· .,...-- ". ;?-~-,~~-

--:----

""-_-10::"

-

Vol, 6 N,o, 7

~CROWSNESTTHE ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY'S MAGAZINE MAY, 1954

TWO SI-IIPS' COMPANIES

CONTENTS

RCN News Review .

The On.tario1s Cruise

The Sports Record ,., "'" I II •• """.

The Atlantic COlnman.d1s Nursin,g Service

Officers and Men ,' " .. , ,.""."",., .

Tag with the Enemy " ..

Ship's Supply. Problem .. , ~ : , , .

Afloat and Ashore , , , , .

Weddings and Births " ..

The Call of Duty

Benevolent Fund An.nual Meeting .

The Navy Gets a Green , ..

The Navy Plays · .

Lower Deck Promotions

Page

2

5

7

8

11

13

16

17

18

20

21

23

24

27

On the inside covers of this issue of "TheCrowsnest" are shown the officers and menof two ships with notable records of servicein the Korean war. Until the ship's 'Com..pany is assenlbled in this manner, it is oftendifficult to realize the size of the tean) re..quired to operate the machinery, annamentand services of a relatively small ship, suchas a destroyer.

The Iroquois, pictured on the oppositepage, fought some of her most stirring bat..tIes ten years ago in the English Channeland Bay of Biscay. She carried her tradi-tion of a hard-hitting ship into the Koreanwar and has served two tours of duty there.She returned from the second early this yearand is now preparing to go to the Far Eastfor a third time. The picture was taken inHong Kong.

The Crusader (inside back cover), com-pleted too late to take part in the SecondWorld War, won all her laurels in the Ko-rean war-and handsome laurels they were.She achieved the distinction of 'being theleading "train buster" in the entire UnitedNations fleet. On her present tour she hassettled down to the more prosaic task ofpatrolling Korean waters and joining in ex-ercises designed to keep the warships thereat peak efficiency.

Negative numbers of RCN photographsreproduced in The Crowsnest are includedwith the caption for the benefit of personswishing to obtain prints of the photos.

This they may do by sending an order tothe Naval 'Secretary, Naval Headquarters,ottawa, attention Photographic Section, quot-ing the negative number of the photograph,giving the size and finish required, and en..closing a money order for the full amount,payable to the Receiver General of Canada.

Sizes, finish and the new National Defencestandardized prices, follow:4 x 5 (or smaller) glossy finish only .. $ .106% x 8% glossy finish only ,........ .408 x 10 'glossy or matte finish .50

11 x 14 matte finish only 1.0016 x 20 •.•.•••• , . . . . .. 3.0020 x 24 . . ..•. . .. . .. 4.0030 x 40 , . . .. 8.00

Cover Photo - Time heals all things, even the hatred anddestruction of war. Framed by palms and floating on a peacefulsea, HMCS Haida seems remote from the terrors and ravages ofbattle. Her anchorage is, in fact, Pearl Harbour where a sneak .attack more than a dozen years ago plunged half a world into

war. (HA-617)

SUBSCRIPTION RATE nThe Crowsnest may be sub.

scribed for at the rate of $1 for12 issues.

Persons desirous of receivingtheir own private copies by mailshould send their orders, accom- ,ponied by cheque or money or-der made out to the ReceiverG~neral of Canada, to:-

THE QUEEN'S PRINTER,75 St. Patrick S'treet,

Ottawa, Onto

Page one

.....

Beachcombers from the Ontario on the white coral sands of Tonga. (OT·1620)

---_._._._.._.__ ._._._~

A tender eucalyptus leaf holds the interest of a koala, prototype of the teddy bear, in TarongaPark Zoo at Sydney, Australia. The koala's Canadian friend is PO Donald Trim, of Galt, Ont., andVictoria. (OT·1585)

West Indies GoalOf Training Trips

Canadian sailors swarmed in Ber-mudian and West Indies ports duringApril' as training cruises in southernwaters allowed for brief visits ashore.

HMCS Quebec returned to Halifax thelatter part of April after a shake-downcruise which took her to Tortola in theBritish West Indies and GuantanamoBay, Cuba. On her way home shecalled at Baltimore, Maryland, for asix-day visit. Then after a week in

Halifax the Quebec sailed April 30 ona five-week spring training cruise inEuropean waters.

The First Canadian Escort Squadronspent the month in the deep south, withthe Algonquin, Lauzon and P1'es,tonianvisiting Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands;Kingstown, St. Vincent; Bridgetown,Barbados; Bequia, Grenadines, and Wil-lemstad, Curacao, in the West Indies,and St. Georges, Bermuda. The Torontorejoined the squadron the latter partof April after exercising' earlier in themonth with the United States submarine

Cobbler and the Royal Navy submarineTallY-Ho. The squadron was scheduledto return to Halifax May 9 for a leaveand maintenance period.

The destroyer Micmac visited Prov-idence, R.I., early in April and the lat-ter part of the month was on a trainingcruise which included calls to Norfolk,Nassau and San Juan, returning to Hali-fax May 17.

Naval Avenger aircraft of 8BO Squad-ron were based at Kindley Field inBermuda, 'carrying out anti-submarineexercises, while Avengers of 881 Squad-ron spent most of the month at PatriciaBay exercising with West Coast ships.The former squadron was scheduled toreturn to Summerside, P.E.I. May 8,while the latter squadron returned toHMCS Shearwater for a leave periodcommencing May 1.

Navy Scores AgainIn Public Speaking

What with their monopolies on NewYear babies and the hamburger-eatingchampionship, nobody was surprisedwhen the West Coast navy beat outVictorians for the second year In arow In the Golden Gavel public speak-ing competition at city h,lll there onApril 7.

Winner this year of the gavel andits miniature was Sub-Lt. (S) K. RossMurray, of Toronto, attending the sup-ply officer technical course at HMCSNaden.

CPO Frank Moxam, also from Naden,and last year's winner, made thepresentation after Sub-Lt. Murray bet-tered seven other speakers in thefinals before a packed council chamber.

Shortly before he resigned as Min-ister of National Defence for Naval Ser-vices, in April 1945, the late Angus L.Macdonald paid tribu,te to the officersand men who se?'ved in ships of tIleRoyal Canadian Navy during the Sec-ond World War, The words that fol-low are the closing sentences of 11isvaledictory address in the House OfCommons only a few days before thesurrende7' of the German forces inEurope and on the high seas:

Our men have foughton every sea in the world.They have brought honour andglory to this land.They have been actors in agreat drama which now seemsto be drawing steadily,inexorably to its close.

Soon they will come back-those who are left-back over the great oceanswhere their laurels and honourshave been gathered.

They will come back to knit upthe raveIJed skein of their lives,an'd some of them will dwellfar from that elementwhich was once their homeand their battleground.

Yet I venture to saythat so long as memory laststhe recolJection of these greatdays will be with them,and along with the consciousnessof duty donethey will carryin their hearts foreverthe image of a gallant shipand the speIJ of the great sea.

At Portsmouth, HMCS Magnificentwas well into her electronic refit, whileat Halifax the destroyers Huron andIroquois were refitting for another Ko-rean .stint. The Algerine coastal escortsWaflaceburg and Portage finished offannual refits the first week in May andwere undergoing trials and workups.

On the West Coast the cruiser On-tario returned to her home port in mid-April after a three-month Australasiancruise. On the last leg of her home-ward voyage she was met by the de-stroyer Sioux and the two ships carriedout air-sea exercises with Avenger air-craft from Patricia Bay.

Two recently converted frigates, theNew Glasgow and Stettler, arrived atEsquimalt where they are now basedand for operational purpo;:;es formeda task unit the latter part of themonth with the commander in theNew Glasgow.

In the Korean theatre the destroyersHaida, Crusader and Cayuga continued

.their routine vigil under United Nationscommand.

Former NavyMinister Dies

The man under whose guidance theRoyal Canadian Navy grew to a forceof 400 ships and 90,000 men in theSecond World War, Premier Angus L.Macdonald, head of Nova Scotia's gov-ernment for many years, died in Hali-fax on April 13. He was 64 years ofage.

As Minister of National Defence forNaval Services, Mr. Macdonald under-took in July 1940 the task of servingas political and administrative head ofthe rapidly-growing navy - a burdenwhich he only laid down when it be-came obvious in April 1945 that Ger-many was defeated.

He was born of poor parents in Dun-vegan, Inverness County, Cape BretonIsland, and, after his early schooling,went on to a distinguished academiccareer at St. Francis Xavier University,Antigonish, where he took a degree andremained on the teaching staff.

During the First World War he servedwith the 185th Battalion, Cape BretonHighlanders, as a- lieutenant. Just be-fore the armistice he was' promoted tocaptain and was wounded by a riflebullet.

After he had recovered from hiswound, he entered Dalhousie Univer-sity, where he graduated in law in 1921and later lectured. Special studies atColumbia University and Harvard LawSchool won him the Harvard degree ofdoctor of science in jurisprudence in1929.

"In Their Hearts Forever ".

The next year Mr. Macdonald becameassistant dean of the faculty of the Dal-housie Law School. He was draftedas leader of the Nova Scotia LiberalParty in 1931 and two years later, atthe age of 43, he became premier ofhis province, a position he held untilhis death except for his period of ser-vice at Ottawa.

Mr. Macdonald was an ardent sup-porter of Scottish tradition. He spokethe Gflelic tongue and last Novemberpresided over the National Scottish Modin Scotland.

Naval aviation and the great trainingestablishment at Cornwallis are twomemorials of his service to the RoyalCanadian Navy during the Second WorldWar.

Typical of his interest in knowing.everything about conditions in the Navywere several cruises on board corvetteson operational duty in the North At-lantic.

He leaves his wife, three daughtersand fl son.

On the day of his funeral, EasterMonday, colours were lowered to half-mast in Nova Scotifl naval establish-ments and all RCN ships in NovaScotian waters. A tri-service guard andmflssed bands marched in the funeralprocession from Province House to St.Mary's Basilica. Vice-Admiral E. R.Mainguy, Chief of the Naval Staff, wasamong the mourners.

Burial was in Gate of Heaven Ceme-tery at Lower Sackville, 14 miles fromHalifax. Soil from his home village ofDunvegfln was sprinkled over the coffinafter it was lowered into the grave.

Dominion CouncilOf NOAC to Meet

The Dominion Council of the NavalOfficers' Association of Canada will holdits ninth annual general meeting in Juneat HMCS Hunter, the Windsor navaldivision, under the auspices of theWindsor branch, NOAC, whose presi-dent is W. A. Wilkinson.

A meeting of the executive committeeof the council will be held on June 2to be followed by the Council meeting,June 3 and 4.

Highlight of the three-day meetingwill be the annual dinner which willafford an opportunity for a reunion ofall former naval officers in the district.It is expected that representatives ofbranches in Toronto, Hamilton, Londonand Kitchener-Waterloo will be in at-tendance.

Guest speaker at the dinner will beDefence Minister Brooke Claxton.

