Man-made disaster strikes museum.
Vandals smash ship windows

Several boats on display at the Marine Museum of Manitoba in Selkirk were damaged by vandals recently. (JASON HALSTEAD/SUN MEDIA) An historic museum has been shipwrecked -- again. Rampaging hooligans smashed the windows of several antique ships at the Marine Museum of Manitoba in Selkirk on Wednesday night.

"I'm devastated," said Museum manager Shaylene Nordal. "They destroyed about 20 windows and a navigational light. I've never seen vandalism this bad."

The biggest casualty was the museum's oldest and most distinguished ship, the centrepiece S.S. Keenora steamboat, built in 1897 and used to ferry passengers on Lake Winnipeg.

"It looks like they carried on their destruction until they were caught on the Keenora by our trip-wires," she said. "At least that's good, considering she's so valuable."

Nordal said it was too early to realistically assess the financial damage caused by this late-night attack, but stressed many of these artifacts are priceless.

"Take The Bradbury, for example," she said. "All of its windows are originals dating back to 1915. How can anyone put a true price on that?"

Last April, the same venue weathered another storm after Selkirk was hit unexpectedly by flash floods which lifted two ships off their foundations and brought in raw sewage.

"We were just up and running after the flood last year, before this happened," said Nordal. "There was up to six feet of water in some ships, and now this. It's heartbreaking."

After last year's damage had been restored by the museum's experts, they fully re-opened last Saturday, said Nordal.

But the team behind Manitoba's maritime dynasty are working feverishly to clean up the latest mess and aim to re-open to the public as early as Friday.

RCMP were called to the Eveline Road site around 10:20 p.m. Wednesday after sounds of an alarm and breaking glass were reported by local residents. Three individuals were seen fleeing the scene before police arrived, according to RCMP.