Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950

© 2020 John Gilbert and Jerry Proc

The epic journeys of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) schooner St. Roch are well documented. She was captained by Henry Asbjorn Larsen for almost all of her life, and the voyages were highlighted by the two-way transit of the in the 1940s. Later, having transited the Panama Canal, she became the first vessel to circumnavigate North America. An untold story of the famous vessel is her use of wire- less, known as radio after about 1931.1 Launched in 1928, the St. Roch would have been among the first to be equipped with new shortwave or high frequency (HF) equipment. Sailing in both the Western and Eastern during the years 1928−50, the ship had first-hand experience of shortwave wireless as it evolved in the Canadian Arctic. The use of shortwave in the Arctic had been pioneered by Tom Mix on the American ship Bowdoin in 1923. Canadian Jack Barnsley, in Prince Rupert, BC, provided vital commu- nications support for the Bowdoin. Inspired by this example, Commander C. P. Edwards, Canada’s leading wireless authority, arranged for Captain Bernier to take on 20-year- old Bill Choat as his radio operator on the ship CGS Arctic for its annual voyage in the Eastern Canadian Arctic in 1924. Bill Choat’s task was to use and experiment with this new technology. These voyages provided proof of concept of shortwave, and by 1928 it was chosen as part of the equipment to be installed on the St. Roch. J. Lewis Robinson, in his 1945 article “Conquest of the Northwest Passage by RCMP Schooner St. Roch,” wrote “Aided by modern equipment and radio communication, the RCMP boat has been performing feats of Arctic ice navigation equal to those history-making voyages of less than a century ago.” This is the radio communication story of the St. Roch.

General writing about the introduction of wireless A full history of communications in the into various section of the Yukon Tele- Canadian Arctic is beyond the scope graph, noted that “Short or continuous of this article, but part of that history waves had earned respect on land, even shapes the St. Roch experience. The pecu- in mountainous districts. If successful liarities of Arctic communications meant [on the Yukon Telegraph lines] it would that “local” communications were often eliminate delays in transmissions and… with stations many miles away. Stations would save lives as time ran on. …from such as Aklavik, Coppermine, Resolu- the first it was successful, although waves tion Island, and Churchill were just had a habit of skipping. Signals from becoming established as the ship began Hazelton to Atlin or Telegraph Creek its first voyage in 1928. Guy Lawrence, might be picked up in the furthermost

Volume 33, 2020 1 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950 corners of the earth but yet not reach added to the Northwest Territories and either of these places being transmit- Yukon (NWT&Y) network, as it became ted to.” 2 known; “By the end of 1933 the System In the 1920s, communications in the had grown to 12 year-round stations with Western and Eastern Canadian Arctic the summer station at Herschel Island.”5 developed in totally different ways. In the Herschel Island, in the Beaufort West,3 the telegraph service in the Yukon Sea, the Yukon’s most northerly RCMP Territory, which had begun in the late detachment, was to become home base in 1800s, was being challenged by the new the Arctic for the St. Roch. It had initially wireless technology. Wireless had been been established to monitor the declining in the public eye since 1902, when the whaling industry, and by the mid 1920s government had funded Marconi to the the duties of the detachment covered a tune of $80,000 to build a wireless sta- wide range of government responsibili- tion at Table Head in Cape Breton, Nova ties in addition to its key role of police Scotia. An attempt in the early 1920s to duties. Plans for the NWT&Y system in replace part of the telegraph service in the 1924 included an installation at Herschel Yukon by wireless floundered initially on Island. To accomplish this, a communi- the question of tariffs and doubts about cations contingent traveled by train and the reliability of wireless. Notwithstand- ship to Herschel Bay, while equipment ing these concerns, late in 1922 a peti- was separately shipped north from Van- tion signed by business leaders in the couver on the Hudson Bay Company Northwest Territories was sent to the (HBC) steamer Lady Kindersley. The Prime Minister. The petition argued that communications contingent made it, “this territory is on the eve of develop- however the ship sank near Point Bar- ment.… Wireless communication would row, Alaska, and the equipment was lost. revolutionize the transportation business Among the communications contingent and all commercial projects.”4 sent to Herschel Island to await the Reacting in part to the petition, the arrival of the equipment was Corporal Department of the Interior contracted (later Major) Frank Riddell, who will be with the Department of National mentioned later. By 1925, it was clear Defence in 1923 to set up a wireless that Aklavik would be the best north- system in the North. This became the ern terminal station, while Herschel was responsibility of the Royal Canadian downgraded to be a substation during the Corps of Signals (RCCS). The system few weeks per year that navigation there was born on October 20, 1923, with was open. Aklavik Radio Station opened the opening of the station at Dawson, with a 500 watt SITD transmitter and Yukon. The station at Aklavik, estab- a SITD 2 receiver.6 lished in October 1925, and the summer While the Herschel station was only station on Herschel Island, established in to operate as a substation of Aklavik 1926, were to become crucial to the mis- during the annual six weeks of reliable sion of the St. Roch. Other stations were navigation, it remained important to