The president of the council, H. W.Balfour, Saskatoon, will be chairmanfor all meetings and the dinner.

Page three

:>

1 •".1 •1 •1 0loa9075

Captain D. 1. Raymond C.D.. R.C.N.

AUSTRALIAN CRUISE1954

i5 awarded thisfreelY within .Our 'Realm as Our IWa1 8ultiect

Given at Our COUl"t held onboard H. M.e. S.ONTARIO on t~ EQUATOR if), Lon.situde 170' 30Wthis 25 thd~ of January. 1954. '

1f/r~tf ~,~"::-

~1'/

HMCS ONTARIO

~be

By R.L.

A FTER PAYING a second visit tothe South Pacific and Australianwaters, HMCS Ontario completed onApril 15 one of the longest peacetimecruises ever undertaken by a Canadianwarship. Commonwealth relations havebeen considerably welded by the exten-sive cordiality, hospitality and mutualunderstanding of all countries visited.

The Ontario left Esquimalt on Janu-ary 12 under winter conditions, andheaded for warmer seas where the fly-ing fish, coral reefs, coconut palms, andequatorial sunshine became somethingmore than the pages of a South Seasnovel.

Shortly after sailing, HMCS Siouxjoined company to give support to themany training exercises which the On-·tario was able to carry out-navigationand direction, officer of the watch man-ceuvres, station keeping, radar and sur-face and anti-aircraft gunnery and re-fuelling at sea.

Rear-Admiral J. C. Hibbard, FlagOfficer Pacific Coast, was on board,proceeding to Honolulu for conferencewith the United States High Command.He appeared both pleased and gratifiedwith the result of the exercises carriedout.

Hawaiian girls, dressed in theircolourful costumes with grass skirts,"greeted the arrival of the ship in PearlHarbour. The port gave opportuni-ties for sightseeing and many sports,particularly swimming.

It was upon the next leg of the cruisethat the ship struck heavy weather, in-curring the loss of a whaler which wasseverely damaged by a large wave whichhit the port side.

The weather, however, could notdampen the enthusiasm Which the wholeship's company showed in the "Crossing

On the opposite page appears the certifi·cate designed and drawn by Cdr. H. W. S.Soulsby, RCN (Ret'd) for presentation to thosewho qualified as shellbacks in Crossing·the-Line ceremonies on board HMCS Ontario dur-ing her Australian cruise. Cdr.Soulsby, withhis active navy doys behind him, is an artistand woodcarver with a studio at 209 St.Lawrence Street in Victoria. He joined theRCN as a cadet in 1912 and retired on pensionabout 10 years ago. Readers of "The Crows·nest" will recall previous ellamples of his work,including Crossing-the.Line certificates and onecommemorating the 'cruise of ,the CanadianSpecial Service Squadron (HMC Ships Magnifi-cent, Micmac and Huron) to Europe in 1950. .

the Line" ceremonies. The heavy seashad subsided, and the atmosphere hadbecome hot and humid, which made thetradition of forcible submersion by KingNeptune's minions both a welcome anda merry occasion.

A cordial and friendly receptionawaited the ship at Suva in the FijiIslands. Many "new and strange tropi-cal fruits and flowers became centresof interest, as did the busy Suva marketsituated at the port entrance to thetown. Bushy-haired Fijians in the streetwere ever ready to give a smile of wel-come to men of the Ontario, and thesea baths were glpdly thrown open forthose who found the heat overpowering.

The Fijian police, although novicesat the game of softball, managed to givethe Ontario's team a few anxious mo-ments at one period of the game.

The ship's company sailed for Mel-bourne after three days, happy in theknowledge that they would be return-ing to Suva on the homeward run.

Melbourne, second city of Australia,was reached without incident. No time.was lost by the few mixed Canadian-Australian families, now resident inMelbourne, in asking Captain Raymond'spermission to have their offspring bap-tized on the Ontario's quarterdeck. Sev-enteen baptisms overtaxed the chaplain'ssupply of certificates, but the others wereforwarded later, It is, however, un-likely that the bulkheads of the cap-tain's quarters have ever before echoedto the shrieks and cries of so manyinfants, as when tea was served to a~lthe families after the" ceremony.

Among many motorbus and sightsee-ing trips arranged by the Melbournemunicipality was a visit to the opencoal-cut works at Yallourn, which liesnbout 90 miles due east of Melbourne.The coal face is claimed to be one ofthe largest of its kind in the world,and was one of the particular pointsof interest for Her Majesty the Queenduring her visit.

A day after leaving Melbourne, theOntario steamed into the beautiful,natural habour of Hobart, Tasmania,with' Mount Wellington rising majes-tically in the background. The city ofHobart rises sharply from the shoresof the mouth of the river Derwent, andreaches a considerable distance up theside of Mount Wellington. The entireship's company was faced with a busy

,...

King Neptune's barber (CPO Arthur Jones)lathers a "todpole" during Crossing.the-Lineceremonies. (OT-1475)

time training for both street-liningduties for the arrival of Her Majesty,and boat pulling and sailing events atthe sesquicentennial Hobart regatta.

Many Commonwealth ships were pres-ent to take part in these celebrations,including HMS Ceylon, HMNZS BlackPrince and HMA Ships Australia, Ven-geance, Anzac and Quadrant. Two hun-dred sailing boats of all shapes andsizes were across the river entrance,while inshore, close to the fairground,could be seen aquatic exhibitions andcompetitions before the thousands gath-ered to enjoy the day.

Two outstanding features of thisinshore gathering were the Indian(Ontario) and Maori (Black Prince)decorated canoes. The crews of bothcanoes were dressed and coloured torepresent national characteristics, as wasthe Ontario's band in a whaler. Theprize for the event was carried off bythe Ontario. Prizes for greasy-pole andpillow-fighting events were also won.

Her Majesty the Queen and the Dukeof Edinburgh received a tremendousovation in Hobart which was mademore colourful by the many visitingships.

Although a city of small population,Dunedin, New Zealand, extended agreat welcome to the Ontario. The in-habitants turned out en masse to greetthe ship's arrival and it was noted thatmore visitors swarmed over the decksduring "open ship" than in any otherport visited.

The visit to a Canadian warship blos-somed into a series of never-to-be-for-

Page five

Crippled by polio, eight-year-old Alistair Mc-Lay won the hearts of the men of the Ontariowhen he came on board during "open ship"at Dunedin, N.Z. They decked him out in a realnavy uniform, took him on the voyage fromDunedin to Wellington, paid his air fare homeand contributed $500 for the welfare of Alistair,his three brothers and a sister. Two of the atherchildren are also crippled. He is shown sur·rounded by AB Lloyd E. Eisler, Ldg. Sea. DonaldE. Perry, PO Arthur Dayton, AB Orville Cairns,and PO W. G. Mitchell. In the other picture.AB Eisler makes sure Alistair is comfortable inhis hammock during his night at sea on the wayfrom Dunedin to Wellington. (01.1555/0T-1558)

gotten experiences for an eight-year-oldDunedin polio victim. During the "openhouse", one of those who went on boardwas a crippled boy, Alistair McLay.

AB Orville (Curly) Cairns, of PortElgin, Ont., saw that Alistair was hav-ing trouble getting around in the shipand so he picked the boy up and car-ried him from one point of interest toanother. They became firm friends andwhen the rest of the visitors wentashore, Alistair stayed on board as asupper guest in the engineering mechan-ics' mess.

Afterwards, Alistair was fitted witha naval uniform, provided with anample supply of chocolate and othertreats and taken home in the ship'sjeep.

That, however, was just the beginningof his adventures. Members of theship's company obtained the permission

Page six

/

of Captain Raymond, and of Alistair'spi:lrents, for him to go along as guestof the ;ship from Dunedin to Welling-ton, N.Z., the next port of call.

In Wellington, the boy was taken ona sightseeing tour of the city, whichincluded a visit to the zoo, and thenwas placed on board a commercial air-lines plane and flown home to Dunedin.In addition to paying Alistair's planefare home, officers and men of the On-tario presented him with a cheque for$500. The money was raised by vol-untary subscription for the welfare ofAlistair and his three brothers and onesister, two of whom are also crippled.

Wellington was no less hospitablethan Dunedin. Receptions, sightseeingtours and outings were plentifully ar-ranged, and the people turned out intheir thousands to give the ship a grandwelcome. The ship's rifle team was

invited by the New Zealand Rifle Asso-ciation to a shoot and several membersof the Ontario's team won cash prizes.

The famous New Zealand Maoris,dressed in native tribal costumes, gra-ciously performed the i l' traditionaldances for the benefit of their guests.

The weather then decided to play itspart and, on the stretch between NewZealand and Australia, in the TasmanSea, heavy seas and high winds wereencountered. At times the ship's speed.was reduced to seven knots, and con-siderable damage was done to two ofthe ship's whalers.

. Sydney, Australia, however, made upfor any sufferings caused by the ele-ments. For the first time since leav-ing Canada, the Ontario's hockey play-ers were able to don their skates anclshow their talent in beating the oppos-ing teams on two occasions. Sydney'svery excellent zoological gardens gaveofficers and men an opportunity of see-ing many of the types of animals onlyto be found in Australia.

The intense heat and humidity madeno difference to Brisbane's welcomeand a large program of sports, toursand outings was presented for approval.Cricket, water polo, badminton and rifleshoots were all included as well asvisits to Redcliffe swimming beach andto outlying places of interest. Hereagain the Ontario crossed paths withthe Royal Tour and CanadiaJ:l, sailorshelped to line the parade route.

Excitement ran high throughout theship at the prospect of seeing the nextport on the ship's itinerary whichwas Tongatabu, meaning the Forbidden

THE SPORTS RECORD

South (also }\:nown as the FriendlyIslands) . These islands proved to bequite the type of South Pacific para~dise which one had always in1agined.The weather was perfect with a con...stant cool breeze, and the population,both white and coloured, lost noopportunity 11'1 showing the tropicalbeauty of their island. Extraol~dinarysights, such as the coral blowholes,where -the sea spouts high like geysers,and the n1assed flying faxes, were seen.Ancient tombs constructed of ilnmenseblocks of coral and modern schools andcolleges were visited by the ship'sCOlnpany. Polynesian folk dances wereperformed and native...style feasts wereprepared, where everyone sat cross...legged around a spread of tropicalfruits and vegetables, whole roast suck-ling pigs and fish, and ate with theirfingers, In this shnple way the Tongansentertained their visitors and it washere that the true uncolnmercializedaspect of the South Sea Islands' was

The measure of success and failureaccorded Ontario athletes in sportingevents at a half-dozen ports of call"down under" was attributed to boththe quality of competition and the in-evitable difficulty of sailors in acquiringtheir land legs ,again. Up to 150 offi-cers and men, excluding those in sail-ing and pullin.g regattas, took part insports in each city.

Ontario pucksters came from behindto draw four-all with a sextet at Mel-bourne, Australia, the first port of call.

