RCMP St. Roch background and my finished build [COMPLETED BUILD}

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I thought some of you might be interested in a famous but little known vessel called the R.C.M. Police. St. Roch. The ship is just over 104 feet in length, beam 24 feet 9 inches and draft 12 feet 6 inches with a displacement of 323 tons. Before I go much further, and especially for my Canadian friends, I would point out that the name on the hull is indeed as written.

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The St. Roch (pronounced “Rock”) was the second vessel, after Roald Amundsen's Gjoa (1903) to traverse the Northwest Passage from east to west. However, she was the first vessel to traverse the Northwest Passage from the west to east. The ship still exists and is proudly displayed in the Vancouver Maritime Museum, in Canada. The story of the St. Roch is fascinating so rather than attempt to write my own short narrative I feel it better to provide a paragraph from a Commemorative paper by Len Canfield and then the complete 16 page document, link below.

Some of the most intriguing aspects of this famous little ship and her RCMP crew are audio recordings made by key players involved with the St. Roch. Listening to the recordings is definitely a step back in time. The link is provided below.

I had a lot of fun building this plank on bulkhead (POB) Billing Boats kit and worked slowly away at it for a couple of years. I recently finished the final small parts of the build and, with the completion of a basic stand, I feel I have a reasonable rendition of the vessel. I added some extra fixtures and fittings here and there but generally it is “as is”. I took some photos of my model, which I will add later to the SOS Completed Models section. However, I’ve attached a couple to give an idea of her size.

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DB9D499D-7F32-4315-A70F-BE9FE5CD2938.jpeg


Commemorative document by Len Canfield
“When the RCMP Arctic patrol Vessel St. Roch slipped quietly into wartime Halifax Harbour October 11, 1942 few Canadians were aware of what this small ship had achieved since departing Vancouver in June 1940. The eight-member crew of the 104-foot St. Roch, under the command of Sergeant (later Superintendent) Henry Larsen had completed the first west to east transit of the fabled Northwest Passage (NWP). It was a remarkable achievement: a story of how the St. Roch had spent two winters frozen in ice and how the persevering Larsen and his crew had overcome the worst ice conditions in years to finally reach Canada’s WW11 ‘East Coast Port.’ It would not be the first or last of such achievements for the St. Roch launched at North Vancouver in 1928. Over the years the ship’s contributions to Arctic exploration and northern development have captured the hearts and minds of seafaring Nova Scotians and Canadians everywhere.”

Link to Len Canfield document
https://rusi-ns.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/St-Roch-Book2.pdf

Recordings link, of particular interest is Henry Larsen the Commander
https://stroch.net/audio/
 
That is an absolutely beautiful model of the St. Roch Roger. It is hard to understand why a subject with such a rich history and a model which is so well built, do not attract more attention. Sometimes I simply do not understand the obsession with yet another same-old, same-old, 300-cannon man-o-war ...
 
That is an absolutely beautiful model of the St. Roch Roger. It is hard to understand why a subject with such a rich history and a model which is so well built, do not attract more attention. Sometimes I simply do not understand the obsession with yet another same-old, same-old, 300-cannon man-o-war ...

Thank you for the wonderful compliment Heinrich. I have also posted some photos to the Completed Models forum, which show the model from different angles.

Like you I also enjoy a wider variety of interesting vessels.
 
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Very nice build. It’s great to see a Canadian boat
Thanks @cdnfurball, as I slowly built this model I realised how special the history of the St. Roch is. The Vancouver Maritime Museum has this paragraph in its write up, which I think encompasses the Canadian nature of the ship and her voyages.

”Built in British Columbia, named after a parish in Quebec, captained by a Norwegian immigrant, crewed by farm boys from across the country and helped by the Inuit, the St. Roch is a treasured piece of our maritime heritage.”
 
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WELL SAID HEINRICH WELL SAID MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY TAKE FOR EXAMPLE MY LOG ON THE HALF HULL/ ENGLISH CUTTER NO INTEREST AT ALL NONE SO NO MORE WASTING TIME EFFORT ETC IN POSTING ANY UPDATES, MY 2 CENTS. GOD BLESS STAY SAFE ALL DON
 
I agree - well done Roger. More like this needs to be built.
 
Something I forgot to add to the brief details I provided at the beginning on my post. As I neared completion of the model a friend surprised me with a picture of the St. Roch, which included a 14c FDI (First Day of Issue) stamp cancelled in Ottawa in 1978.

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I agree - well done Roger. More like this needs to be built.
Thank you Donnie. I’m sure there are SOS members out there, who seldom post, with all sorts of different builds. As your wonderful site continues to grow no doubt the variety of ship build logs will grow too.
 