2 The AWA Review Gilbert and Proc the RCMP. They had offered to provide York City. Because of the peculiar “skip” radio operators for the station, includ- phenomena mentioned earlier, Barnsley ing arranging for their training at the was in a unique position to relay the ship National Defence School at Camp Bor- traffic, press stories, and hot news, such den. Then in 1928 they concluded that as the World Series scores. He became the station should remain open so that the most reliable clearinghouse for traffic the officer commanding RCMP Western to and from the ship. For his efforts he Arctic at Herschel could communicate was presented with a complete Zenith with the St. Roch. But by the time the receiving set.8 His antenna was a “cage” St. Roch made its inaugural voyage, the 75 feet long. We will see a similar “cage” station at Herschel Island had adopted its on the St. Roch later. new “summer” role. By 1930, when the The Canadian Government Ship St. Roch was due to arrive on its second (CGS) Arctic sailed from Quebec in July voyage, the costs of the station were to 1924 on her annual trip to Baffin Bay be covered by the Department of Marine and the Canadian Arctic Islands. Master and Fisheries. In 1931 the station was of the vessel was the famous Canadian operating on a frequency of 193 kHz Arctic explorer Captain Bernier. Com- (1,554 meters) under the call sign VEE. mander C. P. Edwards had arranged for The station did not survive; in 1938 it Bill Choat of Toronto to be the radio was closed, and the equipment moved operator for the voyage. The ship car- to Aklavik.7 ried a shortwave interrupted continuous The use of communications in the wave outfit, transmitting on wavelengths Eastern Canadian Arctic developed more between 100 and 150 meters under the gradually. On June 23, 1923, the Mac- call sign VDM. The test transmitters (see Millan Arctic Expedition ship Bowdoin Fig. 1) were two Admiralty units using had left for the Arctic from Wiscasset, Marconi MT6 tubes, with 2 kW input Maine. The radio operator was Donald to the plate; the tone, to be distinctive, H. Mix, and the ship was equipped with was set at 480 Hz. Choat, whose call sign a complete Zenith installation. Operat- was Canadian 3CO, was to report to the ing under the callsign WNP, the ship Radio Branch, Department of Marine. pioneered shortwave communication Canadian radio amateurs were given spe- in the Arctic, overwintering at Refuge cific authorization to use 120 meters to Harbour in . In these early communicate with the ship. These trials days, relay tests were being carried out benefitted from the Bowdoin’s experience to transmit messages from one side of the in 1923, during which year the two ships country to the other. Jack Barnsley, 9BP, had met at Etah in Greenland. Choat in Prince Rupert, BC, operated the most used the three 80-foot masts of the Arctic northerly relay station during the Trans- as the anchor for his antennas. He also Canada Relay Tests. A weekly story was installed a ground connection of 200 to be sent from the Bowdoin to the North feet of copper plate secured to the side of American Newspaper Alliance in New the ship. The experiments were a success.