Odd Tonga MailService Recalled

The visit of HMCS Onta?'io to Tongain the course of her return journeyfrom Australia and New Zealand sentLt.-Cdr. W. J, Mock, of HMCS D'Iber-ville, rUlnmaging through his personaleffects for a philatelic curiosity.

The oddity was a "first day cover",which lnarked the inauguration of the"tin can luaB" from the small islandof Niuafo'ou, or Tin Can Island, inthe Tonga group.

Because re gular mail steamers didnot stop at the island, a GenTIan-bornresident, Walter George Quensell, or-iginated the idea of sending the luailout in watertight cans borne on thebacks of swilnlners. The Tonga stampson the cover carry the picture of thepopular Queen Salote.

The tin can mail. came to an abruptend in 1946 when volcanic eruptionsforced the evacuation of the island.It just lasted long enough to addsharks and barracudas to the normalmail hazards of storm and hail anddark of night.

presented to the Ontario. There werelTIutual wishes for an early return anda longer stay the next time as the shipsailed to pay her second visit to theFiji Islands.

lVlany friends of the previous visit\vere ~aiting in Suva to escort theCanadians on ~ tours of places thatthe~r had not seen before and to enter-tain thelU in their homes. Three yearspreviously, during the Ontario's visit,th e Costello Shield for sailing betweenthe Royal Suva Yacht Club and lIMShips had been won by Ontario's teams.On this occasion the regatta was ar-ranged again to coincide with her visit,and again the Onta7'io won the trophy.She is the only warship ever to havedone so twice.

Thus, with exception of a three-daystop at Pearl Flarbour en route hon1e,ended HMCS Ontario's 1954 trainingcruise to the South Pacific, a journeyof more than 20,000 miles, to five differ-ent countries and nine different ports.

In Sydney a few weeks later, theyopened the 1954 season there by defeat-ing New South Wales talent 6-2 andrepeating the perforn1ance 8-2 the fol-lowing night.

Ontario hoopsters had their ups anddowns, They beat HMAS Lonsdale inMelbourne 52-21 but lost to the out-standing Melbourne Morluons 48-102 inthe next encounter. At I-Iobart, theOntario split four games with the locals.

The Canadians travelled 100 mUesfrom Wellington to Palmerston Northto play New Zealand's leading combina-tion. A long layoff at sea renderedshooting inaccurate among the sailorsso that basketball play was closer than .the 25-50 loss indicated. Better shoot-ing might have turned the tables laterwhen the Latter Day Saints won 32-25. In Sydney, Ontario marksmanshipimproved too late, the team picking up20 quick points but losing 49-64 to St.George's leaders of a 16-team league.Ontario led Lithgovv, the best team inNew South Wales, by a point at halftime but the superior condition of thelandlubbers paid off for a 36-21 win.In the final Sydney meet, the Ontarionosed out YMCA in a two~game totalpoint series 77-76. Canadians won thefirst encounter 36-26 and lost the sec-ond 41-50.

Lacrosse, which is supposed to be aCanadian game, caught the Ontarioteam without enough knowledge andskill to better the Melbourne LacrosseClub. Although limited in accomplish-ment, the Canadians showed creditably.

Softball players started with twolosses in Melbourne. The RAN beatthe Ontario 5-3 and the Australian AllStars scuttled the sailors 14-3. I-Iobartwas the opposite as the Canadians sub-luerged North I-Iobart 20-2 and whenthe undaunted Tasn1anians challengedfor baseball, the latter lost 11-2. Mean-while the electricians lost an interpartfixture with Ordnql1ce-TAS 4-5. AtDunedin, the ship's tealu clobbered theengine room 18-3 and technicians beat'G luess 11-5. A local tean1 was blanked11-0.

At Wellington, the Ontario's infield,who "vere without spikes, lost 9-3 ona wet track to Jenkin's Gym, one ofNew Zealand's strongest teams. Adrizzly rain made running shoes nomatch for the cricket boots worn bythe local champs.

The On-tario played a 4-4 tie withthe Lower Hutt Cardinals with threeof the Cardinals' runs scoring onerrors. Ord. Sea. J. O. L'Esperancestruck out 17 batters and displayed uri-usual control. A combination of tech-nicians and ERAs was fielded againstFord Motor Company, the galne endingafter five innings with Ontario lead-ing 3-0.

In the Hobart Regatta one-mile trans-Derwent swim classic, Ord. Sea. RonaldlVlacKenzie and AB Albert Simmondsgained fourth· and fifth places. TheOntario won second place in the relayand arrived third in the 80-yard heat.A prideful .note is that service teamswere faster than their civilian competi-tors.

At two badminton tournaments withI-Iobart Clubs, Ontario players won fourof 20 matches', Three officers and eightmen competed in a handicap golf tour-nament at the Royal Hobart Golf course.CPO Dennis Mann won the handicapwith a net 63. Best officers' net was1nstr. Lt.-Cdr. B. S. Lake's 70.

Otago University, Dunedin, soundlythrashed the On·tario in cricket, knock-ing up 200 runs and more to the ship's66. In a try against a Wellington RN-ZAF eleven, they were outscored by 68to the flyers' 196. The supply types inHMAS PlatY1J1Ls .challenged their On-ta'rio counterparts to sand cricket inSydney and when great clouds of Syd-ney's fine white sand h,ad, cleared, thescore was tied at 54 apiece.

Otaga Swimming Club, the leadingteam in .New Zealand's South Island,outplayed the Ontario 6-4 in waterpolo.

The Ontario and RNZAF split a ten-nis tourney at two apiece in Welling-ton, while the Canadians couldn't findtheir footing with the fiyboys at soccer,for they bowed out 2-0.

Page seven

An important phose of the work done in the Royal Canadian Naval Hospital in Halifax is theoperation of a well·baby clinic for the children of naval personnel. Diet and general core orediscussed with the children's mother, and any necessary medicines are supplied free of charge. Inthe picture, Lieut. (MN) Louise Corriveau, Penetanguishene, Ontario, is shown with Mrs. Jules A.Fortin, Quebec City, as they weigh Mrs. Fortin's five-month-old son Louis. Mrs. Fortin is the wifeof Ldg. Sea. Jules A. Fortin, Quebec City. Well Baby clinics are paid for by officers and menby contributions from canteen and welfare funds. (HS.29167)

The AtlanticNursing

T HEY HAVE TAKEN the FlorenceNightingale pledge but, as they gotheir capable and business-like way,they would probably be the first tocringe before sentimental comparisonswith the Lady with the Lamp.

The women in the blue and whiteuniform of the Royal Canadian Navy'snursing officer are far removed fromthe appalling lack of sanitation and or-dinary comfort of a hundred years ago.On both coasts of Canada they servein bright, modern, completely-equippedhospitals.

It is in these hospitals, large andsmall, that they provide the nursingcare that spells the difference betweena stay that is bleak and unfriendlyand one that provides a restorativeatmosphere.

Here, too, in the Navy's hospitals, thenursing technicians play. their import-ant role. They operate the physiother-apy and occupational therapy depart-ments, assist in the operating rooms,make up and check all hospital diets,dispense drugs and medicines in thehospital pharmacy or dispensary, andcheck blood counts and slides for· athousand and one things in the labora-tories.

Page .eight

Command'sService

Nor do the naval nurses' and tech-nicians' duties end in the hospitals.Nursing officers have been assigned tow€ll-baby clinics, to dependents' schools,to naval housing units in the large navalcentres and to certain naval radio sta-tions.

The RCN's nursing service is youngin years. It was first organized in 1941,and at the peak of the war years therewere 400 nursing officers at naval andother hospitals across the country. RCNnurses served at Royal Navy hospitals,with the United States Navy and inhospital ships. With the cessation ofhostilities most of these war-time nursesreturned to their civilian status and thenursing service was reorganized underLt.-Cdr. (MN) Fay L. Rutledge, ofStreetsville, Ontario, as Director ofNursing with headquarters at RCN Hos-pital, HMcS Stadacona. Assisting heris Lt.-Cdr. (MN) Mary Nesbitt.

During the past few years thesetwo have completely re-organized thebranch. Nursing officers are now de-signated "Medical Nurses" and "Medi-cal Technicians", with the former ac-tually engaged in the nursing care ofthe patient while the technicians con-

The Royal Canadian Navy's hospital in Hali·fox includes the latest therapeutic treatment forpardlysis and polio victims or others sufferingtemporary loss of the use of muscles. Lieu!.(MT) Frances E. Merkley, Toronto, Ont., a graciu-ate of the University of Toronto in occupationaltherapy, is shown witth AB James Miller, Brant·ford, Ontario, a polio potient. AB Miller isexercising his legs by operating a treadle jig-saw, constructed from on old sewing machineby members of the stoff of the MechanicalTraining Establishment, in Stadacona. (HS-29333)

Safeguarding patients at RCNH, Stadacana,against disease germs while- undergoing surgeryor during medical examinations is the job ofSub-Lt. (MN) Ann McSween, of Sydney, N.S.Sub-Lt. McSween checks the steam pressuregouges of the autoclave before she opens thepressure door to remove medical instrumentsthat have been sterilized. (HS-29266)

tribute to the 'patients' care and re-cuperation within their own specializedfields.

Before the nurse has been too longin the Navy she is given a two-weekdivisional course at HMCS Cornwalliswhere she learns the fundamentals ofthe navy life and some of its traditions,and is taught to take pride in the ser-vice as well as in her chosen profession.

At naval divisions across Canadathere are many highly trained nursesin the RCN(R) and here they helpprofessionally and socially to promotegoud public relations for the Navy andat the same time they stand ready toserve their country in time of nationalp.mergency. As reservists, they spendall or part of their annual holidays intraining with the Navy at either coast.

At RCNH, Stadacona, there are about30 medical nurses and technicians, atCornwallis about 13 and at the navalair station, HMCS Shearwater, there arefour.

The medical nurse, like Lieut. (MN)Carla Carr, of Stellarton, N.S., may beassigned to anyone of a number ofduties. She may be on ward dutyeither day or night, she may be in theoperating room, or she may be in thesterilizing room where all instruments,gauzes, bandages and pads are steril-.ized carefully. She could be assignedto the well-ba by clinic, like Lieut. (MN)Louise Corriveau, Penetang, Ont., to as-sist naval personnel with their prob-lems about their children. Sub - Lt.(MN) Elizabeth Hebb, of Lunenburg,N.S., also a public health. nurse, looks

Hospital ShipEnds Career

A hospital ship to which Canadiansailors serving in the Far East re-sorted for attention to aching molars,luinar injuries or. on occasion, formajor hospital care has been offeredfor sale by the Admiralty.

HM Hospital Ship Maine is now atHong Kong, where at last word herMerchant Navy crew was to be paidoff. Her medical staff had earlier beenappointed for other duties.

The Maine, according to "The Ad-miralty News Summary". is the thirdhospital ship of the Royal Navy tobear the name. She was built in 1924by the Italians, under whose flag sheserved as the Leonardo da Vinci. Shewas captured by the Royal Navy atMassawa, was converted to a hospitalship in 1943, and was renamed theEmpire Ctyde. She was named theMaine in January 194B.

