A LENS ON VANCOUVER'S PAST
Walter Frost's Holland-America Line (1920-1975)
WHAT'S NEW?
The Port of Vancouver's South Shore served as homeport for many of the vessels that have and continue to explore the Western Arctic, trade with its indigenous peoples, extract the Arctic’s natural resources, transit the Northwest Passage, and project Canada’s sovereignty over the North from Herschel Island (Qikirtarjuaq) in the Yukon Territory to the Arctic Archipelago which comprises most of Nunavut.
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The gallery had been updated to reflect Walter Frost's photos of some of the vessels that have called Vancouver home or visited the port. They range in size from small wooden-hulled ships like the RCMP Schooner St. Roch to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s cargo steamer SS Baychimo, the heavy icebreaker CCGS John A. Macdonald, and huge bulk carriers such as the MV Dordrecht.
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A new 60-page low-resolution compendium presents 17 curated photos of vessels ranging from small wooden-hulled schooners, cargo steamers, heavy icebreakers, to huge bulk carriers that have called at Vancouver home or visited the seaport. Furthermore, a biography of Walter Frost; facts, figures, and maps describing the vast, beautiful and unforgiving Arctic, and a map illustrating the piers and wharves where these same vessels called at Vancouver is included. The compendium is available for downloading below.
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Last revised - June 3, 2023
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Arctic Explorers
The North Pacific Coast Line
In another PechaKucha presentation, Floris van Weelderen explores the now defunct North Pacific Coast Line to challenge the way we think about how one could travel directly by sea between Continental Europe and Canada’s West Coast from 1920 to 1968. You'll be surprised at the luxurious experience, distance travelled, duration, costs, and why it disappeared.
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A 60-page low-resolution compendium consisting of 18 curated photos of Holland-America Line (HAL) ships, a biography of Walter Frost, a brief history of the Port of Vancouver plus interesting facts and figures about HAL, its ships and their photos is available for downloading below.
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Last revised - February 15, 2023
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The Evolution of Intercontinental Travel
In a short PechaKucha presentation (20 slides x 20 seconds), Floris explores the Evolution of Intercontinental Travel to challenge the way we think about how people travelled between Vancouver and Rotterdam in 1937, 1967 and 2007. You'll be surprised at the options available, distances travelled, duration, and cost.
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A digital infographic illustrating the various options is available for downloading below.
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Last revised - February 5, 2023
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Vancouver Maritime Museum displayed Vancouver photographer’s images of Holland-America Line vessels in micro-exhibition.
The year 2020 marked the 100th anniversary of the first arrival in Vancouver by a Holland-America Line (HAL) vessel. To commemorate this centennial of Dutch-Canadian trade, the Vancouver Maritime Museum (VMM) hosted a micro-exhibition of ten photographs of HAL ships taken by Walter Edwin Frost.
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Walter Edwin Frost (1898-1988), a life-long resident of East Vancouver, donated an extensive collection of 13,369 black & white photographs to the City of Vancouver Archives in 1984. The images capture much of the industrial activity of early- and mid-20th century Vancouver with a focus on ships in Vancouver Harbour. The busy waterfront provided Frost with a constant stream of subject matter.
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Floris van Weelderen, the curator of the micro-exhibition, discovered Frost’s photographs while chronicling his father’s 1960s sea voyages on Holland-America Line freighters and ocean liners. Floris observed that Walter’s photographs provide a remarkable visual record of the evolution in maritime shipping and naval architecture.
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The micro-exhibition also included a model of the Diemerdyk, one of the vessels photographed by Frost, plus HAL ephemera from the VMM collection (see below).​
