HMCS Canada
Encyclopedia
CGS Canada was a Canadian Government Ship that served as a patrol ship in the Fisheries Protection Service of Canada, an enforcement agency that was part of the Department of Marine and Fisheries. She is considered to the nucleus of the Royal Canadian Navy
Royal Canadian Navy
The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...
for her role in training Canadian naval officers and asserting Canadian sovereignty. Canada saw service in the First World War and was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy
Royal Canadian Navy
The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...
as HMCS Canada during that conflict.
Civilian service
CGS Canada was launched at the Vickers, Sons & MaximVickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1904. Upon delivery, the Canada became the flagship for the Fisheries Protection Service of Canada and was instrumental in detaining numerous vessels illegally fishing in Canadian territorial waters. She was equipped with what was then the smallest Marconi
Marconi Company
The Marconi Company Ltd. was founded by Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 as The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company...
wireless telegraph in the world.
She saw extensive use as a training vessel for crew who served throughout the Fisheries Protection Service of Canada squadron. She also saw use as the first ship to train fishermen to become members of Canada's Naval Militia, before the existence of a Canadian naval service. Her participation in Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
fleet exercises in 1905 is considered by some to be the beginnings of Canada's naval activity.
Until 1910, Canada did not have a naval service and relied upon the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
for military force on the high seas. However, British military forces had withdrawn from Canada in 1906, therefore Canadian politicians began to call for the establishment of a domestic naval service.
On 29 March 1909, a resolution was passed in Canada's House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
calling for the establishment of a 'Canadian Naval Service'. The resolution was not successful; however, on 12 January 1910, the government of Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
took the resolution and introduced it as the Naval Service Bill. After third reading, the bill received Royal Assent on 4 May 1910, and became the Naval Service Act, administered by the Minister of Marine and Fisheries at the time. The official title of the navy was the 'Naval Service of Canada' (also informally the 'Canadian Naval Forces'). The first Director of the Naval Service of Canada was Rear-Admiral Charles Kingsmill
Charles Kingsmill
Admiral Sir Charles Edmund Kingsmill was the first Director of the Royal Canadian Navy.Charles Edmund Kingsmill was born at Guelph, Ontario in 1855 and educated at Upper Canada College in Toronto. He was the son of John Juchereau Kingsmill, Crown Attorney for Wellington County and Ellen Diana...
(Royal Navy, retired), who was previously in charge of the Marine Service of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, which included the Fisheries Protection Service of Canada. Several vessels were acquired from the Royal Navy and the Naval Service of Canada changed its name to 'Royal Canadian Navy' on 30 January 1911, but it was not until 29 August that the use of "Royal" Canadian Navy was permitted by King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
.
Meanwhile, following passage of the Naval Service Bill in the spring of 1910 and the pending acquisition of the two cruisers and from the British Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
, the federal government sought to begin training officers and crew for naval service. Without a naval academy, Canada looked to the Fisheries Protection Service of Canada and its method of training officers and crew aboard CGS Canada.
Thus CGS Canada became Canada's first naval training ship and was, as stated by naval historians in Canada, the “Flagship of the embryonic Canadian Navy at the time, symbolic of the evolution of Canada from a dominion within the British Empire to a sovereign nation.”
HMCS Canada
After the First World War broke out in August 1914, the CGS Canada was officially transferred to the Royal Canadian NavyRoyal Canadian Navy
The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...
(RCN). She underwent a refit to become a naval patrol ship which saw her forecastle
Forecastle
Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters...
raised and the Maxim guns for fisheries patrol use were replaced with two 12-pounder and two 3-pounder naval guns. She was commissioned as HMCS Canada in 1915 and served on the Atlantic coast.
On 6 December 1917 she was one of the ships anchored at HMC Dockyard
CFB Halifax
Canadian Forces Base Halifax is Canada's east coast navy base and home port to the Atlantic fleet, known as Maritime Forces Atlantic....
in Halifax Harbour
Halifax Harbour
Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality.-Harbour description:The harbour is called Jipugtug by the Mi'kmaq first nation, anglisized as Chebucto...
during the Halifax Explosion
Halifax Explosion
The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in "The Narrows"...
. She suffered minor damage and one crew member was seriously injured. The crew was sent ashore to lend assistance to the shattered city.
HMCS Canada was decommissioned from the RCN in November 1919 and she resumed her former civilian fisheries patrol duties as CGS Canada before being retired from government service in 1920.
Queen of Nassau
In 1920, the CGS Canada was offered for sale at a price of $25,000. When no one purchased her, she was laid-up in Halifax.After four years of neglect she was sold to an American company and then re-sold to Florida real estate entrepreneur Barron Gift Collier, Sr.
Barron Collier
Barron Gift Collier was an American advertising entrepreneur, who became the largest landowner and developer in the U.S. state of Florida, as well as, the owner of a chain of hotels, bus lines, several banks, and newspapers. He also owned a telephone company and a steamship line.Collier was born...
. Collier renamed her MV Queen of Nassau and pressed her into service shuttling passengers between Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
and Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
. Unfortunately, this was a service for which she was poorly equipped, lacking comfortable overnight accommodations for the island cruise, as well as air conditioning. Passengers rapidly lost interest in the service and once again the ship sat idle and rusting, this time for 18 months in Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay is a lagoon that is approximately 35 miles long and up to 8 miles wide located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, United States. It is usually divided for purposes of discussion and analysis into three parts: North Bay, Central Bay, and South Bay. Its area is...
.
Collier announced some Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
investors were interested in purchasing the ship for service in the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
in June 1926. The ship left Miami on 30 June 1926 for Tampa, Florida
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
to undergo a final inspection before the sale. After stopping twice in the Straits of Florida
Straits of Florida
The Straits of Florida, Florida Straits, or Florida Strait is a strait located south-southeast of the North American mainland, generally accepted to be between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and between the Florida Keys and Cuba. The strait carries the Florida Current, the beginning of...
due to problems with her boilers, she began taking on water on 2 July 1926. At first her three pumps were enough to keep her afloat but when flooding reached her engine room, the boilers cooled and then failed, leaving no power for the pumps. The 18-person crew abandoned ship and shortly after 7:00 pm the vessel slipped below the waves stern-first to a watery grave in 35 fathom
Fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.There are 2 yards in an imperial or U.S. fathom...
s (64 m) of water off Islamorada.
Wreck site
The wreck was located by diversScuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
in 2001. In 2003, the site was the focus of a archaeological investigation by a NOAA team consisting of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary
Monitor National Marine Sanctuary
Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is the site of the wreck of the USS Monitor, one of the most famous shipwrecks in U.S. history. It was designated as the country's first national marine sanctuary on January 30, 1975, and is the only one of the thirteen national marine sanctuaries created to...
, East Carolina University
East Carolina University
East Carolina University is a public, coeducational, engaged doctoral/research university located in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. Named East Carolina University by statute and commonly known as ECU or East Carolina, the university is the largest institution of higher learning in...
, and the National Undersea Research Center
National Undersea Research Program
The National Underwater Research Program is a U.S. government program that operates six facilities for undersea research, including the world's only permanent undersea research facility, Aquarius. The program is operated under the auspices of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, a...
at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, sometimes referred to as UNC Wilmington, is a public, co-educational university located in Wilmington, North Carolina...
. The wreck is encrusted with oysters, as well as sponges, coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
s, and other invertebrate growth.
Archeologists are working toward designating the wreck a U.S. National Historic Site because of the significance it holds in the evolution of Canada's military.