Volume 33, 2020 3 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950

have to pass through Hudson Strait. During 1927−28, the Hudson Strait expedition undertook research into the navigation conditions through the strait. The expedition’s innovative use of radio led to the opening of radio facilities in the area. Bases had been established in 1927 at Port Burwell, Wakeham Bay, and Nottingham Island. At the end of the expedition, the equipment was transferred to the Radio Branch, and the Wakeham Bay station was closed. In 1928, while the St. Roch was getting ready to leave on its inaugural voyage, permanent stations were being built at Nottingham Island (VCB), Cape Hope’s Fig. 1. Admiralty transmitter used on the CGS Advance (VAY), and Resolution Island Arctic in 1924. (QST, Dec. 1924, p. 39) (VAW). While there was some custom- ization to fit local conditions, the basic Among other contacts, Choat mentioned equipment for each station was a 50 the CW telegraph signals from station watt transmitter with Kohler generator, 8XS (KDKA), of which more will be a Marconi Type M.S. receiver, and a told later. During its long Arctic sojourn Marconi G3 direction finding receiver.9 starting on August 17, 1924, the ship spent nine days at Dundas Harbour Radio Broadcasting while the police post was being built At first glance, a small ship operating in there. No doubt this cemented the close the Arctic as a broadcast station seems working relationship between the Radio an anomaly. But the RCMP had been an Branch and the RCMP, which lasted early adopter of broadcasting. Morrison for the life of the St. Roch. In his report notes that a wireless antenna was put up to the Radio Branch, Choat concluded in the police detachment at Port Nelson that, properly managed, shortwave was as early as February 1914. Sergeant R. preferable to commercial longwave for H. Walker, commanding the detach- ship-to-shore communication–a factor ment, commented that they were able which influenced Commander Edwards “to receive the daily news from Cape when the time came to outfit the St. Roch Cod, and an occasional message from in 1928. Virginia. This is a great boon here, as we Construction of the Hudson Bay rail- receive the news before it is published in way and the port of Churchill, Manitoba, the papers in civilization.”10 was a major project in the late 1920s. Shortwave radio programs from radio Ships using the port of Churchill would station KDKA in Pittsburgh were highly

4 The AWA Review Gilbert and Proc popular in the 1920s with southerners Montreal, wrote to Edwards announcing serving in the Arctic, although it would the availability of a new receiver suitable be many decades before such services for posts in the North. Later that year he were geared to the needs of traditional submitted a Radio Broadcast Schedule residents of the North. Throughout the for 1929−30. From this time on, radio 1920s, an increasing number of people broadcasting became an important in the Arctic had shortwave receivers, feature of the Arctic. This was further including many RCMP posts. A survey enhanced when, in the mid-1930s, the was carried out to assess the potential of newly formed Canadian Broadcasting shortwave services, and on September Corporation began its Northern Messen- 16, 1927, RCMP Commissioner Cort- ger Services (Messenger), which allowed land Starnes wrote to Commander C. P. people to send messages to friends and Edwards, head of the Radio Branch, with relatives in the North.11 the results of the survey. This included a When the Department of Marine report from then Staff Sergeant Joy on Radio Branch was amalgamated with Ellesmere Island (see Fig. 2), at that time the new Department of Transport on the most northerly location, which ran November 2, 1936, a number of ongoing to dozens of pages. responsibilities were formally acknowl- The following February, George A. edged. This appears in the first Annual Wendt, of Canadian Westinghouse in Report of the Radio Branch 1936−37.

Fig. 2. Alexandra Fiord, Ellesmere Island. Broadcast signals reported from here in 1927. Note the radio frequency (4356 kc) spelled out in white stones, although viewed from shore this is upside down. (Author’s collection)

Volume 33, 2020 5 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950

Special Broadcasts in the skill of the radio operator to select Subarctic Regions the best of poor options at lower HF In the early 1930s, arrangements were frequencies. The St. Roch was fortunate made for the department’s stations at to experience generally good sunspot Coppermine, Coronation Gulf, Chester- conditions during her critical voyages. field Inlet, and Port Churchill, Hudson’s Compounding the issue, in the short Bay; and the Royal Canadian Mounted term the aurora and other factors can Police schooner St. Roch, to broadcast at cause radio “blackouts,”13 when HF com- scheduled hours for the benefit of trad- munication is impossible for days on end. ing posts, settlers, miners, and missions But even during the worst conditions, within range. The broadcasts, which con- the high-power Rugby radio station, at sisted of press, personal messages, etc., 16 kHz, could still be heard. Radio sig- were transmitted by voice in accordance nals would often exhibit a characteristic with the schedule shown in Table 1. “Arctic flutter” and be subject to fading. By 1928, shortwave had come into its Practical Limitations of own, and the days of spark had officially Shortwave (HF) radio come to an end.14 Stations were assigned Radio communication in the Arctic is crystal controlled frequencies that could constrained by a number of natural phe- be selected by the operator, depending on nomena. Over the long term, the range conditions; this meant that they trans- of communications is subject, as in the mitted on pre-assigned frequencies and rest of the world, to the sunspot cycle,12 anyone with a proper receiver could tune but the effects are more severe. At the them in. Table 2 shows the frequency low point in the cycle, the higher HF assignments of three stations of impor- frequencies are unusable, leaving it to tance to the St. Roch.

Table 1. Voice broadcast schedule.

6 The AWA Review Gilbert and Proc

Table 2. Frequency assignments of stations important to St. Roch.

