
In 1981 a separate group founded the CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum, which continues at Naden on Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt. [2]
The Museum’s Bastion Square venue closed in October 2014 because the provincially owned courthouse built in 1889 required seismic upgrading and other structural work. Packing and moving the collection required more than a year, and the Society completed its move to the new location on Humboldt Street in July 2015. In August 2021, the MMBC moved to its current interim Douglas Street location. Selected items from the collection are displayed along with travelling exhibits.
The rich collection of some 35,000 artefacts includes 800 models of ships and items related to the maritime heritage of BC. There is a reference library of 6,000 volumes including a collection of 200 titles of historical significance, an archival collection of records of local ship-owning and shipbuilding firms, logbooks, naval records, ships' plans of 1800 vessels, maps and charts, an art collection, and approximately 36,000 photographs. [3] The 744 Douglas Street location is open to the public as of September 2021. Public outreach such as educational programming and talks are offered. The exhibit space is used to interpret selected items from the permanent collection and travelling exhibits. The bulk of the collection is housed in climate-controlled space in the northern part of Victoria. The reference room is used by researchers wishing to consult the library and archives, and volunteers and staff are available to assist with reference inquiries. [4]
The collection also includes three historic small vessels: '' Tilikum '', the 38-foot (11.6m) modified aboriginal cedar canoe sailed westabout from Vancouver Island starting in 1901 to London, UK; [5] Trekka, a 20.5-foot (6.2m) sailboat sailed around the world by her Victoria builder starting in 1954 - at the time the smallest yacht to have circumnavigated the globe; [6] and Dorothy, a locally built 1897 fantail cutter. [7] [8] Dorothy's refit project has been completed, and she is actively sailing. [9]
The Maritime Museum of BC is affiliated with the B.C. Museums Association, the Canadian Museums Association, the Virtual Museum of Canada and Canadian Heritage Information Network. The organization is under the patronage of the Hon. Janet Austin, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. [10]
Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The city of Victoria is the seventh most densely populated city in Canada with 4,406 inhabitants per square kilometre (11,410/sq mi).
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is 456 km (283 mi) in length, 100 km (62 mi) in width at its widest point, and 32,100 km2 (12,400 sq mi) in total area, while 31,285 km2 (12,079 sq mi) are of land. The island is the largest by area and the most populous along the west coasts of the Americas.
The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquimalt Harbour and Royal Roads, to the northwest by the New Songhees 1A Indian reserve and the town of View Royal, and to the north by a narrow inlet of water called the Gorge, across which is the district municipality of Saanich. It is almost tangential to Esquimalt 1 Indian Reserve near Admirals Road. It is one of the 13 municipalities of Greater Victoria and part of the Capital Regional District.
Greater Victoria is located in British Columbia, Canada, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. It is usually defined as the thirteen municipalities of the Capital Regional District (CRD) on Vancouver Island as well as some adjacent areas and nearby islands.
The Pacific Station was created in 1837 as one of the geographical military formations into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities. The South America Station was split into the Pacific Station and the South East Coast of America Station.
HMCS Cape Breton was a Royal Canadian Navy Cape-class maintenance ship. Originally built for the Royal Navy as HMS Flamborough Head in 1944, she was transferred in 1952. Upon her commissioning she was the second ship to bear the name Cape Breton. She served operationally from 1953–1964, when she was laid up. She was used as a floating machine shop until the late-1990s, before being sold for use as an artificial reef off the coast of British Columbia.
Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt is Canada's Pacific Coast naval base and home port to Maritime Forces Pacific and Joint Task Force Pacific Headquarters. As of 2018, 4,411 military personnel and 2,762 civilians work at CFB Esquimalt.
HMCS Yellowknife is a Kingston-class coastal defence vessel that has served in the Canadian Forces since 1998. Yellowknife is the seventh ship of her class. She is the first vessel to use the designation Yellowknife in the Royal Canadian Navy. The coastal defence vessel is assigned to Maritime Forces Pacific (MARPAC) and is homeported at CFB Esquimalt.
The Victoria Police Department (VicPD) is the municipal police force for the City of Victoria and the Township of Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. It is the oldest municipal police department in Canada west of the Great Lakes, the first Canadian law enforcement agency to deploy tasers and VicPD created the first digital forensic unit in the country. They are also one of the few police departments in Canada to use the G36 rifle.
Esquimalt Royal Naval Dockyard was a major British Royal Navy yard on Canada's Pacific coast from 1842 to 1905, subsequently operated by the Canadian government as HMC Dockyard Esquimalt, now part of CFB Esquimalt, to the present day.
In the Canadian Armed Forces, Maritime Forces Pacific is responsible for the fleet training and operational readiness of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Pacific Ocean. It was once referred to as Canadian Pacific Station.
Canadian Forces Base Chilliwack was a Canadian Forces base located in Chilliwack, British Columbia.
Victoria Harbour is a harbour, seaport, and seaplane airport in the Canadian city of Victoria, British Columbia. It serves as a cruise ship and ferry destination for tourists and visitors to the city and Vancouver Island. It is both a port of entry and an airport of entry for general aviation. Historically it was a shipbuilding and commercial fishing centre. While the Inner Harbour is fully within the City of Victoria, separating the city's downtown on its east side from the Victoria West neighbourhood, the Upper Harbour serves as the boundary between the City of Victoria and the district municipality of Esquimalt. The inner reaches are also bordered by the district of Saanich and the town of View Royal. Victoria is a federal "public harbour" as defined by Transport Canada. Several port facilities in the harbour are overseen and developed by the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, however the harbour master's position is with Transport Canada.
Tilikum was a 38-foot (12 m) dugout canoe that was used in an effort to circumnavigate the globe starting in 1901. The boat was a "Nootkan" (Nuu-chah-nulth) canoe which was already old when she was obtained by captain John Voss in April 1901. The boat was built in the early 19th century as a dugout canoe made from a large red cedar log. Tilikum was purchased for $80 in silver from a native woman in a transference ceremony allegedly sealed by a bottle of rye whiskey - the name Tilikum means "friend" in Chinook jargon. Apparently, John Voss and his companion in this venture, Norman Luxton, were inspired by the voyage of Joshua Slocum, who sailed the 37-foot (11 m) sloop Spray around the world a few years earlier and wrote a best selling book about his adventures.
Esquimalt Harbour is a natural harbour in Greater Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The entrance to Esquimalt Harbour is from the south off the Strait of Juan de Fuca through a narrow channel known as Royal Roads. Esquimalt Harbour is situated west of Victoria Harbour, another major harbour in the region. Esquimalt Harbour is home to the Royal Canadian Navy's Maritime Forces Pacific, based at CFB Esquimalt.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to British Columbia:
Norman Kenny Luxton was a pioneer in the Canadian Rockies known as "Mr. Banff". With John Voss, he attempted to sail around the world in an old red cedar Indian dug-out canoe. On his return to Canada, he worked on improving the community of Banff, Alberta and the relationship between its residents and the aboriginal community.
Barry Morton Gough is a global maritime and naval historian.
Charles Taschereau Beard was a naval officer and politician in British Columbia. After being defeated in the 1941 provincial election, he represented Esquimalt in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1945 to his death in 1950 as a member of the Liberal-Conservative coalition government.
The Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy is one of six regular force military bands of the Canadian Forces. The Royal Canadian Navy band is based at CFB Esquimalt in Esquimalt, British Columbia that serves as the official musical unit of the Canadian Forces Maritime Forces Pacific Command (MARPAC).