When war broke out in Korea in1950, the Maine was the only hospitalship in '.he Far East, and she didparticularly good work in transportingwounded men from Korea to Japan.

Pictured above are nursing officers of the staff of the Royal Canadian Navy's hospital inStadacona. front row, left to right they are: lieut. (MN) Marion Coote, Outremont, P.Q.; Lieut. (MN)Joan Macleod, Halifax; It.-Cdr. (MN) Mary Nesbitt, St. Stephen, N.B.; Lieut. (MN) May Doyle, Char-lottetown, P.E.I.; lieut. (MT) frances Merkley, Toronto, Ontario. Back row: A/Sub-lt. (MN) EleanoraReed-lewis, Windsor, Ontario; lieut. (MN) Margot Corson, Hampstead, Montreal; Sub-Lt. (MN) JoanTaylor, RCN(R) Ottawa; Sub· Lt. (MN) Elizabeth Hebb, lunenburg, N.S.; Sub-Lt. (MN) Mary Burton,Saskatoon; Lieut. (MT) Margaret Ball, Stouffville, Sask. (HS·29112)

I~.. ~~'\

Nursing officers at HMCS Cornwallis are, left to right (front row): Sub-lt. (MN) Norma M.Bernard, Tignish, P.E.!.; Lieut. (MN) Mary A. Morrison, Ste-Anne de Bellevue, P.Q., Matron, RCNH,Cornwallis; Sub-Lt. (MN) Mary G. Gralton, Douglastown, N.B. Rear row (left to right): Sub·lt. (MN)Anna V. Carson, St. Andrews, N.B.; Sub-lt. (MN) Gertrude M. Marshall, Bridgetown, N.S.; Sub-lt.Kathryn f. Wiswell, Halifax; Sub-lt. (MN) Mary C. Brett, Shelbourne, Ontario and Sub-Lt. (MN)Mary G. Keirstead, Wolfville, N.S. (DB·369B)

Page "ine

,after the children of the 500 familiesat the naval housing unit at ShannonPark. Lieut. Corriveau and Sub-Lt.Hebb as well as Lieut. (MN) ConnieLonbartis of Coverdale radio station,have a' preventive' role in medicine.Their task is to assist the mothers andfathers of the navy in keeping theirchildren free of illness and disease.

Well-baby clinics are paid for byevery man in the Navy. It is theirmoney, voted out of welfare and can-teen funds, that pays for the clinics atthe various naval centres.

Public health nurses also work closelywith civic authorities.

Today the RCN's nursing service isexpanding to' help provide the propermedical care for our growing navy. Thenursing staffs are being equipped withthe best in hospital needs and they are

.. given the opportunity to take post-graduate courses to keep the serviceabreast of modern trends in medicine.

Recently a young seaman on leavingthe hospital' at Stadacona, remarkedthat the care he had received at thehands of the nursing staff could not;-in his opinion, be. equalled anywherein the world or by any other navy.

Be that as it may, it seems that thesailor who has the misfortune to windup in one of the. Navy's hospitals isnot so unfortunate at that.

Helicopter FliesTo Aid of Priest

An RCN helicopter of the Royal Can-adian Navy flew from Summerside,P.E.I., to Miscous Island, at the north-ernmost tip of New Brunswick, Monday,April 5 to remove a stricken priest tothe Hotel Dieu Hospital at Tracadie.

Rev. Father Romeo Lanteigne, a na-tive of Caraquet, N.B., was taken illduring the week-end and required im-mediate hospital treatment. Severalattempts to remove him by car andsnowmobile proved futile, due to theuncertain condition of the shore ice.

After several rescue. attempts on Sat-urday and Sunday had failed, authori-ties on the island put iri, a call forhelp, aqd a helicopter, piloted by Lieut.G. John Laurie, .Dartmouth, N.S. andSaskatoon, Sask., was despatched fromthe Naval Air Facility at Summerside.Landing at Miscou Island near thechurch, the helicopter took off immedi-ately with the patient and flew the 40miles to the hospital, setting down onthe grounds.

The helicopter returned to Summer-side on completion of the mission, andlater information indicated the priestwas resting comfortably.

Page ten

Shown above are nursing officers from the Royal Canadian Naval Hospital in Stadacona. Read-ing from left to right they are (front row): lieut. (MN) Vera Burton, Halifax; Sub-Lt. (MN) OliveGloster, Toronto; Lieut. (MN) Kathleen Howe, Sussex, N.B.; Lt-Cdr. (MN) Fay Rutledge, Streetsville,Ont., senior nursing officer of the RCN; Sub-Lt. (MN) Alfreda Chaput, Verdun, P.Q., and Lieut. (MN)Nellie MacAulay, Glace Bay, N.S. Back row: A/Sub-Lt. (MN) Irene Masterton, Galt, Ont.; Lieut.(MN) Elizabeth Serson, Ottawa; lieut. (MN) lillian Clemens, Woodstock, Ont.; lieut. (MN) EstherHull, North Sydney, N.S.; Lieut. (MN) Elizabeth Abraham, Wroxeter, Ontario; A/Sub-Lt. (MN) MildredWilliamson, River John, N.S.; Sub-Lt. (MN) Patricia Austin, Toronto. (HS-29113)

Above, HMCS S.hearwater's nursing staff. Left to right are: lieut. (MN) Maude Huntington,Marian Bridge, Cape Breton, N.S.; Sub-Lt. (MN) Joan Taylor, Vancouver;, Sub-Lt. (MN) Sophia Starks,St. Phillips, NAd.; and lieut. Betiy Ballantyne, Toronto. (DNS-11678)

OFFICERS AND MEN

h f1 I · . t a,'rcraft are received by Sub-Lt. G. L. Edwards fromCongratulations on is Irst so 0 on a Ieclassmate Sub·Lt. D. A. Prout. Both recently graduated from No. 3 Advanced Flying School, Gimli,Man., after advanced training in the T·33 Silver Star.

receive their wings in jet aircraft underthe NATO training plan, Sub-Lt. Ed-wards has the added distinction of be-ing the first RCN student to solo a jetin the RCAF. He is a veteran of theKorean war and has served on boardthe Crusader, Ontario, Athabaskan andSault: S-te. Marie.

One of First RCNMen Reaches 85

A man who had seen 23 years ser-vice in the Royal Navy and then joinedthe infant Royal Canadian Navy foranother 13 years of service under theWhite Ensign celebrated his 85th birth-day on February 14 last.

20 yearsVictoria, B.C.April 12, 1934HMC Ships Naqen, Skeena,Fraser, Pembroke, Resti-gouche, Siadacona, Bitter-sweet, Givenchy, Chignecto,Niobe, Qu'AppeUe, Pere-grine, Annapolis, Cornwal-lis, Scotian, Portage, Mont-calm, Nootka, Magnificent,Ontario.Canadian Forces Decora-tionApril 30, 1954.Retired:

RetirementCHIEF PETTY OFFICER

GEORGE MICHAEL RENTONRank: C2 (NQ)Age: 37Length ofService:Hometown:Joined:Served in:

Central Albert,a"Vets" Organize

Preliminary steps toward the organ-ization of a Central Alberta Navy Vet-erans' Association were taken recentlyat a smoker held in Red Deer, Alberta.About 75 former members of the RCNand RCNVR were present.

A pro tem committee, which will lookafter the business of the new associa-tion until an executive is elected thissummer, is headed by Hugh Spence, ofRed Deer. Other members are BudJohnson, of Rocky Mountain House,A, Staniforth, of Evarts, H. C. Hopkins,of Lacombe, and Ken Sterling, R, T,Swainson and Lyle Lindsay, all of RedDeer.

'Awards:

The training at Gimli is taken inCanadian-built T-33 Silver Star jetsand, although the flying sequences aremuch the same as in basic training,the instruction is far more advanced.Instead of flying at 150 miles an hour,as he did in the Harvard, the studentis now flying in an aircraft capable ofspeeds up to 600 miles an hour. Hedoes most of his flying at altitudes rang~ing from 30,000 to 40,000 feet, but thepressurized and air-conditioned cock-pits offer almost living-room comfort.

During their training, the studentsmust begin to think like fighter pilots,since in a few short months they willbe flying with squadrons. Most of thepilots go to operational training unitsin Canada and overseas and from therewill be assigned to NATO duties inEurope.

The two naval graduates, Sub-Lieu-tenants Edwards and Prout, will, how-ever, go to the Operational FlyingSchool at RNAS Lossiemouth, Scotland.

Jet flying began at No. 3 AdvancedFlying Training School, Gimli, last Sep-tember with the conversion of qualifiedflying instructors to the Canadian-builtT-33 Silver Star. The training of stu-dent pilots began in November.

While both Sub-Lieutenants Edwardsand Prout are the first naval pilots to

Jet JPings forTwo RCN Pilots

The first two RCN student pilots toreceive their wings following trainingin jet aircraft graduated in March fromNo.3 Advanced Flying School at Gimli,Manitoba.

The two, Sub-Lt. G. L. Edwards, ofMedicine Hat, and Sub-Lt. D. A. Prout,of Victoria, were among 35 graduatingstudent pilots representing four NATOcountries-Canada, England, France andItaly. The wings were presented byGroup Captain B. D..,Richer, command-ing officer of Station Gimli.

Before arriving at Gimli the studentshad completed nine months of basic fly-ing training at Moose Jaw, Sask., andCentralia, Ont. This training was takenin Harvard aircraft and ranged fromthe old familiar "circuit and bumps" ofthe primary stages to advanced forma-tion and instrument flying near the endof the course.

Their ground instruction at the fly-ing training schools covered all subjectsrelated to flying, such as navigation,meteorology, airmanship and manyothers. Apart from subjects wholly re-lated to flying, the students receivedmany additional hours on officer quali-ties and administrative practices.

Page eleven

Three Canadian warships were in Tokyo to greet Prime Minister St. Laurent when he arrivedthere during his round-the-world trip.- Here he inspects honour guard of members of the ships'companies of the Haida, Crusader and Cayuga. (Photo courtesy Fednews Photos)

due toretiredwith a

Three BrothersChoose Navy

Three ex-Sea Cadet sons of an Ed-monton family are receiving highereducation and working toward navalcommissions, two of them as recipientsof Navy League of Canada scholarshipsand the third under the Regular OfficerTra,ining Plan.

This course of events has ,promptedtheir father, G. A. Beare, of 10803 83rd

-.Ave., Edmonton, to put on paper hisevaluation of what the Sea Cadet pro-gram has done for his boys.

"It was the training, discipline andkeenness which they 'learned there thatbuilt up their enthusiasm to continuein the Navy," Mr. Beare wrote in aletter to the Edmonton corps. "Mostimportant of all, perhaps, were thecharacter-building qualities of leader-ship, self-discipl~ne and co-operationthat come from membership in the SeaCadets, and that are so beneficial to anylad, no matter what occupation he takesup in after life."