WELL SAID HEINRICH WELL SAID MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY TAKE FOR EXAMPLE MY LOG ON THE HALF HULL/ ENGLISH CUTTER NO INTEREST AT ALL NONE SO NO MORE WASTING TIME EFFORT ETC IN POSTING ANY UPDATES, MY 2 CENTS. GOD BLESS STAY SAFE ALL DON
@donfarr Hello Don. I wonder if it’s because there are so many threads on SOS that members cannot follow all the posts, so it appears there’s no interest when in fact there is.
 
HI ROGER THAT MAY BE SO BUT THERE IS ANOTHER REASON AND IT IS PHYSICAL, I AM NOW CONFINED TO A WHEEL CHAIR NOT AS BAD AS IT SOUNDS THROUGH CHRIST I KEEP GOING, TO POST A LOG THAT IS NOT BEING FOLLOWED BY ANYONE, I HAVE TO GO TO MY COMPUTER AND THAT ROOM MY HOBBY ROOM CAN NOT GET MY WHEEL CHAIR IN IT BECOMES A PROBLEM GETTING IN THERE FOR KNOW INTEREST THAT I KNOW OF ANY ONE INTERESTED CAN CONTACT ME BY PM OR PROBALLY ON MSB. GOD STAY SAFE ALL DON
 
HI ROGER THAT MAY BE SO BUT THERE IS ANOTHER REASON AND IT IS PHYSICAL, I AM NOW CONFINED TO A WHEEL CHAIR NOT AS BAD AS IT SOUNDS THROUGH CHRIST I KEEP GOING, TO POST A LOG THAT IS NOT BEING FOLLOWED BY ANYONE, I HAVE TO GO TO MY COMPUTER AND THAT ROOM MY HOBBY ROOM CAN NOT GET MY WHEEL CHAIR IN IT BECOMES A PROBLEM GETTING IN THERE FOR KNOW INTEREST THAT I KNOW OF ANY ONE INTERESTED CAN CONTACT ME BY PM OR PROBALLY ON MSB. GOD STAY SAFE ALL DON
I understand how frustrating it must be Don. Stay safe and take care.
 
I thought some of you might be interested in a famous but little known vessel called the R.C.M. Police. St. Roch. The ship is just over 104 feet in length, beam 24 feet 9 inches and draft 12 feet 6 inches with a displacement of 323 tons. Before I go much further, and especially for my Canadian friends, I would point out that the name on the hull is indeed as written.

View attachment 253172

The St. Roch (pronounced “Rock”) was the second vessel, after Roald Amundsen's Gjoa (1903) to traverse the Northwest Passage from east to west. However, she was the first vessel to traverse the Northwest Passage from the west to east. The ship still exists and is proudly displayed in the Vancouver Maritime Museum, in Canada. The story of the St. Roch is fascinating so rather than attempt to write my own short narrative I feel it better to provide a paragraph from a Commemorative paper by Len Canfield and then the complete 16 page document, link below.

Some of the most intriguing aspects of this famous little ship and her RCMP crew are audio recordings made by key players involved with the St. Roch. Listening to the recordings is definitely a step back in time. The link is provided below.

I had a lot of fun building this plank on bulkhead (POB) Billing Boats kit and worked slowly away at it for a couple of years. I recently finished the final small parts of the build and, with the completion of a basic stand, I feel I have a reasonable rendition of the vessel. I added some extra fixtures and fittings here and there but generally it is “as is”. I took some photos of my model, which I will add later to the SOS Completed Models section. However, I’ve attached a couple to give an idea of her size.

View attachment 253173View attachment 253174

View attachment 253175


Commemorative document by Len Canfield
“When the RCMP Arctic patrol Vessel St. Roch slipped quietly into wartime Halifax Harbour October 11, 1942 few Canadians were aware of what this small ship had achieved since departing Vancouver in June 1940. The eight-member crew of the 104-foot St. Roch, under the command of Sergeant (later Superintendent) Henry Larsen had completed the first west to east transit of the fabled Northwest Passage (NWP). It was a remarkable achievement: a story of how the St. Roch had spent two winters frozen in ice and how the persevering Larsen and his crew had overcome the worst ice conditions in years to finally reach Canada’s WW11 ‘East Coast Port.’ It would not be the first or last of such achievements for the St. Roch launched at North Vancouver in 1928. Over the years the ship’s contributions to Arctic exploration and northern development have captured the hearts and minds of seafaring Nova Scotians and Canadians everywhere.”

Link to Len Canfield document
https://rusi-ns.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/St-Roch-Book2.pdf

Recordings link, of particular interest is Henry Larsen the Commander
https://stroch.net/audio/
Seeing the photo of the original then the model, wow fantastic.
 
Hello there
Your boat is very well made, it is one of the best I have seen.
I did it too, guided by the photos of the ship in the Ottawa museum.
Congratulations, good work
 
Hello there
Your boat is very well made, it is one of the best I have seen.
I did it too, guided by the photos of the ship in the Ottawa museum.
Congratulations, good work
I really appreciate your compliment, thanks. I also used many photographs as well. It was interesting how, over those early years, the structure of the ship changed.
 
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