HMCS Sackville is a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later served as a civilian research vessel. She is now a museum ship located in Halifax, Nova Scotia and the last surviving Flower-class corvette.
HMCS Armentières was one of twelve Battle-class naval trawlers used by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). Armentières entered service in 1918 near the end of the First World War on the Atlantic coast of Canada. Following the war, the ship was transferred to the Department of Marine and Fisheries for a short period before reverting to RCN service in 1923 on the Pacific coast of Canada. The ship sank in 1925, was raised and re-entered service, remaining with the fleet through the Second World War as an examination vessel at Prince Rupert, British Columbia. After the end of the war, the vessel entered mercantile service becoming A.G. Garrish in 1947, later renamed Arctic Rover in 1958, Laforce in 1962 and Polaris in 1973. The ship's registry was deleted in 1991.
Picton Castle is a fully certified and registered Cook Islands tall ship whose mission is deep-ocean sail training and long distance education voyages. Picton Castle is perhaps best known for her World Circumnavigations, though she has visited the Great Lakes twice, sailed numerous times on tours of the East Coast of the Americas, completed a Caribbean Voyage and in 2008 sailed to Europe, Africa and the Caribbean on a Voyage of the Atlantic. In 2012 she sailed for the South Pacific. Picton Castle's unofficial home port in Canada is Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, but she is formally registered in the Cook Islands and subject to that country's regulatory regime.
Cisne Branco is a tall ship of the Brazilian Navy based at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, though she travels worldwide. The name means "white swan." It is a full-rigged ship built in Amsterdam, Netherlands by Damen Shipyard. Her keel was laid on 9 November 1998, and she was christened and launched on 4 August 1999, delivered to the Brazilian Navy on 4 February 2000, and commissioned as a Brazilian naval vessel on March 9, 2000.
John O'Brien was a Canadian marine artist.
William D. Lawrence was a full-rigged sailing ship built in Maitland, Nova Scotia, along the Minas Basin and named after her builder, the merchant and politician William Dawson Lawrence (1817–1886).
Kings County was a four-masted barque built in 1890 at Kingsport, Nova Scotia on the Minas Basin. She was named to commemorate Kings County, Nova Scotia and represented the peak of the county's shipbuilding era. Kings County was one of the largest wooden sailing vessels ever built in Canada and one of only two Canadian four-masted barques. At first registered as a four masted full rigged ship, she was quickly changed to a barque after her June 2 launch. More than three thousand people from Kings and Hants counties attended the launch. She survived a collision with an iceberg on an 1893 voyage to Swansea, Wales. Like many of the large wooden merchant ships built in Atlantic Canada, she spent most of her career far from home on trading voyages around the world. In 1909, she returned to the Minas Basin for a refit at Hantsport and loaded a large cargo of lumber. In 1911 she became the largest wooden ship to enter Havana Harbour when she delivered a cargo of lumber and was briefly stranded. She was lost a few months later on a voyage to Montevideo, Uruguay when she ran aground in the River Plate. Too damaged to repair, she was scrapped in Montevideo where her massive timbers were visible for many years.
Hamburg was a three masted barque built in 1886 at Hantsport, Nova Scotia. She was the largest three masted barque ever built in Canada.
SS Empire Bunting was a 6,318 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1919. She saw service between the wars under the US flag and was transferred to the UK Ministry of War Transport in the Second World War. She made a number of cross-Atlantic voyages, often sailing in convoys. She ended her career by being sunk as a blockship on the Normandy coast, supporting the allied landings there in 1944.
Research was a full rigged ship built in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia which was famous for a determined and courageous crew who replaced her rudder eight times to survive a crippling North Atlantic storm in 1866. Research was built in 1861 for the fleet of Thomas Killam and was the largest vessel built to that date in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. In the fall of 1866 on a voyage from Quebec to Glasgow, Scotland, her rudder was badly damaged in a sudden violent storm as the ship left the Gulf of Saint Lawrence at the beginning of her voyage. The rudder subsequently broke off entirely but was replaced by eight different jury rigged rudders which allowed the drifting and battered vessel to cross the ocean and reach her destination after 88 days. George Churchill, the captain of Research and Aaron Churchill, the first mate who carried out most of the repairs in the water, were celebrated for their courage, skill and determination. They both enjoyed the nickname "Rudder Churchill" for the rest of their careers. The ship was sold to owners in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1872 and then sold out of British registry a year later.