Mr. Beare expressed his gratitude tothe officers of RCSCC Warrior ("Thebest corps in Canada") for their gen-erous giving rof time and effort andtheir :s;piri:t 'of comradeship.

He added that) he had only one sonwho had not been a Sea Cadet, but hewas still a little young-not yet two.

"Don't worry - his turn will come'!"Mr. Beare concluded.

Flash bulbs flickered and shutters clicked as Canadian sailors recorded the historic visit of theirprime minister to the destroyers serving in the For East. Prime Minister St. Laurent had posed forthe sailors and shaken hands with many of them just before this picture of his departure fromHMCS Haida was taken. (Photo courtesy Fednews Photos)

total service with the Royal Navy andRoyal C.madian Navy of 36 years~ Hewent to England for a year, returningto Canada again in 1924. After a yearin Victoria, B.C., he decided to residein Berkeley, California, where he is stillliving. A son, Frank Hall, is a customsand excise officer in Victoria.

He is Charles Robert Hall,of Berkley,California, one of the original membersof the ship's company of HMCS Niobe.He joined the cruiser after she had beentaken over from the RN by the newly-created Royal Canadian Navy in 1910 atDevonport Dockyard.

He was a pensioner of the Royal Navy,and had been on pension for about twoyears when hearing that volunteers wereneeded for the new Navy, he offered hisservices. He was notified to report tothe ship and commence his duties in Julyof that year. The first job he under-took was to help to recruit the ship'scompany. This'did not take long, asmore men responded than were required.At the time he reported for duty therewere only about three officers on board,the ship being in the hands of the dock-

. yard for refit.The ship arrived at Halifax in Octo-

ber 1910. In the meantime HMCS Rain-bow waS on her way from Portsmouthvia Cape Horn to Esquimalt.

Later that year Mr. Hall applied fOla transfer to the staff of the newly-formed Royal Naval College of Canada;-and was under the direction of CaptairlBasil S. Hartley, Director of NavalStudies, and Cdr. E. A. E. Nixon, Com-mander of the College, until it wasclosed in 1923. After the Halifax dis-aster, Mr. Hall was transferred to Es-quimalt when the college was reopenedat that port, after a brief stay at King-ston, Ontario.

When the college was closedan economy program, Mr. Hallas a senior Chief Petty Officer

TAG WITH THE ENEMY

The auxiliary cruiser HMCS Prince Robert steamed out of Honolulu harbour in early December1941, unaware that powerful Japanese task force was bearing down from the north to strike adisastrous· blow at Pearl Harbour. The Prince Robert is shown here after her conversion to anti·aircraft cruiser.

An Answer to the Wartime Question:

Did HMCS Prince Robert sight theJapanese battle fleet in the Orient?

• The attack on Pearl Harbour was car-ried out by more than 100 carrier-borneaircraft, including 21 torpedo bombers, 48dive bombers and 36 high level bombers,and also by a force of small submarines.The Japanese, who had an exact knowledgeof their targets, attained complete surprise.Of 202 U.S. naval aircraft in the area, 150were disabled and only 38 were able to taketo the air. Only a few of the 273 army air-craft were able to take ·off owing to damagedrunways. The action lasted for 50 minutes.

Not- counting small craft, 86 ships of theU.S. Pacific Fleet were moored at Pearl Har-bour. Five battleships, three destroyers, aminelayer. a target ship and a floating dockwere either sunk or put out of action for along time. Three battleships, three cruisers,a seaplane tender and a repair ship sufferedlesser damage. Only one battleship, the Ari-zona, was a permanent total loss. Casualtiesincluded 2,117 officers and men of the Navyand Marine Corps killed, 960 missing and 876wounded. Army casualties included 226 offi-cers and men killed or died of wounds and396 wounded.

Aircraft carriers. based at Pearl Harbour,were at sea at the time of the attack andescaped damage.-Ed.

The Prince Robert arrived at her homeport of Esquimalt on December 10, aday that piled new and almost unbear-able tragedy on the disaster of PearlHarbour. That was the day that Jap-anese torpedo planes sank the battle-ship Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser Repulse with a loss of 2,000lives. Fifteen days later, on Christ-mas Day, Hong Kong fell and the Brit-ish and Canadian survivors of the bitterdefence were placed in abject captivity.

The rumour arose that the PrinceRobert, which had journeyed throughFar Eastern waters such a short timepreviously, could have warned of theimpending disaster, on the basis of whatshe had seen.

The story went that the Prince Roberthad sighted the Japanese battle fleeton manceuvres north of the PhilippineIslands, either on her way out to orback from Hong Kong.

There are· two points to be consideredhere:

1. The Prince Robert did not passnorth of the Philippines;

2. If Japanese warships had beensighted, no special significance needhave been attached to their presence,since the general area was one in whichthe fleet would be likely to conductpeace-time exercises.

How much opportunity did the PrinceRobe7·t have of learning Japanese in-tentions and how close did the Can-adian warship come to being embroiledin the Pacific war? A study of theship's log, reports of proceedings andother documents has failed to show thePrince Robert sighted more than oneship at anyone time during her voyageto and from the Orient - unless one

in the Pacific had been thoroughly dis-guised by the appearance in Washing-ton of the Japanese special envoy,Kurusu, who, in company with theJapanese Ambassador, Admiral Nomura,was conducting prolonged talks with theSecretary of State ostensibly "in thehope of easing the situation".

The journey to Hong Kong had beenin anticipation of Japan striking in theFar East, but the timing of the blow,without the preliminary formality of adeclaration of war, caught the UnitedStates and Great Britain completely offguard.

The sequence of events in the open-ing hours of the war in the Far Easthas been somewhat obscured by thedifference in time zones. In the thirdvolume of his wartime memoirs, "TheGrand Alliance", Sir Winston Churchillshows that, in terms of Greenwich Time,the Japanese attacks in Malaya, thePhilippines and Hong Kong occurredwithin a few hours of that on PearlHarbour. All, by Greenwich reckoning,occurred on December 7, the first blowbeing the landing at Kota Bharu, Ma-laya, at 4.55 p.m., GMT. The attack onPearl Harbour came at 6.30 p.m., GMT,the first air raid in the Philippines at9.00 p.m., GMT, and the first air raidin Hong Kong at·1-1.30 p.m., GMT.*

In other words, the opening attacksoccurred thousands of miles apart withina space of less than seven hours.

A WARSHIP of the Royal CanadianNavy missed by a few hours lessthan four days being a ringside spec-tator (and possible victim) of one ofhistory's greatest acts of treachery.

The ship was the auxiliary cruiser,HMCS Prince Robert, which had al-ready won fame for herself by the cap-ture oi the German merchant vesselWeser, and the event in which she wasso nearly embroiled was the Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbour· on Sunday,December 7, 1941.

The closing days of November 1941found the Prince Robert steaming home-ward from Hong Kong, to where shehad escorted Canadian soldiers for thereinforcement of the garrison. Behindher was Manila and ahead her last portof call, Pearl Harbour, from where shewould steam northeastward to Esqui-malt. Unknown to the Prince Robert,a powerful Japanese striking force wassteaming an almost parallel course,1,400 miles to the northward.

Early in the afternoon of December3, .the Prince Robert secured at pier 8,Honolulu. That same day, the Japan-ese task force altered course about 45degrees to the southward and headedfor its appointment with destiny.

At noon, on Thursd\y, December 4,the Prince Robert slipped her lines andbegan the final leg of her homewardjourney.

In the meantime, Japanese intentions

Page thirteen

.-~.~-,------,------------..----.-,.", -- .. .------- ----.-----.,_.-----~------~-------------._--------...---.'--.-- ..' ---------, -------_.--- ----

counts the swarms of Chinese :junksencountered after the ship had .. crosse,dthe lOO-fathom line off the Chinese

return by the time the ship sailed atnoon on December 4 and set course bythe Great Circle route for Esquimalt.

The Prince Robert steamed north-eastward at the economical speed of15 knots. During the night of Decem-ber 5 ... 6 a flare was sighted off theport beam and was identified as comingfrom a U.S. submarine., At this same moment the Japanese

task force was almost directly abeam,1,000 miles or so to the northwest, stillon its southeasterly course.

By -2100 on the night of December6, the Japanese force reached its mosteasterly position, 3IN, 158W, and turneddue -south for Hawaii. This was theclosest the Japanese force came to the

Prince Robert, then 500 miles away anda few miles north of due east.

The Japanese steamed south untilthey reached their fly-off position 200miles north of Pearl Harbour andlaunched their attack at 0600 Sunday,December 7.

At 1047, lookouts sighted a vessel,Which was not identified, off to port andat three minutes before noon the PrinceRobert received a wireless messagefrom Esquimalt, informing the ship thathostilities had broken out with Japanand also that the U.S. Army transportCynthia Olsen had been torpedoed andsunk 150 miles to the south of thePrince Robert's position.

The Canadian warship at once headed

for the spot at 21 knots and made athree-hour search at high speed, cov-ering an area 60 by 40 miles.

Smoke was sighted shortly after coursewas altered, but it was far from the areaof the reported sinking and was not in...vestigated.

The night was clear with a brilliantmoon and radar was used in the search.However, no signs of wreckage or thepresence of a submarine were found and,on completion of the search, the PrinceRobert set course for Esquimalt at 20knots.

As the Prince Robert neared the WestCoast, numerous aircraft were sighted,the first a biplane which came withinfour miles of the ship in the morning

.180 170 160 150 140 130 120

1200

1412 5 ightedRCAFA/C

J

1128 5.5. "West Cressey" (U.S.)·\ Sighted Brg. 050

0T.

1047Vessel 5 ighted Brg.Red 90. Not Identified

f

CMIDWAY

Robert" and Japaneseposition for the enemy

t{~~~'v)~. .~

is'1, t\\)\) IiOA G__\'2.A~ f\,,~tO~.

0-1; ~~~ \I\\\es .y__t-__~_---a...__~__~-IXt--~_···.¢~¢~.. . 1200

FLY.OFF,POSITION ~~~!lJe,~P 6.12.41 1200 MILES ~ORTH ~ ~.. I Flare Brg. Red 1000OF OAHU. 06QO. '\ X 1200 Identified as U~S. S/M~ 7.12.41 4( / 5.12.41 I

1200 ~OO )(~ ~II~~AWAII 'At 1147 - 7·12..41 Prince41 30.11.41 12~1\ Robert informed by C.O.P.C.

- (MERIDIAN) 1.12.41 - 2.12.41 - 1200 of Japanese hostilities _ also3.12.41 h USAL t at •• rmy transport

SECURED PIER 8 Cynthia Olsen sunk 150 milesHONOLULU 1245 - 3.12-41 to the south. Ship alteredCLEARED HONOLULU course to 206

0

(T) at "Full·ahead Both" and searched

1215 - 4-12-41 h It e area to no ava i I hencethe short distance "MadeGood" from noon 7 Decemberto noon 8 December.

