Canada's Naval History

The Second World War
The Merchant Navy - SS Stanley Park: Merchant Ship

David McMillan's photographs capture wartime and early postwar merchant navy scenes and experiences, mainly aboard the Canadian merchant ship SS Stanley Park. Completed in mid-1943, the Stanley Park was one of around 400 merchant ships built as part of Canada's war effort; postwar, it served with a number of foreign owners until its 1969 scrapping in Italy.

Disposing of Ammunition, SS Stanley Park

A member of the SS Stanley Park's crew dumps a shell for the ship's 4-inch gun over the side following Japan's surrender.

Stanley Park carried a variety of weapons intended to counter threats from enemy aircraft, ships, and surfaced submarines. Japan's capitulation in mid-August 1945 removed the last possible threat of military action against Allied ships, so ammunition like this was thrown overboard to remove the risks associated with keeping it on the ship.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19860141-049