Document cylinder

Document cylinder

A heavy brass pipe with screw-on cap fittings on either end, used as a document cylinder for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police boat St. Roch. Important messages were left in weather proof cylinders by arctic expeditions. Stamped on the cylinder is the following inscription: “Larsen, H.S. SI SCT. CPT/C.C./G.B. Dickens./1944/R.C.M.P. St. Roch. Aug 29th 1944”. In 1940–1942 the St. Roch (italisize) became the first vessel to complete a voyage through the Northwest Passage in a west to east direction, and in 1944 became the first to make a return trip in a single season.