C1346

ACKS OF JAPANESE TASK FORCE'ACK ON PEARL HARBOUR AND HMCS~ PASSAGE FROM HONG KONG TO~ER & DECEMBER, 1941..

Paae fifteen

The Prince Robert, which escorted Canadian troops across the Pacific to defend Hong Kong,returned at the close of the war for the Japanese surrender of the colony. Patrols were landedby the Canadian warship to help to maintain order as the Japanese relinquished control.

Ship's Supply Problems

Require Planning, Push

twilight of December 10 and flew offin a southerly direction without identi-fying itself. The ship arrived at Esqui-malt at 1947, Wednesday, December 10,1941, and secured at the magazine jetty.She immediately began embarking fuelto full capacity.

The conclusion to be drawn from astudy of the available documents is thatat no time during her journey to. andfrom Hong Kong did the Prince Robertsight any fleet or group of Japanesewarships.

The only basis for the rumour thatthe Prince Robert had seen the enemylay apparently in the action taken bythe Hong Kong-bound ships to avoil!encountering Japanese warships and thesighting that same night of numerousChinese junks in coastal waters.

ON BOARD HMCS CRUSADERCanada's Navy is one of the best fed,best paid and best equipped in the world- and Canadian destroyers in the FarEast are no exception.

But in this theatre of operations, thejob of maintaining that high standardtakes plenty of planning and initiativeon the part of the ships' supply de-partments.

HMCS Crusader, for instance, is aBritish-built ship, is fitted with Cana-

Page sixteen.

At no time was the Prince Robertwithin 500 miles of the force whichattacked Pearl Harbour. At the timeof her passage through the South ChinaSea, this force was, in fact, assemblingin the Kuriles, to the north of Japanproper and 1,400 miles north of thePrince Robert's path across the Pacific.

Even if Japanese warships had beensighted in the South China Sea, it wouldhave been difficult to draw conclusionsof Japanese intentions, since nearbyFormosa was Japanese .territory andVichy-controlled Indo-China was occu-pied by Japanese forces. As a matterof fact, the unusual feature of' the voy-age in view of the activity then brew-ing, wa;; probably the failure to sighta single unit of the Japanese navy.

dian equipment, and is operating in anarea where the source of supply is pre-dominantly American. This situationoften presents serious problems for thesupply department when it tries to pro-cure general stores.

The Crusader, for example, requiresreplacements for certain types of elec-trical equipment. These replacementsmay not be available from the U.S. Navybecause their ships operate on a differ-ent electrical current-or from the Brit-

ish Navy, whose equipment may not bethe same type. And if the Crusader hasno spares aboard . . . But then, thesupply department has managed, so faI;,to get what it needs.

The matter of pay can be a headache.With the Crusader visiting ports inJapan, Korea, Okinawa and Hong Kong,the supply department must have awide variety of currencies on hand forthe ship's company - and in .,Sufficientquantities. At anyone time th-e supplyofficer may have on board Americandollars, Japanese ye_n, Hong Kong dol-

- lars, U.S. military payment certificatesand British armed forces certificates-and all at different rates of exchange.

The chief problem with food is toknow what to buy and what not to buy.Australian mutton isn't exactly a fa-vourite with Canadian sailors, and -Am-erican flour-the best available-wasn'ttoo popular with Canadian cooks, untilthey discovered how to treat it. How~ever, Canadian destroyers prefer to buytheir provisions from the U.S. Navy,together with some fresh fruit and veg":etables from civilian sources in Japanand other ports of call.

The Crusader's supply departmentprocures and prepares all the food eatenby the ship's company; supplies all theprotective clothing and equipment re-quired, with the exception of armament;administers the pay accounts and ser-vice records of every officer and manaboard, issues their pay, and runs acanteen and soda fountain for the crew.

The department is composed of ap-proximately 25 personnel, headed bythe supply officer, and includes cooks,stewards, writers and storesmen. Allwere trained at the Navy's SupplySchool at HMCS Naden in Esqui-malt, B.C.

In the Crusader, the largest singlegroup in the department is the cooks-eight in all-who by the time the de-stroyer returns to Esquimalt will haveprepared an estimated 180,000 meals forthe ship's company.

The chief cook is CPO Ben Humber-stone, of Banff, Alta., who when theship's action alarm sounds is the onlyperson in the entire supply departmentto go to a "supply" post-the galley.The remainder rush to gun' positions,plot rooms or depth charge throwers.

PO Lawrence K. Lynch, of Kin-dersley, Sask., whose regular duties areas a steward, becomes captain of a Bo-fors gun at action stations; Ldg. Sea.Valentine J. Rieger, of Regina, a navalstoresman, becomes a communicator in"X" gun., and the supply officer, Lieut.(S) Vincent Henry, of Victoria, be-comes office-in-charge of "A" and "B"guns.

I~

AFLOAT AND ASHORE

Defence Minister Brooke Claxton, during his visit to Halifax for the transfer of four minesweepers10 France, paid a visit to the Shannon Park naval housing development. Little Deborah, aged 51months, was too intent on the "birdie" to respond to Mr. Claxton's compliments. She was at homealone with her mother. Her father, CPO John Murphy, was in the United Kingdom with HMCSMagnificent and five sisters and two brothers were at school or at play.

ATLANTIC COMMAND

HMCS Micmac

HMCS Micmac, East Coast trainingdestroyer, recently completed a two-week navigational training cruise intothe Bay of Fundy and along the coast-line of the New England States as faras Rhode Island. Embarked was "King"class of the Junior Officers Technicaland Leadership Course for practicalnavigation training.

Each officer took his turn navigatingthe ship under varied conditions. Sex-tants were in evidence by the dozenand pilotage in the close and trickywaters of the Bay of Fundy was car-ried out. All the modern electronicaids to navigation were used exten-sively.

Evolutions carried out included drop-ping dan buoys, coming to a buoy, shiphandling and dummy anchorages fol-lowed by the real thing, both day andnight.

Maritime ports of call included Yar'"mouth, Digby, Shelburne, Liverpool,

St. Andrews, Saint John and GrandManan. A shor·t operational visit toProvidence, Rhode Island, gave somewell-earned rest and recreation.

Full advantage was taken of the op-portunity to satisfy appetites with tastysea foods, lobster and scallops beingenjoyed by all aboard.

Cdr. G. M. Wadds, JIIlicma.c's com-manding officer, and the instructorsfrom the Navigation and DirectionSchool, Stadacona, Lt.•Cdr. R. C. Mac-Millan and Lieut. N. S. Jackson, werewell pleased with the progress made.

The Micmac earlier completed thesecond of two cruises in Bermudianwaters operating with the British sub-marine HMS Tally-Ho.

The destroyer operated on a five-and six-day schedule each week, re-gardless of weather. She was basedin St. George's, returning only for freshprovisions and fuel.

Further training was carried out withanti-submarine aircraft from the 30thCarrier Air Group which was based atBermuda at this time. The Micmac and

the aircraft teamed up to deliver manysuccessful attacks against the submarine.

Aboard during the cruise was Dr. T.W. Cook, of the Defence Research Boardof Canada. Dr. Cook is attached to theTorpedo Anti-Submarine School of theRCN and is studying training methodsand operation of equipment at sea.

In her role as the Training Destroyerfor the Atlantic Command, the Micmachas averaged 22 days at sea per monthsince her re-commissioning. She hasbeen affectionately dubbed "Old Dobbinof the Atlantic, the work horse of theFleet".

HMCS MagnificentThe Magnijl.cent sailed from the "East-

ern Canadian Port" on March 1 andproceeded to Portsmouth, England, ar-riving on March 10 after an uneventfulpassage.

The purpose of the visit was primarilythat of a general refurbishing of theelectronic equipment and, as no flyingcould be carried out, the Carrier AirGroup was not embarked.

Considerable use has been made ofthe availability of the excellent RNtraining facilities. HMS Phoenix, dam-age control school, has accepted a steadyflow of Magnificent personnel, and soenabled many men to be credited withQDC requirements for promotion.

Half of the radar plotters spent abouttwo weeks at HMS Harrier, the RNschool which provides training in theair aspects of action information. Manyof the AA rates were able to get inqualifying and refresher courses.

HMC Communication SchoolLt.-Cdr. John G. Waters joined the

Communication School staff, trading theaiguillettes he has worn for the pastyear as Aide de Camp to His Excellencythe Governor General for.,the post of·Staff Officer (Visual).

CR 63, which completed training onMarch 5, was headed by Ord. Sea. LeoBertrand. All Esquimalt members ofthe class were most fortunate in join-ing HMCS New Glasgow, when she com-missioned in Halifax, for passage backto the West Coast by the Panama Canal.

April 2 was graduation day at theschool with four classes completing theirtraining. CPO Jerry Kay and CPO JohnReid topped Commissioned Communica-tions Officers' course "Easy" and, to-gether with the remaining members of

PalJe seventeen

their class, will shortly' commence fur-ther training in general executive dutiesin Halifax.

Ord. Sea. Ray Melski led CR 64 whenit passed aut of the school. This classwill be very strongly represented inHMCS Labrador when she commissionsthis summer.

CV 66, having won the Mateson flaghoisting competition for two months run-ning, departed from the school with 30days leave in front of them before join-ing the fleet.

Ord. Sea. Roger Lebrun was high manin the remaining class and, with the restof the class, was drafted to HMCS Glou-cester for further training.

PACIFIC COMMAND

HMCS CayugaHMCS Cayuga, now doing her third

tour of duty in the Far East, has beencommended for her assistance in a re-cent rescue of five United States sailorsfollowing a collision of two boats at aUN naval base in Japan.

WEDDINGSWren Jean I. Attwood, HMCS CornwaLLis,

to Able Seaman Arthur ,C. Cain, Cornwallis.Able Seaman D. J. Belisle, HMCS Corn-

wallis, to Miss Ruby K. Seward, Halifax.Able Seaman R. Allan Binnington, HMCS

Stadacona, to Miss Betty Lorraine Harvey,Halifax.

Ordinary Seaman William Henry Birkin-shaw, HMCS Naden, to Miss Elizabeth Janet.Bohfoy, Victoria.

Able Seaman V. J. G. Cornut, HMCS Corn-waltis, to Miss Lillian May White, llalifax.

Able Seaman George W. Counter,. HMCSCornwallis, to Miss Marguerite Potter, Cle-mentsport, N .S.

Able Seaman D. E. IGilby, HMCS Micmac,to Miss Elizabeth Ann Moreash, Halifax.

Wren Mary Gladys Gallant, HMCS Corn-wallis, to Able Seaman Joseph Muise, Corn-wallis.

Able Seaman Garfield Glover, HMCS Huron,to Miss Shirley Kelly, Bridgetown, N.S.

Chief Petty Officer David Spencer Leavens,HMCS Shearwater, to Miss Marion LorraineMosher, Dartmouth, N.S.