Wireless on the Voyages and Lt. Commander C. P. Edwards, (see of the St. Roch Fig. 3) head of the Radio Branch in the On March 31, 1926, the expenditure early days.17 of a price not to exceed $37,500 was The St. Roch was designed as a sup- approved for an “auxiliary schooner for ply vessel and floating detachment for the use of the RCMNP [the earlier title the Arctic and was launched at the end of the RCMP] at Herschel Island, YT.” of May 1928. A map of her voyages may The tender from Burrard Dry Dock Co. be seen in Fig. 4.18 Her wireless facili- for the construction of the schooner was ties were the responsibility of the Radio confirmed on September 29, 1927.15 Stu- Division of the Department of Marine art Taylor Wood, later commissioner and Fisheries, and the radio equipment of the RCMP, was responsible for the was initially purchased along with other building of the St. Roch and continued supplies and equipment such as tarpau- to take a personal interest in the ship lins, rubber boots, and photographic and its activities throughout her life.16 He knew the North well, having lived in the Yukon as a young man, and later as commanding officer of the Western Arctic from 1919−1924. The years of the St. Roch were marked by the financial constraints of the Great Depression and the war years. The success of the ship’s mission depended on strong and support- ive leadership, and in this she was blessed with its long-time captain, Inspector Fig. 3. Lt. Commander C. P. Edwards, long- , three RCMP commis- time head of the Radio Branch. (Radioalumni sioners (Starnes, MacBrien and Wood), .ca)

Volume 33, 2020 7 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950 supplies. Batteries for the first radio set effort and by limitations imposed on were ordered under a separate purchase communications by radio silence. The order. A standard order for all purchases third period concluded with a voyage commanded “strict economy is to be exer- back to captained by Henry cised in the purchasing of these supplies.” Asbjorn Larsen, where the ship became a The wireless story of the St. Roch falls National Historic Site at the Vancouver naturally into three time periods. The Maritime Museum. first period was the decade 1928−38, before the Northwest Passage voyages, The Years 1928−39 which covers a period of severe spend- The maiden voyage of the ship, sailing ing restrictions. Radio operators were from Vancouver on June 28, 1928, and called on to innovate and adapt to Arctic wintering at Langton Bay, east of Her- conditions. The second period covering schel Island (see Fig. 4), tested the wire- the next five years, 1939−45, the years less equipment and set the pattern for of WWII and the epic Northwest Pas- future voyages. The basic wireless set had sage voyages, the vessel followed well- already been purchased, but the installa- established patterns but was restricted tion of the set, the antenna, and the tools by the financial constraints of the war and supplies needed to keep it running,

Fig. 4. Map showing wintering-over places for the St. Roch. (Author’s collection)

8 The AWA Review Gilbert and Proc

had to wait until the arrival of F. W. on duty all the time, but he would be on “Fred” Sealey. Selection of the ten-man duty for scheduled communications or crew was underway in May 1928. Sealey, “skeds” with other Arctic stations and from the Radio Branch of the Depart- headquarters. ment of Marine, was the last to arrive, As was the practice at all northern on June 7, 1928. He had previously been stations, “other related duties” were part a Marconi operator, having sailed with of everyone’s responsibilities. On the the Robert Dollar between Vancouver and St. Roch, the radio operator was expected, Yokohama, Japan. By the time he arrived, as a member of the crew, to take turns there was a hectic rush to get the ship on watch and to share in the day-to-day ready to leave. Sealey ordered what he chores around the ship. The substance could, including a typewriter, essential of communications would, of course, for an operator copying Morse code, but have changed each year to reflect current also useful for administrative duties on conditions. The following highlights of the ship. The June 28 date was fixed to Sealey’s experience would have been typi- allow the vessel time to navigate through cal for subsequent voyages of the ship. the Arctic ice and around Alaska. With One of Sealey’s responsibilities was a scant three weeks before sailing, there monitoring the news. The loss of North- simply was not enough time for every- west Passage pioneer thing that needed to be done. was of great interest to Larsen and the Sealey’s primary responsibilities were crew. Amundsen had been hunting for passing messages about the ship’s busi- the airship/dirigible Italia. Under its ness and communication with shore leader, , it had crashed stations on navigational matters. His on May 25 while returning from a flight official duties, and those of all subsequent to the Pole. Sealey tracked the news as it operators, were to: unfolded and reported to the ship’s crew “Carry out his duties and watches when parts of Amundsen’s plane were under the direction and control of the found later in the summer. captain, who will check all messages sent When they entered the Bering Sea, and be handed copies of all messages Sealey had to provide advance warning received,” and “He will be responsible of the ice conditions ahead. He contacted for all stores and spare parts issued to the steamer Victoria, then at Nome, him, and will keep a record of all replace- Alaska, to learn that ice conditions were ments.” 19 unfavourable to proceed. It was decided Larger vessels, and land stations, to layover at Dutch Harbour, where they had at least two operators to cover waited for three days until Sealey made the 24-hour cycle. There was only one contact with the Boxer, which reported operator on the St. Roch, although on that the Bering Strait was free of ice. some voyages another member of the After entering the Bering Strait and crew could substitute in an emergency. crossing the Arctic Circle, Sealey was in It was impossible for the operator to be contact with other ships and with Point

