Once home, I could see that I'd probably done the wrong thing. The instructions were abysmal to say the least! On the side of the packaging, it said "Advanced Beginner" but I doubt very much that it was in the right category. Looking at the guide, I figured that you needed quite a bit of previous experience at working with wooden models and you needed a fair knowledge of boats in general. I had neither.
The St. Roch was built at the Burrard Dry Dock in North Vancouver in 1928, intended for sailing in Artic waters. It was the first ship to sail through the North-West Passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic. In the summer of 1944 the St. Roch sailed from Halifax to Vancouver, thereby becoming the first ship to complete the journey in both directions.
The St. Roch is probably the most famous Canadian-built Arctic vessels. She had been ordered by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as both a supply ship, and as a floating detachment. As such, many special design features were incorporated, from having both sail (she was schooner-rigged initially) and diesel power, to an ice-strengthened hull shaped to ride up over squeezing ice, and accommodation for large sled dog teams.
The St. Roch took three seasons, from 1940 to 1942, to make its first transit of the Northwest Passage; this was only the second time it had been accomplished, and the first time from west to east. In 1944 she was able to take a more northerly route back to Vancouver in only 86 days. After being officially retired in 1948, she became the first ship to circumnavigate North America when she went through the Panama Canal en route to Halifax. A lengthy effort to preserve her began when she was returned to Vancouver in 1954, and she is now the main exhibit at the Vancouver Maritime Museum.
The image below is a photo of the finished model as shown on Billing's website. I can't see mine looking anything like that when it's done, lol.
Click to enlarge
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