Nonsuch visits will be a no-go at Manitoba Museum for several months

One of the Manitoba Museum'smost popular exhibits is going to be off limits for several months.

The Nonsuch gallery will be closed down forrenewal starting Jan.8and won't be reopened untilsummer 2018. So visitors are encouraged to take a last look at the replica of the ship thatsailed intoHudson Bayin thefirst trading voyage for what would two years later become theHudson's Bay Company.

"TheNonsuchship is a beloved icon of the museum. We sometimes call her a jeweland as such, we would never fundamentally change the artifact itself," said ClaudetteLeclerc, executive director and CEO of the museum.

"However, the setting of this jewel needs to be enhanced and updated for today's audiences."

The Nonsuchreplica was built in England in 1968 to celebrate the 300thanniversary of the Hudson's Bay Company. The replica sailed14,000 kilometres of salt and fresh water before finding herhome at the Manitoba Museum, in the gallery which officially opened in 1974.

The gallery, which is the cornerstone for the museum's curriculum-based programs on the fur trade,replicates a stone quayat low tide in 1668, the year the original Nonsuch began her journey to Hudson Bay. The ship rests on a hard gravel sand bed so that herhull is visible, while the quay is fronted by a warehouse and workshops.

The renewal of the gallery will see minimal impacts on the ship, with the exception of re-rigging her for historical accuracyand longevity, according to a news release from the museum.

"One of the biggest changes that will take place in the gallery relates to flipping our current narrative," said Amelia Fay, curator of the HBC Museum Collection, which is housed at the Manitoba Museum.

The current storyline places theNonsuchin Deptford, England, awaiting the voyage that would eventually launch the Hudson's Bay Company.

"Instead of the ship departing from England, we are now situating the ship at the return of her voyage from Hudson Bay.The cargo hold would have been filled with furs from trading with the Cree of Hudson Bay," Fay said.

"Imagine all the tales the sailors would have from their winter spent at the mouth of the Rupert River [modern day Waskagnaish, Que.]. We are planning to share many exciting stories with our visitors."