St. Roch was
built in 1928, a support ship for remote RCMP outposts in the Arctic.  For her duties as a supply ship, St. Roch was built with a strong wooden hull, shaped to survive thick ice.  After 12 years of service St. Roch began her first to venture a west to east voyage through the Northwest Passage.  She got underway from Vancouver on June 23, 1940
and finally arrived in Halifax on October 11, 1942 - over 2 years later.  St. Roch became the second ship to traverse the Northwest Passage and the first to make the trip from west to east.