Hull 32V for Victory

Watercolour painting depicting the building of a wooden ship to support the Canadian war effort at Toronto Shipbuilding Co. Men appear to be working on the ship in the right corner and a large crane is visible in the upper right. At the bottom centre of the image appears a figure dressed in official clothing. The Toronto Shipbuilding Company was purchased by the Canadian government in 1941 and became a crown corporation. The company was purchased from Italian Canadian entrepreneur James Franceschini who had established the Dufferin Shipbuilding Company in 1940 and had been building minesweepers for the Royal Canadian Navy. Franceschini was interned as an enemy alien in June of 1940 and all his assets were seized by the government. The Shipbuilding Branch of the new Department of Munitions and Supply ran the business for over a year and continued to hold the company after his release. The govenment would eventually purchase the company from Franceschini and changed its name from Dufferin Shipbuilding Company to Toronto Shipbuilding Company.