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.

Officers, SS Stanley Park

David McMillan (centre) and officer cadets Bob Pethick (left) and Doug McPherson (right) pose on V-E Day in Saint John, New Brunswick.

All three are standing beside the ship's 4-inch gun, and Pethick is holding the ship's cat, Stan. While McMillan wears a service dress uniform, including a double-breasted jacket, the two cadets wear dark blue battledress uniforms like those issued to the Royal Canadian Navy.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19860141-035