2023 - present
4TH OWNER: JUNE VICTORIA HARRISON
1996 -2023
3RD OWNERS: BRUCE AND SHEILA MACDONALD
With Fred Carpenter’s daughter, Dianne Goodliffe from Aurora College, Yellowknife.
A siege of herons in North Star’s rigging after one of their chicks died.
Un siège de hérons dans le gréement de North Star après la mort d’un de leurs oisillons.
Third owners, Bruce and (the late) Sheila Macdonald.
Maida varnishing.
Stretching out the new sails built by North Star’s co-owner Sheila Macdonald.
Déploiement de la voilure fabriquée par la co-propriétaire de North Star Sheila Macdonald.
Many weddings aboard have been held.
De nombreux marriages ont eu lieu à bord.
Isabel painting.
Classic Can-Con.
Merch models.
The capstan is used for loading cargo, careening, and a s a back-up anchor winch. It came off the rumrunning ship, Fitzhugh.
Tucked in at the Fort Street floats, Victoria, BC.
Main deck all squared away. The capstan is used for trimming sails, launching skiffs, careening the ship, and as a back-up anchor winch. It came off the old rum-running ship, Fitzhugh.
Le pont principal est bien organisé. Le cabestan est utilisé pour réduire la voilure, mettre à l’eau les annexes, caréner le navire et servir de treuil pour l’ancre de secours. Il provient de l’ancien navire de contrebande de rhume, Fitzhugh.
Anchored in Northern B.C.
A l’ancre au nord de la Colombie Britannique.
School visit aboard North Star of Herschel Island.
Maida painting the hull during haul-out.
Maida on the front page of the Port Townsend newspaper.
Locking up into Lake Union for a Seattle visit to the Centre for wooden Boats.
Victoria BC postcard.
Abby on the job-boom
Finishing Fred the figurhead.
Layout for star on the ship’s transom.
News Of The North article in 1973.
Birthday party in the main salon.
Square dance - announcement of sale of ship to Sheila and Bruce Macdonald in Pacific Yachting magazine.
Twinkle built by Macdonald family as a tender to North Star.
Ship’s postcards
False Creek, Vancouver.
two our=t of three people repaitingg sails.
Navy League of the United Statescertificate.
Students from Aurora College, Yellowknife visiting the ship. Fred and Agnes’ daughter, Diane is holding the kisby ring.
even at the helm.
The main salon which was once the cargo hold now houses a huge (and messy) library.
Le salon principal, qui était autrefois la cale à cargaison, abrite maintenant une énorme (et désordonnée) bibliothèque.
With Sven Johansson, the second owner.
For many, many years North Star of Herschel Island wintered in Victoria, B.C. Here she is in front of the Empress Hotel.
Pendant de nombreuses années, North Star of Herschel Island a passé l’hiver à Victoria, en Colombie-Britannique. La voici devant l’hôtel Empress.
North Star abeam SV Thane at Empress floats, Victoria, BC.
North Star à couple de SV Thane sur le ponton de l’Empress, Victoria, BC.
Out for a regular row in the ship’s tender.
North Starriding on a stern hook with bow cables run ashore in Victoria Harbour, 1995.
Swimming of the ship.
With Will Millar of the Irish Rovers.
North Star in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Isabel & Maida Macdonald playing bull kelp trumpets on the dock.
Original artwork from the book ‘Grandpa is a sailor’, written and illustrated by Maida Macdonald.
Dessins originaux du livre ‘Grand père est un marin’ écrit et illustré par Maida Macdonald.
At anchor in the Gulf Islands.
A l’encre dans les Gulf Islands.
Isabel scraping the deck.
Article in Victoria’s Times - Colonist newspaper.
Local artist Bill Rhone’s exhibition featuring North Star.
Mermaids!
Ship’s information board.
Sheila building her second complete suit of sails for the ship.
With my sister, Janet Macdonald Hannam in ThunderBay Ontario newspaper.
Letter from author Farley Mowat.
Letter from Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper.
First Nations petroglyphs ashore.
Maida learning celestial navigation.