County of Yarmouth was a full rigged ship built in Belliveau's Cove, Nova Scotia in 1884. She was the largest wooden ship ever built for shipowners in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, and the second largest wooden ship ever built in Canada, only a few tons less than the ship William D. Lawrence. The ship was one of a series of very large wooden ships proudly named after major shipbuilding counties of Nova Scotia at the end of the Age of Sail. William D. Lovitt, owner of a fleet of ships from Yarmouth, began as the sole owner. The ship enjoyed a profitable decade of service circling the globe several times but most often trading between South American, Canadian and British ports. She survived a serious grounding at Low Point, Cape Breton in 1893. After being dismasted in December 1895, she was to be broken up at Grimsby, England but was purchased by the government of Argentina as a school ship. Two fine portraits of the ship are preserved at the Yarmouth County Museum & Archives.
Dei Gratia was a Canadian brigantine built in Bear River, Nova Scotia in 1871. The brigantine was named after the Latin phrase for "By the Grace of God". Dei Gratia became famous in 1872 when, under the command of David Reed Morehouse, she discovered the mystery ship Mary Celeste found sailing abandoned without any crew near the Azores. Morehouse and his crew took the derelict Mary Celeste to Gibraltar and claimed the brigantine as salvage. They were at first subjected to suspicion by Gilbraltar's Attorney General but the Vice Admiralty Court later approved their salvage and commended the crew of Dei Gratia for their resourcefulness and courage. The salvage award for recovering the mysterious brigantine of about $8,300 was diminished by the high court costs of the long inquiry. Dei Gratia was sold to Irish owners in 1881. She was wrecked at Black Rock, Dale, Pembrokeshire after breaking her moorings in a southeast storm on 27 December 1907. The original ship portrait of Dei Gratia is preserved at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Canada was a full rigged ship built in 1891 at Kingsport, Nova Scotia on the Minas Basin. She was one of the largest wooden sailing vessels ever built in Canada. Her owner had planned to make her the largest sailing ship built in Canada but damage to a timber intended for the keel caused her length to be trimmed by ten feet making Canada slightly smaller than the ship William D. Lawrence. Thousands of people from Kings and Hants Counties attended the launch. Classed A1 by Lloyd's Register for 14 years, Canada made several fast passages between South America and Australia. However by 1900, the ship was finding cargoes difficult to get in the face of competition from tramp steamers. Canada was converted to a gypsum barge in 1910, carrying gypsum from Windsor, Nova Scotia to Staten Island, New York for the Gypsum Transportation Company of New York. She was towed a final time from New York to Portland, Maine in 1926 where she was broken up.
Beaverburn was a 9,875 GRT cargo liner which was built in 1944 for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) as Empire Captain. In 1946 she was sold to Canada and renamed Beaverburn. In 1960, she was sold to the United Kingdom and renamed Bennachie. In 1964, she was sold to Liberia and renamed Silvana. She served until 1971 when she was scrapped.
William Dawson Lawrence was a successful shipbuilder, businessman and politician. He built the William D. Lawrence, which is reported to be the largest wooden ship ever built in Canada.
Sherman Zwicker is a wooden auxiliary fishing schooner built in 1942 at the Smith and Rhuland shipyard, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Influenced by the design of the famous Bluenose, Sherman Zwicker was built to fish the Grand Banks. The schooner was built for F. Homer Zwicker of Zwicker and Co. Officially christened in 1942, the F/V Sherman Zwicker is the last operable saltbank fishing vessel in existence.
Maid of England was a sailing barquentine built in Gross Coques, Digby County, Nova Scotia in 1919 by Omar Blinn. Maid of England was the last square-rigged cargo vessel built in Maritime provinces of Canada. Maid of England was owned by F.K. Warren for nine years, and then later abandoned at sea in 1928.
Codseeker was a fishing schooner launched in April, 1877 that capsized east of Cape Sable Island, at the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia.
HMCS Wentworth was a River-class frigate that served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. She served primarily as a convoy escort in the Battle of the Atlantic. She was named in honour of the town of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She could not be named HMCS Dartmouth for fear of confusion with HMS Dartmouth, and so was named after a famous early resident, Nova Scotia Lieutenant Governor Sir John Wentworth. Her name is often mistakenly associated with Wentworth County, Ontario, in honour of the city of Hamilton.
I'm Alone was a Canadian ship used as a rum runner during Prohibition in the United States. The auxiliary schooner was built in Nova Scotia in 1923, and for six years, she transported contraband alcohol. Another source says the ship was built in the United Kingdom. Her registry was in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. I'm Alone was intercepted in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana by USCGC Wolcott on 22 March 1929, as the schooner was returning from Belize with liquor. The crew of I'm Alone disobeyed orders to stop and was shelled and sunk by USCGC Dexter. Seven of the ship's eight crew members were rescued. The eighth, a French Canadian boatswain, Leon Mainguy, died. The surviving crew members, including captain John "Jack" Randell, were arrested and jailed in New Orleans.
