Date & Time: Thursday, March 5, 2026, doors open 6:30 pm, talk starts 7 pm
Location: Yukon Visitor Information Centre (100 Hanson Street, Whitehorse)
Join the Yukon Historical & Museums Association (YHMA) and historian Helene Dobrowolsky for a fascinating, free talk (with photos!) on Captain Patrick Martin, namesake of the Captain Martin House in downtown Whitehorse’s Lepage Park.
This building, which YHMA manages, is a designated Municipal Historic Site. Come out, enjoy the talk, and help us preserve the home of this legendary Yukoner by bidding on a selection of silent auction items. Donations will also be accepted. All are welcome!
About the Talk
Patrick Martin was one of the pioneer merchants of Whitehorse. For nearly 30 years he outfitted wood camps, roadhouses, First Nations people, and Whitehorse citizens with clothing, gear, and groceries from his store, the Arctic Trading Company.
Long before becoming a Yukoner, however, Martin was a master mariner sailing the world’s major oceans. He left his Newfoundland outport home to go sealing on the spring pack ice, whaling near Greenland, and freighting cod to the West Indies, South America, and the Mediterranean. After rounding Cape Horn to deliver a schooner to Victoria, he hunted fur seals in the seas off Japan and Russia. Martin was on the spot when the first prospectors emerged from the Klondike and caught gold fever. Then he too was off to the Yukon. His last great maritime adventure was an epic 4000-mile trip steering the sternwheeler Canadian from Victoria, up the west coast, through the Aleutian Island then up the Yukon River to White Horse Landing.
Known as a colourful storyteller, Martin penned his memoirs in the early 1930s. Helene will be sharing stories and images from Captain Martin’s remarkable life. She will be joined by Tip Evans who will be reading excerpts from Martin’s writings. Learn about the man behind the Captain Martin house and the remains of the sternwheeler Canadian by the South Access road.