3 generations of North Star owners - Sven Johanssen, Lyle and Margaret Hawkins (nee Carpenter) and myself.
Sailing with replica of Columbus’ Nina.
Souvenir guide from a festival we participated in.
First Nations members paddle alongside for gift exchange in Puget Sound.
Rigging inspection before sailing.
Maida and Isabel Macdonald at the Vancouver Wooden Boat show.
Official guide book to tall ships info.
With Agnes Carpenter at Inuvik, NT.
Fred Carpenter’s daughter, Margaret Hawkins steering her father’s ship in southern BC waters.
Bruce’s mother climbs the ships rigging in her eighties.
Maida sewing sails in the salon.
Giving Emmett a warm bath in the main salon.
Applying a spring maintenance coat of varnish to the ship’s transom.
Fred the figurehead in her element.
At the Vancouver Maritime Museum’s Heritage Harbour.
Tacoma WA headline. North Star was the Official Canadian Ambassador at this event.
Careening the ship at Discovery Island todo hull maintenance.
Looking down into galley from deckhouse.
Abbey hanging out on the signal flag bunting.
Maida being interviewed by local television at Victoria Harbour.
Carving the ship’s name into transom.
Great Bear Rainforest.
Souvenir greeting card from Commonwealth Games.
NW Passage Hall of Fame award 2018, Vancouver Maritime Museum.
Promotional poster for hotel whose marina we often wintered in.
Artist Julia Kucherenko with her fabulous portrait of the ship.
North Star’s arrival at the Vancouver Maritime Museum.
Fred the figurehead.
Knot tying workshop.
Taking part in an anti-whaling demonstration.
Boat of the Week at Ganges Harbour, Saltsping Island, BC.
Stella the Seadog ready for heavy weather.
Main deck.
Victoria Classic Boat Festival.
Victoria news article.
1967 - 1996
2ND OWNER: SVEN JOHANSSON
Slave River Journal article 1992.
Sven aboard North Star in 1977, McKenzie Delta.
Scientists and environmental researchers on deck while sailing out of Inuvik for Herschel Island.
The capstan is used for loading cargo, careening, and a s a back-up anchor winch. It came off the rumrunning ship, Fitzhugh.
Main deck all squared away. The capstan is used for trimming sails, launching skiffs, careening the ship, and as a back-up anchor winch. It came off the old rum-running ship, Fitzhugh.
Le pont principal est bien organisé. Le cabestan est utilisé pour réduire la voilure, mettre à l’eau les annexes, caréner le navire et servir de treuil pour l’ancre de secours. Il provient de l’ancien navire de contrebande de rhume, Fitzhugh.
Article in Vancouver paper after Johanssons’ arrival in B.C.
News Of The North article in 1973.
Article about school program aboard North Star.
Sven at the helm.
Off Inuvik.
Silva Johansson and North Star on the ice the year they left the Arctic.
The Johanssons upon their arrival in Victoria, BC after a two year voyage from the Arctic.
The copper bottom being attached to the hull.
North Starriding on a stern hook with bow cables run ashore in Victoria Harbour, 1995.
North Star in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Last launch of North Star at Sachs Harbour. this time they used a bulldozer to push her in.
Teddy Pedersen Jr giving Sven Henry Larsen’s ditty bag that North Star transported to the Vancouver Maritime Museum.
Sven and Silva Johansson with freshly coppered bottom.
Banks Island article.
Sven surveying North Star before purchasing her at Sachs Harbour.
Scientists working abord North Star in the Beaufort Sea.
Taking part in an anti-whaling demonstration.
Copper bottoming piece.
1935 - 1967
1ST OWNER: FRED WOLKI & FRED CARPENTER
First owner Fred Carpenter aboard North Star at Aklavik.
North Star being loaded with her winter supplies before voyaging back to Banks Island, 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
North Star est chargée de ses fournitures d’hiver avant de retourner à l’île Banks, à 500 milles au nord du cercle arctique.
An Inuit family waiting to sail aboard North Star.
Family members pose at Sachs Harbour with Fox and North Star hauled on the ice behind them.
