Corvettes Canada: Convoy Veterans of World War II

Kyt · May 4, 2008

Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca

AS WE OBSERVE Battle of the Atlantic Sunday today, we remember those who served and those who gave their lives in the Second World War’s longest continuous battle. Veterans have their own stories to tell but members of the younger generations can have little comprehension of what it was really like to serve in warships in action at sea.

We see films, mostly put together after the events, but it all seems remote. We read books, but usually they deal with the facts of strategy and policy. It remains for the veterans themselves to tell us how it was.

In Corvettes Canada, Mac Johnston blends narrative with reminiscences by veterans in a way that enables readers without personal knowledge of the war at sea to trace its progress against a background of comments from the men who were there. The latter provide a slice of life not found in the history books. Their memories include everything from seasickness on going to sea for the first time to the tension and excitement of tracking a U-boat menacing a convoy to the anger and grief of losing cherished comrades in action. It’s all there.

This is Johnston’s second edition of this tribute to corvettes and their crews, the first appearing in 1994 in hardcover and later in paperback. On the downside for him in retelling this story, some of the veterans whose memories were in the first book are gone. So were many of the photos that had been returned to their owners and were now unavailable. On the plus side, however, Johnston was able to obtain stories from other veterans as well as collect some 300 photos, some not used before, thereby enlarging the book and making it even more graphic.

At the beginning of the war there was a scramble to enlarge and equip all the forces to enable them to participate in what was to become a global conflict. For the navy, this meant the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve, the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, the "Wavy Navy," and, in British Columbia, the Fishermen’s Reserve. Many of the crew members on corvettes came from the RCNVR.

Not only did personnel have to be recruited and trained, but far more than the pitifully few ships available were needed to meet the U-boat threat that was moving ever closer to Canada’s east coast. Convoys were vital to the conduct of the war if there was to be any hope of victory. The U-boats found easy hunting and the losses in personnel and in ships with their vital cargos of men, munitions, equipment and supplies increased.

To meet this threat, small warships were designed especially for escort service. Such ships, writes Johnston, had to be "inexpensive and easily built by Canadian shipyards not accustomed to naval vessels."

Built they were, at an incredible rate and in many cases by men and women who had never imagined that they would ever do such work. By the end of 1941, some 69 corvettes had been built and commissioned with many more to come. The design of the corvettes went through modifications over time. A number of them were named for communities across Canada and usually the people in those towns would adopt "their" ship and its crew, sending gifts, writing letters and avidly following their progress.

"Life aboard a corvette was tough," recalls Doug Murch, but office workers, farm boys and lads out of school became tough and not only survived the harsh conditions but worked with pride and a sense of achievement.

Living conditions, especially in the mess deck, were far from ideal. Comfort was a fond memory. So was mother’s home cooking.

Just eating could be a challenge. The photo on page 92 of HMCS Barrie in rough seas gives you an idea. Try balancing your dinner in that. Consider yourself lucky to get dinner — and to keep it down.

While the conditions were harsh, many of the veterans observe that they had grown up in the Depression years and weren’t used to much and didn’t expect much.

"We were just a bunch of guys who had joined up to fight a war — and not to make a career out of it," sums up Reg Adams.

They learned unfamiliar skills and trades, many of them of little use in civilian life but vital in wartime.

For all the hardship, morale was high and the little ships and their men wrote their own glorious pages in naval history. True, by no means only of the naval service, is the observation by Bill Wineguard, who served as a lieutenant aboard corvettes: "Nothing brings people closer together than to serve under difficult physical conditions with apprehension, excitement and, from time to time, fear as constant companions."

The emotional links forged among the men and with their ships could be strong. As Hoot Gibson, a coxswain aboard the Port Arthur, remarks in the book: "To say goodbye to Port Arthur and to the captain I had served under was very memorable. They had both taken us through bad times and brought us home safely."

Today only one of the little ships survives and you can see her at the Halifax waterfront behind the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. The HMCS Sackville, a Canadian naval memorial, portions of her restored to their wartime appearance, is maintained by the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust, HMCS Sackville. Johnston reminds readers of this and also that they can become personally involved in preserving this monument by becoming members of the trust. ( www.canadiannavalmemorial.org.)

With the approach of the 100th anniversary celebrations in 2010 of the formation of the Royal Canadian Navy, you can expect the appearance of more books on naval history, which is all to the good.

Mac Johnston, an Ottawa resident, has become an authority on the wartime history of Canada’s armed forces, and has been both editor and general manager of the Legion magazine.

Corvettes Canada: Convoy Veterans of World War II Tell Their True Stories by Mac Johnston (John Wiley & Sons., hardcover, 243 pages, illustrated, $39.95)
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Antipodean Andy · May 4, 2008

That'll be worth a read. Love reading about the little ships. Thanks Kyt.

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