Marie Clarisse
100th Anniversary
The exhibition celebrates the centenary of the iconic schooner Marie Clarisse, built in 1923, and revisits the milestones in her history through the moving testimony of her last captain, Gérard Belley.
Did you know?
The Marie Clarisse
is one of the oldest
wooden schooners.
Declared a heritage property in 1978 by the Quebec government, this 40-metre-long sailing ship, designed for deep-sea fishing, was built by James H. Harding in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Initially christened Archie F. Mackenzie, she was used from 1942 onward to transport goods (“coastal trade”) between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, before sailing into the waters of the St. Lawrence River in 1974. She sank in the port of Québec in 1976.
After seven months underwater, she was brought back up and taken for restoration to the Isle- aux-Coudres shipyard in Charlevoix in 1977. Renamed Marie Clarisse, she was then used for a variety of purposes, including as a cruise ship on the Saguenay Fjord and as a training ship to encourage young people to stay in school. She has rested in dry dock at the Museum since 2015.
See Marie Clarisse
with your own eyes !
After weathering storms and calm seas alike, the century-old Marie Clarisse stands on keel blocks in the shipyard, ready to tell her story.
