Now in the Vancouver Maritime Museum
One Ocean Expeditions is a leader in modern-day polar exploration and is dedicated to finding new ways to experience the geography and culture of polar regions. As part of our commitment to exploration, we continue to expand our alliance with Vancouver Maritime Museum by supporting the new Northwest Passage Hall of Fame exhibit to elevate their efforts in the historic understanding of Canada’s North and the importance of the discovery and exploration of the fabled Northwest Passage.
The Northwest Passage Hall of Fame was established to:
1) Celebrate three significant categories annually – Individual, Vessel, and Expedition and their historical maritime experience in the Canadian Arctic;
2) Become a public depository of artifacts, books, archives, etc related to Northwest Passage explorers, vessels and expeditions; and
3) Position the Vancouver Maritime Museum to be a centre of dialogue, discussion and education about the Northwest Passage; for example, dealing with Canadian Sovereignty, Right of Free Passage, Maritime Law, Geo-political concepts and international maritime trade via polar shipping routes, and environmental issues.
Andrew Prossin, Managing Director of One Ocean Expeditions was honoured to sponsor the expedition award of the evening and handing over the award to David Bogle, General Manager of Hudson Bay Downtown Vancouver. This award honours the Hudson Bay schooner ‘Aklavik’ and Ernest ‘Scotty’ Gall.
In 1937, Ernest James “Scotty” Gall sailed the 60 foot Hudson’s Bay Company vessel Aklavik east from Cambridge Bay carrying 45 tons of cargo to be left at HBC posts in the Arctic. Gall sailed to King William Island, north through Bellot Strait, and finally arrived at Fort Ross to deliver goods to the RMS Nascopie. This event marked a successful navigation of the Northwest Passage (the western half by the Aklavik; the eastern half by the Nascopie) as well as the first use of the Passage for commercial purposes.
One Ocean Expeditions has maintained a collaborative relationship with the Vancouver Maritime Museum grounded in exploration, education and historical research. With the successful implementation of the ‘Across the Top of the World‘ travel exhibit in 2015 onboard our vessels, we played a crucial part in transporting artifacts alongside experts from the Vancouver Maritime Museum to northern communities to give locals access to important historic artifacts as well as encouraging an interactive exchange between locals and the museum.
Since 2015, our vessels exclusively carry a one-of-a-kind floating museum where artifacts and replicas of the VMM’s Across the Top of the World exhibit are showcased through mounted panels.
As the core mandate of the Vancouver Maritime Museum is to curate, interpret and share the maritime stories of vessels and crews operating in Canada’s far north and in particular, the Northwest Passage, it is only fitting that this historic Northwest Passage Hall of Fame be established within the museum.
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