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Some Useful Research Links for British Columbia Coast Vessels

Maritime Museum of British Columbia

The oldest Maritime Museum in British Columbia this institution has a significant collection of artifacts, a very large reference library, an extensive archive of documents, images, ship plans and other records.

Vancouver Maritime Museum

As well as the preserved RCMP Schooner St. Roch, a well organized library and image collection is an attraction for researchers. Extensive exhibitions are also a good source of information.

The Transport Canada Vessel Registration Query System

At this official government site you can search for a ship by it’s official number or by it’s name, or use the advanced search page which permits searching on a wider variety of attributes.

City of Richmond Archives

The City Archives contains a treasure of photographs and information on canneries and marine industry, particularly British Columbia Packers. The company had plants, vessels, and other operations in a complex industrial operation that drove the local and provincial economy. The maps and photographs document the company’s operations over time, through periods of economic expansion and decline, and intense technological change.The images also record the lives of those people whose livelihood depended upon the industry.

The Underwater Archaeology Society of British Columbia

The UASBC assists archaeologists by undertaking worthwhile projects not currently addressed by professionals. Inventories of shipwrecks and other submerged cultural sites are an especially important contribution. Information about the location, history, and status of these resources is vital to their conservation and management. The British Columbia Archaeology Branch, in particular, needs such data in order to establish site management policy before a user conflict or preservation crisis arises.

Commodore Boats

The proprietor of Commodore boats, Bo Spiller, has worked on or restored many of British Columbia's floating heritage. He has a real passion for wooden boats.

Some Useful Canadian Navy Research Links

CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum

For researchers looking for naval connections, history and sources of data this is an important location. The museum’s goal is to collect, preserve, interpret and display the history and heritage of the naval presence on Canada’s West Coast and of the military on Southern Vancouver Island.

Naval Museum of Manitoba

This is the story of the navy in Winnipeg. Winnipeg has had a Naval Division for the last 75 years, and has had a naval presence for even much longer. It is filled with stories, personalities, news clippings and photos. It is set up as a chronological history, so you can start at the first page and surf all the way to the end.

Canadian War Museum

The Military History Research Centre (MHRC) houses the George Metcalf Archival Collection and the Hartland Molson Library. These extensive national collections of primary and secondary research material document Canada’s military history from the pre–contact period to the present. The Archival Collection contains unique documents including original letters, diaries, scrapbooks, maps, blueprints, sound recordings, oral history tapes and 65,000 photographic materials in a variety of formats. The Library Collection includes regimental histories, personal memoirs, wartime pamphlets, and military and technical field manuals.

Canadian Nautical Research Society

The CNRS encourages an awareness of Canadian and world maritime heritage by promoting nautical research and presenting the results of such research by conferences, presentations and publications.

Nauticapedia

Site News: April 25, 2024

The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 92,359 vessel histories (with 15,634 images and 13,293 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,616 entries (with 4,013 images).

In 2023 the Nauticapedia celebrated the 50th Anniversary of it’s original inception in 1973 (initially it was on 3" x 5" file cards). It has developed, expanded, digitized and enlarged in those ensuing years to what it is now online. If it was printed out it would fill more than 300,000 pages!

My special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into a semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.

Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who has proofread thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 11,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.

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