Maritime Museum of British Columbia
The Maritime Museum of BC engages people with the maritime culture and history of the Pacific Northwest through rotating exhibits and educational and community-based programs. Its collection includes 35,000 artefacts, 800 models of ships, a 6,000 volume reference library and 36,000 photos, and it presents evening talks, craft workshops, and educational programs on topics such as immigration, pirates and privateers, women at sea, and the fur trade.
The Maritime Museum of BC opened in 1955 as a naval museum located on Signal Hill just outside the gates of the HMC Dockyard in Esquimalt. By 1965 it had outgrown that location and moved to the former Supreme Court building in Bastion Square, before later moving to its current home at 744 Douglas Street in Victoria. Its mission is to engage communities in witnessing and preserving maritime heritage, with a vision that maritime experiences are boldly embraced, shared and lived from a cultural centre on the waterfront.