Volume 33, 2020 9 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950

Barrow. They were able to proceed to Barrow and thence into the Beaufort Sea around July 27, in time to see the sun set for a few minutes at midnight. On July 30, they passed Demarcation Point and re-entered Canadian waters, where they anchored at Herschel Island.20 During the voyage to Alaska, Sealey had maintained two wireless schedules a day, but by the time they arrived at Herschel Island on July 24, the reper- cussions of their hectic departure from Vancouver had caught up with them. Their radios had been unserviceable for days, and no doubt Sealey was eager to find supplies and test gear at Herschel to fix the problem. Not being able to contact Herschel by radio, they did not learn until they arrived there that a major influenza epidemic had devastated the area, with many having died as a result. From Herschel they headed east. Fig. 5. Henry Larsen, long-time captain of the Larsen mentions in his biography that St. Roch. (Photo provided by Doreen Riedel when they reached on Larsen) , Amundsen’s old ship Bay Maud was anchored in the bay. navigator, and after bringing the St. Roch Larsen commented: “I found it sad to out of the Arctic in 1948, he followed a see Amundsen’s fine ship as just another highly successful career as superinten- floating radio station.” Sadly, no record dent with the RCMP, retiring in 1961. has been found to elaborate on this piece Langton Bay, a protected harbour, of radio history. had been chosen as winter quarters. They On August 28, future superintendent were able to winter-in early, built a frame Henry Larsen21 was officially appointed for the ship’s deck, and stretched canvas skipper and chief navigator of the vessel over it. In mid-October, when they were (see Fig. 5). He remained her captain for frozen-in, Sealey would have run anten- most of the remaining life of the ship. He nas out onto the ice. As the only radio selected the ship’s radio operators, and operator, and theoretically on duty 24 his autobiography and memoirs reveal hours a day, he would have taken the rare strong support and appreciation for the opportunity to explore the surrounding operators and equipment. Larsen gained land. He and Larsen went on such a hike, a reputation as an outstanding Arctic during which a strong wind came up, and

10 The AWA Review Gilbert and Proc they were unable to regain the ship. They with ongoing events. Sealey was able had to take shelter in an earth cave until to intercept news from Aklavik about getting back in contact with the ship the the winter mail, and arrangements were following day. made to pick up the mail for the ship. Sealey established the practice of con- Good news often came by radio; for tacting headquarters and exchanging example, Henry Larsen heard that he messages with other posts throughout had been promoted to corporal as of the the North, and this was followed by suc- first of April. cessive operators. At first, he was not able Listening to radio broadcasts was a to communicate with Aklavik because major leisure-time activity for the ship’s of the “skip” phenomena noted earlier, crew. At different times there was a radio but could communicate with Notting- receiver in the forecastle and the radio ham Island, 1,100 miles away in Hud- room, and this kept them up to date with son Strait. Messages were then sent to news from the outside world. Ottawa via that route.22 Sergeant Ander- The Annual Report of the RCMP ton, Officer in Charge of the St. Roch (1930) states: “Broadcasts not of a con- detachment while in the ice, had Sealey fidential nature were broadcast from send his end-of-the-year (1929) report by St. Roch at Langton Bay to detachments.” radio to headquarters. Instructions came It further comments: “Two-way com- back from headquarters via Aklavik to munication between settlements in the the ship. An example of such an instruc- North is perhaps not far distant.” tion, in February 1929, was to send out While Sealey was the sole official a patrol to search for two trappers who radio operator on board the ship, Terry had not been heard from. Parsloe, a radio amateur, was also a crew On February 7, 1929, Sgt. Ander- member on this initial voyage. He was to ton wrote to the commanding officer on spend several years at Bernard Harbour Herschel Island with a glowing report in Coronation Gulf, from where he kept of the radio programs heard on their in touch with the St. Roch when she over- Northern Electric broadcast receiver over wintered in Tree River in the early 1930s. the winter. Radio station KDKA was the After the ship returned to Vancouver, most reliable, and radio station CKY, arriving on September 23, 1929, Fred Winnipeg, was consistent. They were Sealey left, but his recommendations for using an aerial of about 20 feet taken improvements were implemented during from the masthead to a 16-foot pole on the refit. A new wireless room “aft of the the ice. Use of the radio was limited; companionway” was built, resulting from they had not been able to consistently Sealey’s report that the radio room leaked charge the wet cells and Fuller inert cells and was small, dark, and noisy. as the auxiliary engine could not be run He was then appointed as the first continuously.23 officer in charge of the new station at Monitoring other stations was an Coppermine, from where he made more important part of maintaining contact suggestions for communications in the

