General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

plating model

Patents

N/A

General Description

wood; metal

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

108.8 cm

Width

24.5 cm

Height

13.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Marine Transportation

Category

Models

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Vickers

Country

Canada

State/Province

Québec

City

Montréal

Context

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

Period

Unknown

Canada

The plating model may have been given to Mr. Douglas Hearnshaw upon completion of the actual vessel. Mr. Hearnshaw immigrated to Canada from England in 1951 during what could be called a “Golden Period” of Canadian shipbuilding. During that time, the Canadian naval manufacture labour force increased by 13 500 people largely fuelled by new naval and government contracts. Two publications of the Canadian Naval Technical History Association, “The Story of the DDH 280 Program” and the “Shipyards of the Canadian Naval Shipbuilding Program 1939-2000”, indicate that Mr. Hearnshaw was employed as a naval architect at Canadian Vickers in Montreal in the 1950s. The M/V Cygnus plating model represents the second of three vessels to bear that name in the Canadian Coast Guard. The first was a converted world war two Bangor class minesweeper. The plating model of this class (1978.0277) is already in the collection. The first Cygnus was originally named the HMCS Melville and was built by Davie Shipbuilding (Lauzon, Quebec) in 1940-41. The Melville was transferred to the Department of Fisheries in 1945 where she was renamed the M.V. Cygnus. The first Cygnus was scrapped in 1961 just after the second Cygnus (plating model) was built in 1959 at the Canadian Vickers dry-dock in Montreal. The second Cygnus was commissioned as a Fisheries patrol vessel as a part of the of the planned expansion Canadian territorial seawaters from 3 to 12 miles in July of 1964. Rather than being a converted vessel, the second Cygnus was purpose-built for costal fisheries patrols. The second Cygnus was retired sometime in the early 1980s but not before its basic design was used as the basis for a new series of Department of Fisheries patrol vessels which included the Cape Freels, the Chebucto, the Tanu, the Cape Roger and the third Cygnus. The later vessels were used to enforce Canada’s larger territorial water claims as well as the larger 200 mile economic zone established in 1977. The third Cygnus was one of the ships involved in watching the Spanish fishing fleet during the 1994 Estai incident which itself was a larger part of the ongoing dispute over over-fishing on the Grand Banks. [Ref. 1]

Function

Used to plan and organise the metal plates required to form the vessel’s outer shell.

Technical

Unknown

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

"M.V. "CYGNUS" " inscribed on metal plate fixed to back board.

Missing

One metal bracket for suspending model is missing.

Finish

Cream-colour wood model bears lead pencil markings; model mounted on wooden board painted black

Decoration

N/A