Canada's Naval History

The Second World War
The Merchant Navy - The Merchant Navy

Between 1939 and 1945, Canadian and Allied merchant ships and their crews transported personnel, munitions, weapons, and food across the world's oceans as part of the Allied war effort. Enemy action sank some 70 Canadian and Newfoundland merchant vessels. Over 1,600 Canadians and Newfoundlanders, including eight women, were killed.

Artifact Record

Merchant Ship Leaving at Night

Jack Nichols' 1943 drawing depicts the night-time departure of a merchant ship from a Canadian port.

Sailors (centre) haul in the massive mooring lines used to fasten the ship to the dock. In the background, parts of the ship's superstructure are visible (left), while dockside buildings (upper right) dominate the skyline. Wartime demands and limits imposed by harbour facilities required port activities at all hours of the day and night. This is one of a number of Nichols' works depicting the merchant navy that resulted from a 1943 commission by the National Gallery of Canada.

Merchant Ship Leaving at Night
Drawn by Jack Nichols in 1943
Beaverbrook Collection of War Art
CWM 19710261-4302