Volume 33, 2020 11 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950

Arctic. Sealey later became a radio inspec- communications. He also copied the tor and retired as head of the DOT dis- press to bring news to the crew, and on trict office in Victoria in 1967. During October 6, 1930, noted hearing about the 1930, Larsen mentions a radio hut at R101 crash, one of the worst airship acci- Coppermine but its history is not known. dents of the 1930s. During this time he When the St. Roch left on its second, was in radio contact with Frank Riddle, and longest voyage (1930−4), the radio VEE, at Herschel Island. operator was Herbie Holt. Unfortunately, On October 16 he mentions playing he contracted appendicitis and returned chess. Later, playing chess by radio was to Vancouver when the ship reached one of the leisure activities on the ship. Dutch Harbour, Alaska. Crew member Once his antennas were set in the ice, Jim Davies acted as radio operator until Duke began contacting radio amateurs, the ship reached Herschel Island, where initially in Canada and the United States. they waited for the new operator, John From November 10, 1930, radio amateurs Duke, to join them. He arrived, having in western Canada relayed messages from travelled part of the way by plane, and the ship to family members in the south. the ship left immediately on a patrol and Often, these amateurs were located in the resupply mission. Their summer duties hometowns of crew members. Charlie completed, they arrived on September 18, Harris, in Edmonton, who dealt with 1930, at Tree River, or Kuulugaaluk, on much of the traffic, was still handling Coronation Gulf, some 80 miles east of northern traffic into the mid-1950s.25 Coppermine, where they spent the next Duke’s crystals would have meant trans- four winters. Once they were frozen-in mitting outside the amateur bands and, for the winter, they put up the masts for as was the practice at the time, working the radio and stretched canvas over the cross band (transmitting and receiving entire ship. on different radio frequency bands) with John Duke kept a diary document- amateurs. ing his radio work, his occasional fish- Duke continued with the radio ing trips for dog food, his visits with broadcasts “not of a confidential nature” Fred Sealey (by then at Coppermine), begun by Sealey at Langton Bay. He and visitors to the ship. Visitors such refers to these as “phone schedules,” per- as Richard Finnie,24 and perhaps also haps to differentiate them from public crew members, had to pay tariffs to use broadcasts. Duke would copy news from the radio. Duke mentions going ashore CW circuits. Crew members, such as A. at Coppermine to settle the accounts. H. Owen-Jones, would then “broadcast” On October 1, 1930, Duke began commentary and play music, perhaps taking weather observations. Two-way using the ship’s gramophone. These communications to this point had only “phone” transmissions were made sev- been CW, but having set up regular eral times a week at 2 p.m. and 7:55 p.m. schedules with Aklavik (VEF) and Cop- Duke, who had arrived in the North permine (VBK), he began testing voice by airplane, made a point of noting plane