At Aklavik, 1950’s.
This orphaned polar bear cub was transported to the mainland and sent to a zoo in Edmonton.
Fritz Wolki’s children, Jim and Lucy.
North Star as deck cargo aboard S.V. Patterson entering the Canadian Arctic for the first time in 1935.
North Star pendant sa livraison à bord de S.V Patterson en train d’entrer dans l’Arctique Canadien pour la première fois en 1935.
Typical scene on North Star’s deck. Fred Carpenter’s wife, Ada Gruben is sporting her Mother Hubbard by the shrouds.
North Star hauled ashore for the winter in the high Arctic.
North Star en cale sèche pour l’hiver dans l’Extrême-Arctique.
Last launch of North Star at Sachs Harbour. this time they used a bulldozer to push her in.
Dogsled lashed to deckhouse roof.
Loading winter supplies. the deck would be so full that Fred Carpenter would steer from atop the pilothouse.
Arrival at Herschel Island 1935.
Fred Carpenter in his trading post at Sachs Harbour (from National Geographic magazine.)
Off Inuvik.
Heading out into Beaufort Sea.
Along the MacKenzie River.
Polar bear pelt drying on main boom.
Fred Carpenter profile.
LOG of M.S Patterson, on which North Star was brought to Herschel Island in 1935.
Journal de Bord de M.S Patterson, sur lequel North Star a été amené à Herschel Island en 1935.
Ready to cross the Beaufort Sea.
North Star hauled out for winter at Sachs Harbour, Banks Island.
Original Inuvialuit family aboard North Star in Beaufort Sea. Fred Carpenter’s second wife, Ada Gruben with child on her knee.
Polar Bear pelts bleaching in North Star’s rigging.
Fred Carpenter’s tombstone at Sachs Harbour with North Star engraved on it.
A regular of white fox soon to be loaded aboard North Star. The Inuvialuit were very hard workers with great business sense and made fortunes that way.
North Star and smaller Inuvialuit sail cargo ship at anchor on the McKenzie River. Note that North Star is flying the red ensign.
From National Geographic magazine. North Star visible by shore.
Loading winter supplies at aklavik.
A young Carpenter runs alongside a $10,000 clothes lines of white fox pelts.
Loading sled dogs.
North Star in the Arctic. Photo taken from an article in The Beaver magazine.
North Star dans l’Arctique. Photo tirée d’un article du magazine The Beaver.
North Star carried up to 50 sled dogs and one wolf that was kept for breeding to make their dogs stronger and more resilient to the Arctic cold.
North Star a transporté jusqu’à 50 chiens de traîneau et un loup qui était gardé pour la reproduction afin de rendre leurs chiens plus forts et plus résistants au froid arctique.
North Star and other Inuvialuit owned sail cargo vessels at Aklavik, NT.
Inuvialuit ‘schooners’ rafted together. North Star is second one in.
North Star’s crowded for the Beaufort Sea crossing.
Agnes & Fred Carpenter & child, Sachs Harbour.
The ship would be so laden with furs or cargo that Fred rigged up a helm atop the pilothouse.
Susie Sidney using a wringer washer on North Star’s deck.
Waiting for open water to sail across the Beaufort Sea to the mainland.
Typical scene aboard North Star during Arctic crossings. Note that the women are wearing ‘Mother Hubbard.’
Scène typique à bord de North Star pendant les traversées de l’Arctique. Notez que les femmes portent « Mother Hubbard ».
Using an ulu to carefully flense pelt.
Some good people from Sachs Harbour, Banks Island. Fred Carpenter is in the white anorak.
Un groupe de bonnes personnes de Sachs Harbour, sur l’île Banks. Fred Carpenter est dans l’anorak blanc.
Susie Sidney and daughter.
White fox pelts bleaching in the sun at Sachs Harbour.
Note polar bear pelt bleaching aboard North Star.
Mabel Stephenson & Shirley
John Carpenter, Mary Carpenter Margaret Seymour.
As deck cargo aboard Patterson, 1935.
Copper bottoming piece.