Museums - Maritime Museum of British Columbia

The Maritime Museum of British Columbia is housed in the historic 1889 Provincial Law Courts building situated in Bastion Square.
The three floors of exhibits contain models and artifacts relating to Canada’s maritime history. Historical displays discuss the earliest European contacts with the region, including those made by Captain James Cook and George Vancouver, and address the area’s territorial see-saw between Russia, the United States and British Canada. A smattering of Native artifacts is incorporated into these displays, but by far the most interesting installation is that of the Tilikum (Chinook for “friend”), a three-masted vessel modified from a fifty-year-old, 9.1-meter Native canoe carved from a single cedar log. Captain John Claus Voss and Norman Luxton sailed this unique vessel out of Oak Bay, Victoria, in 1901 intending to circumnavigate the world. The voyage lasted three years, three months, and twelve days and terminated in Margate, England. The vessel was exhibited in London in 1905. It was discovered lying derelict in 1929 and was returned to Victoria by freighter, where restoration was carried out by the Thermopylae Club.