12 The AWA Review Gilbert and Proc arrivals and departures there. For exam- Walsh delivering a telegram with the ple, on March 9, 1931, Wop May arrived news that he was a father–his daughter by plane at Coppermine. On March 18, Karen Doreen having been born two the first winter plane left Aklavik. Duke days before in Vancouver. was later associated with King Edward In July 1936, for the first time, the High School in Vancouver, well known Commissioner of the RCMP, Sir James for its courses to prepare students to MacBrien, travelled into the by become radio operators on board ship. small floatplane and visited the ship. He Jim Davies took over the radio duties showed great understanding of the prob- again for the 1933−34 season, after lems faced in the Arctic. While no deci- which the ship returned south. sions were taken, the idea of the St. Roch The years 1935−37 saw the St. Roch completing the Northwest Passage, a head back into the Arctic, wintering long-standing personal interest of Henry for two years at Cambridge Bay with Larsen, was broached during his visit.28 Tommy Welsh as the operator. Dur- Ice conditions varied from year to ing these years, radio networks such as year, but the summer of 1937 was par- the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), ticularly bad and radio was to play a big the RCMP, and government networks role. The ship was in a critical situation expanded in the Arctic and some became in Coronation Gulf when they learned outstations of the NWT&Y network. that the HBC ship St. James was in dif- “Almost all traffic handled to and from ficulty. The two ships managed to get them was by voice as it was extremely dif- loose and were drifting together. The ficult to procure capable civilian Morse St. Roch survived but the St. James sank operators willing to work in such remote on August 6, and the crew of the St. Roch areas.…” 26 came to their aid. The extensive HBC radio system in For the 1938−39 season, the ship the Arctic was started and maintained by was again sent to Cambridge Bay, with Donald Graham Sturrock (1914−1943). radio operator V. R. Josephson, but the He set up a radio station for company ship was recalled to Vancouver with the use at Cambridge Bay in 1934 and used outbreak of World War II. it to communicate with the government radio station at Coppermine. Sturrock The War Years 1940−1945 was in regular contact with the St. Roch During the war years, the St. Roch and played chess over the radio with the accomplished its epic Northwest Pas- crew.27 Sturrock enlisted when war was sages as well as a short supply mission declared and, sadly, was reported missing in 1943 in the Eastern Arctic. and presumed killed on May 29, 1943. Leaving Vancouver on June 9, 1940, The importance of the radio for keep- the radio operator for the west-east tran- ing in touch with families is highlighted sit was 21-year-old Edward “Dean” Had- in Henry Larsen’s autobiography, where ley, 29 the youngest member of the crew. on November 6, 1935, he reports Tommy He was also the detachment clerk, whose

Volume 33, 2020 13 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950 duties included managing the paper- was imposed on users of radio commu- work associated with the detachment and nications, although this does not appear keeping track of stores. The radio cabin to have been seriously enforced in the was “aft [of the cabin for the skipper Arctic. It is unclear how much commu- and the detachment office]. On the port nications were permitted for the St. Roch. side was the companion-way to the aft During 1942, the RMS Nascopie was quarters and the radio cabin.”30 sailing in the North and was said to be The radio situation for the five war under mandatory radio silence. The HBC years was quite different from that in the posts were not regulated, however, on earlier period. In 1939, C. P. Edwards the theory that the Axis powers already had sent out a directive shutting down knew where they were.31 amateur radio for the duration of the The winter of 1940 was spent frozen- war (see Fig. 6). Further, radio silence in at Walker Bay, from where Hadley

Fig. 6. Suspension of amateur radio licences September 5, 1939. (Radioalumni.ca)

14 The AWA Review Gilbert and Proc regularly exchanged communications battle, and on September 11, 1941, “Prep- with Bill McLean, the DOT operator at arations were then made to spend the Coppermine (VBK). Without amateur winter in Pasley Bay, close to the North radio, personal messages were also sent, Magnetic Pole on Boothia Peninsula, and but paying for them was a problem. Had- the news was radioed outside.”33 ley wrote: “I charged the cost of the per- During the winter of 1941, frozen-in sonal messages to my personal account at Pasley Bay, their official work, man- with the Bank of Montreal and collected aged by radio messages, continued. For from the crew when we got ‘outside.’” example, they received orders to carry Radio broadcasts, both reception out a census of the region during the and transmission, were an important winter. Radio communications with part of Hadley’s work on this voyage, other stations in the Arctic was impor- particularly in the winter of 1940. The tant. For example, in January 1942 they news from Europe was of great interest received a message that John Friederich to those crew members with family con- was leaving from Cambridge Bay to nections in European countries. visit the ship in Pasley Bay. A month The St. Roch still held its broadcast later, when he had not arrived, Hadley, licence, VGSR, and would broadcast monitoring messages between Cam- occasional news and music on 670 kHz. bridge Bay and Ottawa, learned that Although there was no regular schedule, Friederich had appendicitis–the major listeners would be forewarned by short- fear of anyone who lived in the Arctic. wave that there would be a broadcast. A plane was found in Ontario, which The Northern Messenger Service could homed in on the radio signal at Cam- be heard on Saturday evenings. Messages bridge Bay, and Friederich was flown to could be sent to Churchill, Manitoba, Fort Smith, where he was operated on and retransmitted over land lines to the and subsequently recovered. outside. Brief one-minute messages could Once free of the ice in the summer be sent via Messenger and the crew could of 1942, the ship completed its transit of hear familiar voices from the south on the Northwest Passage, arriving in Hali- board the ship. fax, Nova Scotia, on October 11, 1942. Connections with family were par- The winter of 1942−43 was spent in ticularly welcomed at Christmas, and on Halifax, and in 1943 the ship took on a Christmas Day, 1940, the climax of the three-month voyage of supply to RCMP simple celebrations aboard the St. Roch detachments in the Eastern Arctic. came when Dean Hadley began picking In preparation for its 1944 voyage, up messages on the ship’s radio. Sgt. Far- returning to Vancouver via the north- rar wrote: “Each of us heard a recorded ern route of the Northwest Passage, the message from someone we knew.”32 St. Roch went through a refit at Dart- Larsen had made every effort to mouth, NS, sixteen years from its launch complete the eastern voyage through the date. Despite the financial restrictions Northwest Passage but the ice won the of the war, a much larger deckhouse

