Primary Divisions and Guiding Principles

Marine Transportation includes the following primary divisions:

• naval architecture and shipbuilding
• marine engineering
• small craft and small marine engines
• navigation
• ocean science (including diving)
• fishing

Sailors working aloft (N. Jannasch Collection)

Modern container ship (N. Jannasch Collection)

Canada is endowed with a great abundance of coastline, rivers and large, navigable lakes. It was by water that Europeans first came to Canada and it was by water, guided by the indigenous people, that Europeans first explored the interior of the continent and later settled and exploited it. The most impressive and lasting legacy of this historical fact is reflected in the waterfront location of Canada's principal urban centres. Exploration, trade and settlement required vessels of various sizes, shapes and complexity, which, in turn, required the use and adaptation of a matrix of technologies and support systems.

The Herald Bros. Canoe factory, Gore's Landing, Ontario

Herald Canoes circular, 1880s

In recognition of existing regional maritime collections, the Canada Science and Technology Museum aims to treat the subject of marine transportation with breadth, not depth. Western scientific and technological traditions in this area are an essential basis for understanding the Canadian experience and salient Canadian contributions to the field. Indeed, it is the unique function of the Museum collection to provide an overview of the subject to facilitate a comparative understanding of the traditions of the various regions, and to identify those achievements that form the collective, maritime heritage of Canada.

The mandate of the Canada Science and Technology Museum also provides a special opportunity to study and interpret this subject in conjunction with related transportation and communication technologies.

The Museum does not include aboriginal small-craft traditions in recognition of the fact that a collection of these fascinating and sophisticated watercraft already exists in the national capital region at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec, Canada.

4.8 m. model of the R.M.S. Titantic

19th Century shipbuilder's half-model

Finally, as Canada`s only general museum of science and technology, it is imperative that the evolving but fundamental relationship between the science and the technology of marine transportation be studied, its products preserved and its story interpreted.

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