The Vancouver Maritime Museum, a Vancouver landmark since it first opened in 1958, is a repository for cultural treasures - artifacts, archives and memories - that document our ongoing interaction with the sea. The Maritime Museum uses these treasures in exhibits, displays and programs to educate and inspire.

Among the treasures in the collections of the museum are 198 flags and banners, as well as some rare manuscripts that will tickle the heart of any student of vexillology. The highlights include:

- the original Canadian "Blue Ensign"; flown by RCMP St. Roch when it made its historic transit of the Northwest Passage in 1940-1942 and again in 1944. St. Roch was the second ship to navigate the treacherous passage through the Arctic, and the first to do so from west to east. The ship is preserved as the centerpiece of the Maritime Museum and is a National Historic Site;
- the Canadian ensign flown by the Arctic Expedition of Vilhjalmur Stefansson in 1913-1914 aboard the ship Karluk. Caught and crushed by the ice, Karluk sank and the survivors made their way to Wrangel Island in a difficult journey in which some died. The ship's flag was hoisted on the island in 1914 to signal a passing rescue ship that there were survivors - this is a flag that literally saved lives in one of history's most famous Arctic disasters chronicled in the recent bestseller, The Ice Master.
- the original battle ensign of the WWII corvette HMCS Vancouver. Built in Esquimalt, Vancouver served with distinction on both coasts, including arduous and hazardous duty in the Battle of the Atlantic;
- an original German Naval ensign from the Nazi U-Boat headquarters in Bremen, "liberated"; at the end of the war by a Canadian soldier;
- the flag of the Arctic trading vessel Nigalik, built in Vancouver in 1926 and decorated with an Arctic goose;
- the Union Jack ensign of the British battlecruiser HMS Hood, taken from the ship in 1924 as a "souvenir"; during Hood's round the world cruise and visit to Vancouver. These prewar cruises by naval vessels were known as "showing the flag"; around the world, and so this flag from Hood is a particularly significant treasure in the museum's collection made all the more poignant by the fact that during World War II, the German battleship Bismarck sank Hood in one of history's most famous naval battles;
- the "Red Ensign"; flown by the CPR coal hulk Robert Kerr. When Vancouver burned to the ground in 1886, the survivors made their way to Robert Kerr, which served as a floating refuge;
- an American and Swiss flag, used to launch the historic oceanographic research submersible PX-15 Ben Franklin in Switzerland, and then used during that sub's 30-day drift mission in the Gulf Stream in 1969. The flags were a recent donation from Erwin Aebersold of Switzerland, one of the sub's designers and its pilot on the 1969 mission. Restored in 2002-2003, Ben Franklin is a major new exhibition in front of the museum;
- the handwritten, hand-illustrated signals book of Joseph Baker, Captain George Vancouver's third in command and master of HMS Discovery during Vancouver's voyage to this coast in 1792.

This is just a small example, drawn from a handful of flags, of the many hidden treasures in the Vancouver Maritime Museum. None of the flags are on display. In fact, 95% of the museum's large and internationally significant collection sits in storage. The existing museum building, constructed in 1958, is too small. It also has no climate control to preserve rare and fragile treasures like these flags. As well, the building has no fire suppression, so if the museum catches fire, the treasures are lost.

After years of discussion and planning, the maritime museum has developed, with its many partners, plans for a new, improved museum that displays the treasures, tells the stories, and serves the community with exciting programs for all ages...all the things the existing museum does, but bigger and better. A new location for the museum not will provide the means to grow, but be in a more accessible location that makes the museum more sustainable as the National Maritime Museum of Canada, Pacific. The plans to create the new museum are underway, and the museum is happy to discuss them with anyone who is interested.

To learn more, see the museum's website at www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com or contact executive director James Delgado at (604) 257-8301 or at director@vancouvermaritimemuseum.com . One new program is also available - free "hidden treasures tours"; that take you behind the scenes to see some of the treasures in storage. To learn more about the tours - and to book one, contact the museum at (604) 257-8300 or log on to the website.