Patricia Lake (Alberta)
Encyclopedia
Patricia Lake is a lake
in Jasper National Park
, Alberta
, Canada
, near the town of Jasper
.
Pyramid Lake is connected by hiking trails to the town of Jasper, and other tourist sites such as Pyramid Lake
and Pyramid Mountain
.
with Project Habbakuk, a plan to build an unsinkable aircraft carrier
from an ice-based composite material termed "Pykrete
".
Initial studies of natural lake ice had been carried out at Lake Louise
. In January 1943, Patricia Lake was chosen as the test site for building a prototype vessel. The planned vessel was to be 2000 feet (609.6 m) long and the prototype was to be a 1:10 scale model of this. In actual fact, the beam
was to approximately this scale, but the length was only 60 feet, about a third of scale.
Patricia Lake was chosen for this work on account of having rail connections at Jasper and being a suitably cold, remote area that already had military training involvement in the area as camouflage. There were also Mennonite
and Doukhobor
communities nearby, religious conscientous objectors, who could provide the labour needed.
Pykrete construction material for the full sized ship was to be a composite of ice and sawdust, maintained by refrigeration. The first experiments had used natural lake ice, in a Canadian winter. The model ship was to use plain ice, but partly natural and partly refrigerated. Construction proceeded through March 1943 by building a wooden cabin on the frozen lake, installing refrigeration equipment and a nest of 6 inch cold air ducts, and then increasing the height of the ice wall around the cabin. As weight increased, the bottom of the "hull" was sawn free from the lake ice and the model floated free. In June the refrigeration was switched off, but the model took the whole summer before melting and sinking.
A diving expedition to the site in 1985, found the remains of the model on a steep slope just off-shore, at a depth between 26 and 43 metres. Although the refrigeration equipment was removed before sinking, there remain the wooden walls of the hull, an "incredible jumble" of cold air ductwork and also a great quantity of the bitumen used as part of the insulation.
As of June 26, 2011 there is only the west wall of the structure still intact, the rest has fallen to pieces and is strewn from 40 feet to 90 feet in depth. There is a plaque placed underwater a the site noting it's part in World War 2 history.
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
in Jasper National Park
Jasper National Park
Jasper National Park is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, spanning 10,878 km² . It is located in the province of Alberta, north of Banff National Park and west of the City of Edmonton. The park includes the glaciers of the Columbia Icefield, hot springs, lakes, waterfalls and...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, near the town of Jasper
Jasper, Alberta
Jasper is a specialized municipality in western Alberta, Canada. It is the commercial centre of Jasper National Park, located in the Canadian Rockies in the Athabasca River valley....
.
Pyramid Lake is connected by hiking trails to the town of Jasper, and other tourist sites such as Pyramid Lake
Pyramid Lake (Alberta)
Pyramid Lake is kidney-shaped lake in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. It lies at the foot of Pyramid Mountain, a natural landmark that overlooks the town of Jasper....
and Pyramid Mountain
Pyramid Mountain (Alberta)
Pyramid Mountain is a mountain in Jasper National Park, Alberta, named for its pyramid-like shape. James Hector named the mountain in 1859 due to its appearance from the Athabasca River valley on the eastern side of the peak....
.
Project Habbakuk
Patricia Lake is notable for its involvement during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
with Project Habbakuk, a plan to build an unsinkable aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
from an ice-based composite material termed "Pykrete
Pykrete
Pykrete is a composite material made of approximately 14 percent sawdust or some other form of wood pulp and 86 percent ice by weight. Its use was proposed during World War II by Geoffrey Pyke to the British Royal Navy as a candidate material for making a huge, unsinkable aircraft carrier...
".
Initial studies of natural lake ice had been carried out at Lake Louise
Lake Louise (Alberta)
Lake Louise is a lake in Alberta, Canada. The glacial lake is located in Banff National Park, from the hamlet of Lake Louise and the Trans-Canada Highway....
. In January 1943, Patricia Lake was chosen as the test site for building a prototype vessel. The planned vessel was to be 2000 feet (609.6 m) long and the prototype was to be a 1:10 scale model of this. In actual fact, the beam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
was to approximately this scale, but the length was only 60 feet, about a third of scale.
Patricia Lake was chosen for this work on account of having rail connections at Jasper and being a suitably cold, remote area that already had military training involvement in the area as camouflage. There were also Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
and Doukhobor
Doukhobor
The Doukhobors or Dukhobors , earlierDukhobortsy are a group of Russian origin.The Doukhobors were one of the sects - later defined as a religious philosophy, ethnic group, social movement, or simply a "way of life" - known generically as Spiritual Christianity. The origin of the Doukhobors is...
communities nearby, religious conscientous objectors, who could provide the labour needed.
Pykrete construction material for the full sized ship was to be a composite of ice and sawdust, maintained by refrigeration. The first experiments had used natural lake ice, in a Canadian winter. The model ship was to use plain ice, but partly natural and partly refrigerated. Construction proceeded through March 1943 by building a wooden cabin on the frozen lake, installing refrigeration equipment and a nest of 6 inch cold air ducts, and then increasing the height of the ice wall around the cabin. As weight increased, the bottom of the "hull" was sawn free from the lake ice and the model floated free. In June the refrigeration was switched off, but the model took the whole summer before melting and sinking.
A diving expedition to the site in 1985, found the remains of the model on a steep slope just off-shore, at a depth between 26 and 43 metres. Although the refrigeration equipment was removed before sinking, there remain the wooden walls of the hull, an "incredible jumble" of cold air ductwork and also a great quantity of the bitumen used as part of the insulation.
As of June 26, 2011 there is only the west wall of the structure still intact, the rest has fallen to pieces and is strewn from 40 feet to 90 feet in depth. There is a plaque placed underwater a the site noting it's part in World War 2 history.