ON THIS DAY

December 14, 2000 After a 169- day journey from Vancouver, through the Arctic, down the Eastern Seaboard, through the Panama Canal and back up the West coast, the St. Roch II arrived at Victoria. The ship was re- tracing the historic journeys of its predecessor. In 1944, the St. Roch was the first ship to traverse the Northwest Passage. Six years later, it passed through the Panama Canal, the first vessel to circumnavigate North America.