Maritime and Naval Museums: Canada

Alberta

Calgary

The Naval Museum of Alberta

1820 24th Street S.W.,
Calgary, Alberta T2T 0G6.

Telephone: +1 403 242 0002

Opening hours: Tuesday - Friday 13:00-17:00, Saturday - Sunday and Holidays 10:00-18:00; Closed Christmas and New Years Day.

The second largest naval museum in Canada.

British Columbia

Vancouver

Vancouver Maritime Museum

1905 Ogden Avenue,
Vancouver, BC V6J 1A3.

Telephone: +1 604 257 8300
Telefax: +1 604 737 2621.
WWW: Vancouver Maritime Museum.

Opening hours: daily 10:00-17:00; Closed Mondays in the winter.

Museum vessel:

Library and archive:

Victoria

Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum

Building 20N,
Esquimalt Naval Base,
Esquimalt, BC.

Telephone: +1 604 363 4395
WWW: http://www.islandnet.com/~bpaoesq/museum.htm

Opening hours: Monday-Friday 08:00-16:00.

The museum includes an archive and a library.

The Maritime Museum of British Columbia

address>28 Bastion Square,
Victoria, BC V8W 1H9.

Telephone: +1 250 385 4222
WWW: http://mmbc.bc.ca/index.html

Opening hours: Daily 09:30-16:30; Closed Christmas Day.

The museum, which is housed in a building dating from 1899, houses the largest collection of ship models in Canada.

Manitoba

Winnipeg

Naval Museum of Manitoba

51 Navy Way,
Winnipeg.

Telephone: +1 204 943 7745
E-mail: Claude Rivard
WWW: http://www.naval-museum.mb.ca/

Opening hours: May - October, Sunday 14:00-16:00.

New Brunswick

St. John

New Brunswick Museum

Large collection of ships' figureheads, paintings, etc. During the late 1800s, something like a third of the wooden ships in Lloyd's Register had been built in the St. John area.

New Foundland

Grand BankSeamen's Museum

Opening hours: July-August: Monday-Friday 09:00-16:30, Saturday-Sunday 10:00-18:00; September-June: Monday-Friday 09:00-17:00, Saturday-Sunday 09:00-17:00; Closed on holidays.

The museum, which was opened in 1971, exhibits shipmodels, images and artifacts relating to the Grand Banks fishing schooners.

Nova Scotia

Halifax

Maritime Command Museum

Extensive information on the past and present ships of Canadian Navy, including ensigns, colours, ships plaques, photographic archives, uniforms, ships' logs. Just about anything relating to Canadian Navy can be found with help from curators.

Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

1675 Lower Water Street,
Halifax, NS B3J 1S3.

Telephone: +1 902 424 7490
Telefax: +1 902 424 0612

Opening hours: October 16—May 31, Wednesday-Saturday 09:30-17:00, Sunday 13:00-17:00, Tuesday 09:30-20:00; June 1 — October 15, Monday, & Wednesday-Saturday, 09:30-17:30. Tuesday, 09:30-20:00. Sunday, 13:00-17:30. Closed Mondays and January 1 and April 2. Library open Monday-Friday 10:00-16:30 (by appointment).

Museum ships:

Details both Military and Civil Naval Transportation. Excellent collection of small boats. Memorabilia from the SS Mont Blanc, a munitions ship that exploded in 1917 and wiped out downtown Halifax. Also artifacts from Titanic - some of the victims were buried in Halifax.

Lunenburg

Smith & Rhuland's yard, where both the Bluenoses fishing schooners were built, is located in Lunenburg. The Bluenose II presently spends the summer in Halifax.

Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic

Route 3,
Lunenburg.

Telephone: +1 902 634 4794

Opening hours: June 1 - October 15, daily 09:30-17:30, except Thursday 09:30-20:00.
October 16 - May 31, Monday - Friday, 08:30-16:30.

Museum ships:

Maitland

Lawrence House

Maitland,
Hants Co. NS.

Open June 1 — October 15.

Home of the 19th. century shipbuilder W.D. Lawrence. Ship-models, ship portraits, shipbuilding tools, etc are exhibited.

Shelbourne

The Dory Shop

Off Route 103.

Telephone: +1 902 875 3219.

Opening hours: June 15 - September 15, 09:30-17:30.

Fisherman's Life Museum

Jeddore Oyster Pond,

Telephone: +1 902 889 2053

Opening hours: June 1 - October 15, Monday-Saturday 09:30-17:30, Sunday 13:00-17:30.