Ordinary Seaman Robert J. Marion, HMCSGloucester, to Miss Fleurette Laganier, Sha...winigan Falls, P .Q.

Able Seaman R. S. Melvin, HMCS Corn-wallis, to Miss Jean Amero, Saint John, N.B.

Lieutenant (E) Donald Patrick Nash, NavalHeadquarters, to Miss Jean Isobel McCallum,ottaWa. '

Leading Seaman R. C. Orrick, HMCS Corn-wallis, to Miss S. M. C. Cruickshank, Victoria.

Able Seaman C. C. Ruth, HMCS Micmac,to Miss Josephine Meany, St. John's Nftd.

Lieutenant Ian Townley, HMCS' Yorl~, toMiss Virginia Lieshman, Toronto.

Able Seaman R. J. P. Tratt, HMCS Micmac,to Miss Patricia Doris Truax, Montreal.

Sub..Lieutenant Brian Valiquette, HMCSMagnificent, to Miss Blanche Gloria Girard,Victoria.

Wren J. E. Watson. HMCS Cornwallis, toOrdinary Seaman J. E. Rutledge, Cornwallis.

Able Seaman Ronald J. Williams, HMCSCornwalUs" to Miss Marjorie Handspiker,Digby, N.S.

Page eighteen

Helicopter LiftBrings Thanks

The transport of three seriously illmen from the U ..S. naval transportGeneral H. F. Hodges by RCN heli-copter has prompted a letter of. grati-tude from the U.S. Ambassador toCanada, R. Douglas stuart, to Vice-Admiral E. R. Mainguy, Chief of theNaval Staff.

The helicopter, from Shearwater,landed on the ship 65 miles off shoreand brought the patients to the Stad-acona parade ground, only. a few scoreyards from HCN Hospital.

"We are grateful for this assistance,which is another manifestation notonly of the efficiency of the RoyalCanadian Navy but also of its spiritof co-operation," the letter said.

The collision occurred in darknessbetween a landing craft and a destroy-er's whale boat. The latter, returnirigsix men to their moored ship, wascrushed by the impact, and all aboardwere thrown intothe water. Picked upby the landing craft, the injured menwere taken to .the Cayuga, which wasmoored near by. Swift action followed.

The survivors were quickly examinedby Surge Lieut. A. L. Halpern, of To-ronto, the Cayuga's medical officer, andhis assistant, PO Germain Bouchard, ofVictoria. One of the injured was foundto be critically hurt, requiring immediatehospital attention. In a matter of sec-onds, Ldg. Sea. Curtin Fitch, of BelmontPark, B.C., was flashing a signal ashorerequesting an ambulance on the dock.The injured man, meanwhile, was al-ready on his way ashore in the landingcraft. Unfortunately, the man died ofhis injuries a few hours later.

In the meantime, while Surg. Lieut.Halpern tre'ated the other injured per-sonnel, two of the ship's stewards, POCecil McLean,of Saskatoon, ancl Ldg.Sea. Charles Thibodeau, of Maymont,Sask., appeared on the scene with fpodand hot coffee for the victims.

After emergency, treatment, the in-jured, most of whom were sufferingfrom shock, exposure, cuts and bruises,were removed ashore to hospital in oneof the Cayuga's boats, which, with Ldg.Sea. Givelin Huzzey of Belmont Parkat the helm, covered the run in recordtime.

The Cayuga later received a messagefrom the base commander expressing"great appreciation for the prompt as.;.sistance rendered personnel involved inthe boat collision".

NAVAL DIVISIONSHMCS Hunter

This being Windsor's centennial year,a h~avy program of ,parades and

other public events lies ahead of HMCSHunter.

The Windsor naval division has alsoundertaken an intensive recruiting driveaimed at achieving a record RCN (R)enrolment. As ,part of the drive andas a means of acquainting the publicwith the work of the division, an openhouse was organized for May 2. Thesend-off speech for the recruiting cam-paign was given by Captain P. D. Budge,chief of staff to the Commanding OfficerNaval Divisions.

The election of officers for the Sea-men's Mess was held on April 5, withthe presidency ,going to Ldg. Sea. FredWhite. AB John McGovern was electedvice-president and Wren Ruth Small,secretary-treasurer.

The Wrens at Hunter are associatemembers of the mess and have full messprivileges except for drill nights.-S.H.

BIRTHSTo Able Seamap Donald Biackbeard, HMCS

Shearwate1', and Mrs. Blackbeard, a daughter.To Able Seaman Scott Burton, HMCS

Stadacona, and Mrs. Burton, a son.To Able Seaman Robert Caza, Albro Lake

Radio Station, and Mrs. Caza, a daughter.To Petty. Officer S. R. Dunn, HMCS Stada-

cona, and Mrs. Dunn, a daughter.To Lieutenant-Commander Earl A. Grant.

HMCS York, and Mrs. Grant, a son.To Able Seaman Roger Giroux. HMCS

Stadacona, and Mrs. Giroux, a daughter.To Lieutenant (SB) R. A. V. Jenkins.

HMCS Stadacona, and Mrs. Jenkins, adaughter.

To Petty Officer Kenneth E..K. Krafft,HMCS C01'nwaUis, and· Mrs. Krqfft, a son.

To Lieutenant C. E.M. Leighton, NavalHeadquarters. and Mrs. Leighton, a daughter.

To Able Seaman Leander Luther, AlbroLake Radio Station, and Mrs. Luther, a son.

To Petty Officer Roy E. McAlpine, HMCSStadacona, and Mrs. McAlpine,· a son.

To Petty Officer Harold MacCullough,HMCS Gtoucester,and Mrs. MacCullough.a son.

To Lieutenant';;:Conlmander .Alec MacRae,HMCS Cornwallis, and Mrs. MacRae. a son.

To CommanderA. D. McPhee, Naval Head-quarters, and Mrs. McPhee, a sol1;o..

To Able Sea~an Allan Moncton. HMCSShearwater, and Mrs. Mot.lcton,a daughter.

To Lieutenant E. S. Parker, HMeS Corn..toallis, and .·Mrs. Parker, a· son.

To Lielttenant G .. D. :Pe~rce, HMCSCorn-walLis, and Mrs. Pearce,· a·daughter.

To •Chief· Petty .. Officer Geotg~ M. Perigo,HMCS Stadacona,and Mrs.. Perigo, .. a SOIl.

To Leading SearrtanWayrte·. Shattuck. Al-bro Lake Radio StatioI1,andMrs. Shattuck.a son.

To Chief PeUyOfficer J. N. Siddons. HMCSCornwalLis, and Mrs. Siddons, a· son.

To Chief Petty Officer. Harry· E. Stains-ley, HMCS Stadacona,' and Mrs. Stainsley, a'daughter.

To Petty Officer Wilbert Stephens, Alder.." grove Radio Station" and Mrs. Stephens, a. daughter.

To Midshipman G. E. Wiese, HMCS Corn-,waLlis, and Mrs. Wiese. a daughter.

To Petty Officer J. C. Wilks, HMCS Corn-'wallis, and Mrs. Wilks, a daughter.

To Ordnance Lieutenant W. L. Wood, HMCSHaida, and Mrs. Wood, a daughter.

To Able Seaman Joseph H. Yeoman, HMCSCornwallis, and Mrs. Yeoman, a son.

Chief and Pelly Officers First Class Leadership Course No. 47 began in Cornwallis on January18 and ended on March 1. Front row (left to right): CPO John Jackson, PO Angus Nelson, CPOJames Alston, Lt.·Cdr. J. B. Young, course officer, CPO John Hedley, PO George McMaster and CPOWilliam Osborne. Centre row: PO William Hope, PO Robert Logie, CPO Arthur Gilbert, Pelly OfficersWilliam Powroz, James Muir, Vincent McCloy, Roderick Bolt and Stanley Wyatt, and CPO ArthurSeible. Back row: PO Walter Caton, CPO Edward Whitehouse, CPO Lovell Parks, PO Ronald Knight,CPO Alfred Gold, PO Allan Horne, CPO Maurice Coates, PO John Little and CPO Gerald Freeman.(DB·3833)

Pictured are the members of Petty Officers' Leadership Course No. 48, which began at Cornwallison January 25 and completed on March 8. Front row (left to right): Petty Officers Boyd Mohns,Henry Burke and Harry Seip; Cd. Writer Officer A. L. G. Hayley, course officer; PO WilliamFluskey, course petty officer, and Pelly Officers James Saunderson and Lloyd Rushton. Centre row:Petty Officers Ernest MacAuley, Cecil Rutherford, Joffre Beaudry, William Oliver, Frederick Court, JohnPoller and William Hogg. Back row: Pelly Officers Desmond Shelley, George Armstrong, WilliamSimpson, Robert Barrie, James Boom, Paul Martin and Frank Sutherland. PO John Preston is missingfrom the photograph. (DB.3890)

Page nineteen

The occasion was the confirmation inrank of graduating cadets of the twouniversities. Admiral Pullen was ac-companied during his inspection of theUNTD cadets by Capt. P. D. Budge,chief of staff to the Commanding OfficerNaval Divisions; Cdr. Guy St. A. Mon-genais, commanding officer of HMCSDonnacona, the Montreal naval divi-sion, and Lt.-Cdr. Max Heayberd, UNTDcommanding officer.

Cadet J. B. Cox, a pre-medical studentat McGill, was the recipient of the dirkpresented to the best all-round cadet ofthe year. Other awards went to: CadetR. B. Ryler, McGill, best second-yearexecutive cadet; Cadet H. Cooper, Mc-Gill, best first-year executive cadet;Cadet (S) A. Bertrand, McGill, bestthird-year supply cadet; Cadet (S) H.G. Dentith, McGill, best secon'd-yearsupply cadet; Cadet (E) Y. Dagenais,U of M, best third-year engineeringcadet; Cadet E. C. Lee, McGill, bestsecond-year engineering cadet; CadetH. Lafleur, U of M, best first-year sea-manship cadet; Cadet R. Dalglish, bestfirst-~'ear communications cadet; Cadet(E) G. DeGagne, U of M, best elec-trical cadet, and Cadet J. E. Singher,McGill, best rifle shot.

A large number of parents and friendsattended the ceremony. Special guestsincluded Msgr. Olivier Maurault, rectorof the University of Montreal; Lt.-Col.J. W. McLean, officer commanding theMcGill COTC; Commodore Paul W. Earl,naval officer in charge, Montreal, andR. C. Stevenson, representing the NavyLeague of Canada. '

HMCS DonnaconaThe task of leadership requires an

officer to place his men before himselfand he will thereby find that in giving,not asking, there is a rich reward, Rear-Admiral H. F. Pullen, Chief of NavalPersonnel, told UNTD cadets of McGillUniversity and the University of Mont-real.

HMCS DiscoveryAn incident during sailing training

on the weekend of April 7 gave animpressive demonstration of the valueof a standby motorboat.

Five dinghies from HMCS Discoverywere sailing in Vancouver harbourwaters when one of the craft, with anofficer and two Wrens on board, cap-sized.

