November 2011 - Manitoba Museum

Posted on: Wednesday November 30, 2011

Part I

In the autumn of 1941 World War Two was raging across Europe, but the battles of the Pacific region were yet to come. Although considered of little strategic importance by Winston Churchill, the island of Hong Kong was considered defensible by some Canadian military leaders. On October 20, 1941 the decision was made to send just over 2,000 Canadian soldiers to help defend Hong Kong from possible Japanese aggression. On December 8 the Japanese attacked…

Close up on the hilt and handle of an old Japanese-style military sword.

In defence of the island, the Canadians fought the battle-hardened, well-trained soldiers of the Japanese forces. One artefact of this battle is a Japanese military sword now at The Manitoba Museum. On December 20^th, Lieutenant Leonard B. Corrigan was in action with a small fighting patrol of the Winnipeg Grenadiers when they encountered an enemy patrol and engaged in hand-to-hand combat. According to his citation for the award of a Mention-in-Despatches, Corrigan killed two Japanese soldiers and was attacked by a Japanese officer with the sword. He caught the sword with his left hand (suffering a severe injury) and killed the officer with a flare gun. Despite their victory over the enemy patrol, the Canadians were taken prisoner days later and spent the rest of the war in captivity. Their Prisoner of War experience is told at The Manitoba Museum in the Parklands/Mixed Woods Gallery.

Image: Japanese Military Sword (detail of handle) H9-36-184. Unless otherwise noted, the Manitoba Museum holds copyright to the material on this site.

Part Two of this blog will showcase an artefact from their POW experience, when food was in short supply and the days were long.

For more information on the Battle for Hong Kong, visit http://www.hkvca.ca, or for more on the experience of Canadians in the Pacific during the Second World War, visit the exhibit (which will feature some of our artifacts) in Calgary – http://themilitarymuseums.ca/whats-new

Dr. Roland Sawatzky

Curator of History

Roland Sawatzky joined The Manitoba Museum in 2011. He received his B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Winnipeg, M.A. in Anthropology from the University of South Carolina, and Ph.D. in Archaeology…

Meet Dr. Roland Sawatzky

Museum Stories: History

History

Friday February 14, 2025

Posted on: Tuesday November 1, 2011

Look up, way up… at the dust on the Nonsuch’s rigging and spars. Museum staff have not been able to climb the ship rigging since Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health regulations were amended several years ago. In order to address the stricter requirements, steel safety cables were installed in the Nonsuch Gallery two years ago. However, they turned out to be less usable than we hoped.

As part of a Conservation Assessment, the Nonsuch was examined by a team including conservation consultants and a ship rigger. One of the recommendations from the assessment was to switch to rope safety lines, for reasons relating to ease of use during climbing. Another recommendation was to add more safety lines, at different spots on the gallery ceiling.

A view of one of the original steel safety lines.

Dropping a plumbline from temporary platform at ceiling.

The new locations were confirmed, the anchors installed and new synthetic rope safety lines attached. The last task remaining is to do a Risk Assessment and Job Hazard Analysis. After that, we’ll be able to once again climb in the rigging, to do some much-needed cleaning of the lines and sails. Because it’s been several years, we need to plan how best to attack the dust.

From a distance, the safety lines blend in fairly well.

Close up, they do stand out. I think we’ll move this one somewhere less visible.

The Nonsuch is an unusual thing: a full-sized ship replica, with working rigging, in an indoor setting. There are few other museum ships like it. Although it is an artifact, it is important to keep the rigging at least in working order. Similar to some artifacts in science museums, keeping moving parts static will contribute to their deterioration – ropes will get stiff and develop kinks, making their movement harder and harder, and affecting other parts such as the blocks the lines run through. Keeping the Nonsuch “shipshape” requires regular cleaning and maintenance; soon, one part of that work will be resumed.