Ontario

Kingston

Marine Museum of the Great Lakes

55 Ontario Street,
Kingston, Ontario K7L 1Y2.

Telephone: +1 613 542 2261
Telefax: +1 613 542 0043
E-mail: mmuseum@qucdn.queensu.ca
WWW: http://www.marmus.ca

Opening hours: daily 10:00-17:00 during April-December; Monday-Friday 10:00-16:00 during January-March.

Museum ship: Alexander Henry (1958). Icebreaker used as a bed and breakfast.

Collection contains artifacts representative of those used aboard sailing, steam and small craft on the Great Lakes; the library contains 8000 titles covering most aspects of Canadian marine activities; design drawings, shipyards, builders plans (30.000 items); private and corporate papers, cinematic, video and audio tapes; database of 4500 ships registered at ports on the Great Lakes mostly from the 19th century. Library and Archive accessible after appointment.

The catalogues of the Library and Archive are also available through telnet access.

Ottawa

National War Museum

Sussex Drive.
Highlights of all Canadian involvement in military actions, including artifacts, equipment from WWI and WWII. Special exhibit on role of Canadian Peace Keeping Forces around the world.

South Bay

Mariners Park Museum

South Bay,
Junction of Country Roads 13 and 9,
Prince Edward County.

E-mail: museum@stormy.ca
WWW: http://www.stormy.ca/perc/marmus.html

E-mail: museum@stormy.ca
WWW: http://www.stormy.ca/perc/marmus.html

Toronto

HMCS Haida Naval Museum

c/o Ontario Place Corporation,
955 Lakeshore Boulevard West,
Toronto, Ontario M6K 3B9.

Telephone: +1 416 314 9755
E-mail: hnmchin@planeteer.com
WWW:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/hrc/haida

Opening hours: daily 10:00-19:00 from mid-May to Labour Day.

Museum ship:

The ship saw limited service in WWII and the Korean war. Her guns are used in the annual Toronta Symphony Orchestra concert of the 1812 Overture as well as for firing a noon-day shot.

Marine Museum of Upper Canada

c/o Toronto Historical Board,
Exhibition Place,
Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R5.

Telephone: +1 416 392 1765
Telefax: +1 416 392 1767
E-mail: can-thb@immedia.ca

Opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 09:30-17:00; Sunday and Holidays, 12:00-17:00; Closed Mondays, Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and Good Friday.

Attached to the museum is the steam tug Ned Hanlan (1932).

The museum which is operated by Toronto Historical Board was founded in 1959. It is housed in the former Officers' Quarters of Stanley Barracks dating from 1841. The collection which focuses on the waterways of central Canada, the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence waterways, includes a number of small watercraft.

The library which is available by appointment has collection of 1300 volumes of printed books.

PQ

L'Islet-Sur-Mer

Bernier Maritime Museum

55, rue des pionniers Est,
L'Islet-sur-Mer, PQ.

Telephone: +1 418 247 5001/2496

Opening hours: Winter (October 12 to May 16), Tuesday - Friday 10:00-16:00. Summer [?].

The Bernier Maritime Museum, which was founded in 1968, is located in a convent built in 1877 and named for Captain Joseph-Elzéar Bernier, Arctic navigator and native son.

The museum illustrates the history of navigation of the St Lawrence River. Several vessels are on display, including the icebreaker Ernest Lapointe and the experimental hydrofoil HMCS Bras d’Or 400.

Québec

Musée naval de Québec

170 Dalhousie,
Québec QC G1K 4C4

Telephone: +1 418 694 5387
E-mail: nrpao@navreshq.queb.dnd.ca
WWW: http://navreshq.queb.dnd.ca/fr/musee.htm

Opening hours: June 24 - August 31, Wednesday - Friday 13:00-17:00, Saturday - Sunday 11:00-17:00; September 1 - June 23, Tuesday - Friday 13:00-16:00.

Le Musée de la mer de Pointe-au-Père

1034 rue du Phare,
Pointe-au-Père,
Québec G5M 1L8.

E-mail: museemer@globetrotter.qc.ca

Dedicated entirely to the sinking of the R.M.S. Empress of Ireland after a collision with another ship on May 29th 1914 in front of Pointe-au-Père with the loss of 1012 lives.

Updated 2000-06-09 by Lars Bruzelius

Sjöhistoriska Samfundet | The Maritime History Virtual Archives | Naval and Maritime Museums | Naval and Maritime Museums: North America

Copyright © 1996 Lars Bruzelius.