A motor cutter, assigned to emergencyduty during sailing training, had all thecrew on board within three minutes.They were put ashore where a dutydriver from Discovery was waiting andwere taken back to the base, all withinhalf an hour.

Members of the Vancouver divisionstill look back with horror on whatthe weatherman did to them in theopening weeks of the year. A recordsnowfall was dumped on the city, sothat the natives in many cases had toclamber to their rooftops with shovelsto keep their homes from collapsing.

The snowfall meant the closing ofStanley Park, through which Discoveryis approached by land, to general trafficfor two weeks and the resultant can-cellation of two parade nights.

The official opening of the Wrens'mess was observed at Discovery by areception on February 6. A cigarettecase was presented to the former com-manding officer, Cdr. Glen McDonald,who put considerable effort into es-tablishing the mess.

The Call of Duty

THE OTHER EVENING while lookingthrough a scrap book of mine I cameacross a photograph and a page of thewartime supplement of the "LondonGazette" Honours and Awards. Thedeed described and the awards statedon this page made me wonder at thenumber of similar deeds of valour andselflessness which were ·never m~depublic due to wartime secrecy, and havegone unnoticed, except for the next ofkin and those few who were near orinterested, and I felt that perhaps Ishould relate this story.

I knew Lieutenant Thomas Wilkin-son, Royal Naval Reserve, before thewar. He commanded ships in the ChinaTrade and was known throughout theEast as "Tam". A grand person, abachelor of some 45 summers in 1939,fond of life, a. bit of an athlete as sail-ors go, a fine seaman, a raconteur withstories for all; he was a natural gentle-:man, and beloved by all who knew him.I believe I can say that Tam was neverin any doubt when duty called, and myfirst strong recollection of this was dur-

. ing the evacuation of Tsingtao in thewinter of 1936, when ·the Chinese had

.blown up the cotton mills and scuttleda cruiser across the harbour entrance,and the Japanese ~ had lost no time inbombing and strafing the city. Into thisholocaust went Tam to conduct his goodfriends of that port to the safety of·hisship, which I,,. as his second in com-mand, was packing with thousands ofrefugees. But then that is another story.

The outbreak of war found Tam atemporary "rocky" Lieutenant, asproud as all get out, having unshippedfour rings for two rocky ones, and incommand of His Majesty's Ship Liwo,gunboat, and was now employed guard-ing the Malacca Strait entrance to theSouth China Sea. She was a fine littleship of about 1,000 -tons, not unlike theLadybird in appearance, but her arma-ment only consisted of one 4-inch gun,two machine guns, odd rifles and depthcharges. I last saw "Tam" at the Singa-pore Club in 1939 where, over a' coupleof 'whisky sodas, he chafed at his ina-bility to get nearer to home and the Hun,and was envious of my good fortune inhaving completed plans ·to join theRoyal Canadian Navy, which he fondly'imagined meant close grips with theenemy.,

Page twenty

Coming of War Found NoDoubts in Mind of

Old China Hand

A lot of water went under the bridge.The Repulse and· the Prince ofWaleswent down. Malaya became a sinkingship, and on 14th February, 1942, HMSLiwo was· attempting to reach Bataviafrom Singapore with some survivorsfrom battleships and cruisers and alsoa few Army and· Air Force personnel.The enemy entered Singapore as sheleft the harbour.

"Since leaving Singapore the previousday", said the London Gazette, "theship had beaten off four air attacks, inone of which 52 machines took part, andshe had suffered considerable dC:l~age.·Late on the afternoon of the 14th, shesighted two large Japanese convoysahead, the largest convoy being escortedby a heavy cruiser and several destroy-ers. The commanding officer Lieuten-ant T. Wilkinson, RNR, gathered hisship's company together and told themthat rather tlian try to escape, he haddecided to engage the convoy and tofight to the last, in the hope that hemight inflict damage upon the enemy.In making this decision, which drewresolute support from the whole ship'scompany, Lieutenant Wilkinson kne'wthat his ship faced certain destruction,and that his own chances of survivalwere small.

"HMS Liwo hoisted her battle ensign·and made straight for the enemy. Inthe action which followed, the machineguns were used with effect upon the

.crews of all ships in range; the 4-inchgun was fought with such purpose thata large Japanese transport was badly hitand set on fire and other ships,. navaland otherwise, also received a baptismas they attempted to interfere. After

ROK· Naval VeteranStudie.s in ·Canada

Kun Pak, 27-year-old South Koreannaval veteran, finds the· University ofBritish Columbia· tough sledding com-

·,pared to Seoul University with itstwo-hour study day. Thaliks to theefforts of war correspondent Bill Bossand Reginald .Bowering of Victoria,Kun is stUdying .at UBC for his mas-ter's degre~ in political science.

He won a philosophy degree at SeOUlbefore his navy draft. He thinks thereis great need for young politicians inKorea to replace elderly Syngman Rheewhen he dies.

a littl~ over an hour of action, HMSLiwo had been critically damaged andwas sinking. Lieutenant Wilkinsonthen decided to ram his principal target,the large transport which was burningfiercely, and which had been abandonedby her crew.

"HMS Liwo's .gallant fight endedwhen, her shells spent and under heavyfire from the enemy cruiser, LieutenantWilkinson finally ordered abandon ship.He himself remained on board and wentdown with her. There were ten sur-vivors who were later made prisonersof war.,

"Lieutenant ·Wilkinson's valour wasequalled only by the skill with whichhe fought his ship. The Victoria Crosswas bestowed upon him posthumouslyin recognition of his heroism and. self-sacrifice, and of that of all who foughtand died with hin1."

Well, that was the unembroideredstory and some little time ago, to capthis story, I was visited by his survivingFirst Lieutenant, who in the Liwo dayswas Temporary Sub-Lieutenant RonaldStanton, RNR, a great grandson ofGladstone. Ronald received the Dis-tinguished Service Order, and in theaction had charge of the 4-inch gun. Hesurvived by swimming through thenight and being cast up with the re-maining nine survivors of the crew onthe island of Sumatra. While swim-ming many of the crew were killed bystrafing from aircraft; Stanton himselfbeil)g partially scalped by a bullet.Having lashed his scalp on with a pieceof torn clothing he continued to exhorthiS fellows, and· their. kicking and shout-ing evidently kept the many sharks andoth~r denizens of 'those tropical watersat bay.

On reaching the· sh;ore he organisedhis party and, after a rest, they· set outto cross Sumatra with the intention ofgetting a boat on the Western Side andsailing for Australia or Ceylon. Afterdays of jungle hell th~y emerged on theother side in av~ry weak state andunfortunately ran into. a large armedJapanese patrol and were taken prison-

. ers. Stanton and his· fellows thus spentthe rest of the war as prisoners of war.

So that .is the story of the ·lateTemporary Lieutenant Tam Wilkinson,VC, RNR, and his .very gallarit crew.-J.C.L.

Admiral Stephens ReportsIncreased Demands on

Trust Fund

liThe Salvation of Hundredsof Families and Homes"

THE WORK of the Canadian NavalService Benevolent Trust Fundcontinued to increase in 1953, EngineerRear-Admiral G. L. Stephens, RCN(Ret'd), reported at the annual meet-ing in Naval Headquarters on April 12,

There were 832 applications for assist...ance compared to 774 in 1952. The sumof $62,912.83 was paid out in grantsas compa.red to $54,595,08 the previousyear and $85,281.89 was advanced inloans, an increase of $16,014.02.

HThese figures prove conclusively theneed for the Fund and the necessity forcontinuous and increased financial sup-port," said Admiral Stephens, who com-pleted his sixth consecutive term aspresident

The invested capital of the fund asof December 31, 1953, was $2,560,000 atpar value now yielding $74,925 perannum. There was an excess of incomeof $11,548.75 when the books wereclosed but $10,820.15 in grants for as ...sistance remained to be settled.

Admiral HeadsFund for 7tll Term

Engineer Rear-Admiral G. L. Stephens,ReN (Ret'd), was re-elected presidentof the Canadian Naval Service Benevo-lent Trust Fund for his seventh con-secutive term at the annual meeting atNaval Headquarters on April 12.Vice~presid'ents include Captain P.

Barry German, RCN (Ret'd), ottawa;R. C. stevenson, Montreal; Lt.-Cdr ,-at-Arms Wilfred Pember, Victoria, andG. C. DeWolfe, Halifax. Lieut.' (S)Harry McClymont, ottawa, begins hisfifth term as Secretary-Treasurer.

Two new directors were elected.They are Rear-Admiral H. F. Pullen,Oakville, ant., and ottawa, and CPORonald C. Crawford, Pelly, Sask. Re-elected directors are Captain (S) C. J.Dillon, Halifax; Commodore Paul Earl,RCN (R), Montreal; Lieut. (W) Mar-garet E. McDonald, ottawa; A. B.Coulter, Ottawa; CPO Griffith Jones,RCN, (Ret'd), ottawa; CPO D. H.Nelson, Victoria; Cdr. A. C. Bethune,ReN (R), ottawa; Cdr. K. S. MacLach-lan, ReN (R) (Ret'd), Toronto; Lieut.Willard MacKenzie, RCN (R) (Ret'd) ,Halifax, Captain (8) Joseph Jeffery,RCN (R) (Ret'd), London, Ont., andCaptain R. P. White, ReN (R) I Ottawa.The president and vice-presidents alsoserve on the board of directors.

"It is gratifying to note there was anincrease in RCN personal donations of'approximately $1,825 in 1953 over 1952,but unfortunately there was a drop ofsome $3,600 in 1953 from 1952 in dona...tions from ships' funds and messes, al-though more ships were in commissionin 1953.

"It is very pleasing that financial sup-port from naval reserve divisions hasshown a gain in 1953."

On behalf of the directors of the fund,Admiral Stephens' extended thanks tothe various services and organizationswhich gave assistance last year.

Serall Loel{erBolsters Fllnd

The scran locker at HMeS Stadaconais a profitable business-for the NavalBenevolent Fund.

Stadacona's lost-and-found depart-ment contributed $205.62 to the fundin 1953, a contribution Inade up offines paid by owners to redeem ar-ticles and of the proceeds of the saleby auction of unclaimed goods.

The scran bag or locker is an ancientinstitution in warships. Articles whichend up there are often not Hlost" inthe ordinary sense of the word, butleft sculling about the decks.

The Benevolent Fund, not being inthe laundry business, is grateful thatcash fines have been substituted forthe levy of former days-a bar of soap.

These included: Naval Headquarters,the Flag Officers Atlantic and PacificCoast, commanding officers of ships andestablishments and naval .divisions, themembers of their staffs, chaplains~ mem...bers of the Department of Veterans'Affairs, the Red Cross, the CanadianLegion and the many provincial andmunicipal bureaux "whose assistancehas been of the greatest possible helpto the fund".

Admiral Stephens said further thatthe directors are appreciative of the~'cordial relations and splendid co-opera-tion that