The Second World War
The Merchant Navy  - The Merchant Navy

Between 1939 and 1945, Canadian and Allied merchant ships and their crews transported personnel, munitions, weapons, and food across the world's oceans as part of the Allied war effort. Enemy action sank some 70 Canadian and Newfoundland merchant vessels. Over 1,600 Canadians and Newfoundlanders, including eight women, were killed.

Holman Projector Canister and Grenade

This canister and hand grenade were ammunition for a Holman Projector, a stop-gap anti-aircraft weapon fitted to many merchant ships.

The tube-like Holman Projector fired hand grenades in containers like these into the air using steam from the ship's boilers. The two-part metal canister held a standard hand grenade (right) and kept the lever that armed it from moving until air resistance pulled the canister away after it was fired from the projector. Exploding a few seconds later, the grenade produced a cloud of fragments and a puff of smoke. While the Holman Projector posed little actual threat to aircraft, the grenades' visible explosions may have helped deter enemy pilots.

Canister, Mk II N
CWM 20070067-547
Grenade, 36M
CWM 19740189-005