St. Roch Arctic Patrol Boat
St. Roch Arctic Patrol Boat
1:72 scale Wooden hull 12.80″H 18.50″L 4.33″W
In 1940, the St. Roch Arctic Patrol Boat set out from Vancouver on a secret mission through the Northwest passage. On this voyage, the St. Roch combined its normal supply mission with a deliberate assertion of Canadian sovereignty over the Arctic. Due to heavy ice conditions, the ship spent two winters frozen in Arctic waters, finally reaching Halifax on October 11, 1942. The voyage claimed the life of one crew member. The St. Roch was the first ship to complete the voyage through the Northwest Passage from Pacific to Atlantic. In the summer of 1944, it became the first ship to traverse the Arctic in both directions when it crossed the Northwest Passage again, this time from Halifax to Vancouver. The St. Roch was built in 1928 by the Burrard Dry Dock Company in North Vancouver.
This St. Roch Arctic Patrol Boat kit contains English translation instructions, all measurements in the booklet are in Metric.
All of the 600 Series Model Boat Kits (item numbers 600-609) include an easier way of building the hull. The hull is assembled in halves, on a table. This allows for easier assembly and is quite useful in learning plank-on-frame or plank-on-bulkhead construction! Once each half is done you join the two for a completed hull. Make sure you work each half in opposite directions so that when joined they marry up evenly!
Paints used on this model boat kit are: BB#1, BB#3, BB#7, BB#9, BB#11, BB#14, BB#17, BB#20, BB#36, + BB#40 thinner/cleaner.
- BB605
- 1:72 scale
- Wooden hull
- 12.80″H 18.50″L 4.33″W
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About: St. Roch Arctic Patrol Boat
St. Roch Arctic Patrol Boat
The Canadian-built St. Roch Arctic Patrol Boat is valued as an excellent example of Canada’s maritime history. She navigated the Northwest Passage, arriving in Halifax in 1942, after spending two winters frozen in the ice. She was the second ship to make the Passage, and the first to conquer the journey from the Pacific to the Atlantic. In 1944, the refitted St. Roch returned to Vancouver via the more northerly, deep route of the Prince of Wales Strait in eighty-six ice-free days – the first to navigate the Northwest Passage in a single season. Retired in 1948, St. Roch was sent to Halifax via the Panama Canal in 1950, making her the first ship to circumnavigate North America.
Under the command and leadership of Sergeant Henry Larsen (1899-1964) who was first mate and captain for twenty years, the voyages of the St. Roch Arctic Patrol Boat demonstrated Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic. She extended and maintained Canadian control over its vast northern territories as an all-purpose supply, patrol and transport vessel and governmental representative to service isolated and relatively inaccessible R.C.M.P. detachments by settling disputes and conducting a census of the Inuit. During this time the St. Roch was the only federal presence in the far north. During the Second World War the St. Roch was sent through the North West Passage to protect war industries in the north, specifically a mine in Greenland which was the sole source of cyrolite essential to the production of aluminum.
The heritage value lies in the original design and the multiple refits that were designed to deal harsh conditions and reflect the changing technologies in marine transportation over the course of her working life. The St. Roch has been restored to her appearance during her epic journeys between 1940-1944 that was a mix of original elements and subsequent refits. Additional value in her material fabric include the spare and well-considered details of her design in terms of the efficiency and economy of her living and working quarters.
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