Niels Windekilde Jannasch OC (July 5, 1924 – November 9, 2001) was a German-Canadian mariner, marine historian and the founding director of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. He was born on July 5, 1924 in Holzminden, Germany. Jannasch served with coastal forces in the German navy in the Second World War. After the war he sailed in merchant ships under Finnish and German flags, most notably the four-masted barque Passat during the last grain race. On this, her last commercial voyage, he served as ship's carpenter. When she was refitted as a training ship he re-joined as bosun. He married Barbara Dierig in 1952 and the couple emigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Jannasch became the first director of the Maritime Museum of Canada in 1959 and oversaw its growth and many plans before it finall