Volume 33, 2020 15 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950 and individual cabins for the crew were Cambridge Bay, arriving about the mid- constructed, as well as an upgrade of dle of September 1945, where it contin- the power plant and the installation of ued its usual duties. Log entries for their navigational equipment. They sailed voyage around Alaska show that radio from Dartmouth shipyards on July 19, reports were becoming a useful asset, 1944. By now electronic direction find- always recognizing that the navigational ing had become part of the navigation skills of the captain were paramount. aids on the vessel. On this trip, Larsen For example, the ship’s log of July 22, mentions, around August 2, 1944, they 1945, reads “Anchored off Wainwright, obtained a radio bearing from Resolu- Alaska…. Wireless report from Point tion Island (a station they had contacted Barrow that heavy ice is solid at that in the 1930s from Tree River). Having point. Ice coming in on the shoreline reached Holman Island on September at 18:00.” Again, in the ship’s log for 4, 1944, “Larsen received radio instruc- July 26: “Further wireless report received tions from Ottawa to proceed outside to from Point Barrow that heavy ice is still Vancouver and to complete the coast-to- packed solid to the shoreline.” coast voyage if he could.”34 Henry Larsen wrote in his report Some of the correspondence from about the Northwest Passage 1940−1942 the St. Roch was sent via one of the land and 1944: “Whilst there, we acted as a stations over public communications wireless station and assisted the planes as circuits. An example is a message sent a radio beacon supporting the Exercise via Coppermine on September 6, 1944. Muskox.” 36 Numbers were substituted for place Operation Muskox, carried out in the names; in this case, Walker Bay was early part of 1946, was a military exer- “number fifteen.”35 cise organized by the Canadian Army Later in the voyage, when there was a involving 48 members of the Army danger that they might not get through, driving 11, 4½-ton Canadian-designed they were in radio contact with Point snowmobiles. They were joined by three Barrow and learned that the ice pack was American observers in an American- solid to the shore and that the season was made snowmobile called a “Weasel” the worst in years. Larsen had to weigh as well as an observer from the Royal the information from the radio stations Canadian Navy and a number of scien- against his own lifetime judgement and tists. The Royal Canadian Air Force pro- experience—finding their way through vided airdrops of supplies. The mission the ice, and thus completing their amaz- of Muskox was to test the mobility of a ing 86-day passage, arriving at Vancou- small air-supported mechanized force in ver on October 16, 1944. the Arctic in winter. The exercise team arrived at the St. Roch at Cambridge Bay The Post-War Voyages 1945−50 on March 15, 1946. They stayed for about Post-war, 1945−46, the ship returned a week, changing engines and tracks on from Vancouver to its old location at their vehicles. During this week, military

16 The AWA Review Gilbert and Proc aircraft landed at Cambridge Bay and transmissions would follow the curva- communicated with the ship on her ture of the earth. When operational, very “guard frequency” of 6.24 MHz. tall antennas were needed, and as part of One of the experts with “Muskox” Operation Beetle, free-standing towers was Larsen’s old friend Frank Riddle, 633 feet high were erected at Cambridge who had been a corporal in 1928 at Her- Bay, NWT; Skull Cliff/Barrow, Alaska; schel Island, a sergeant at Tuktoyaktuk, and at Kittigazuit, NWT. and was now a major with the RCC. Smith, who continued the practice Larsen describes him as “one of the of reporting on the outside news, noted most versatile and practical men in that that he would search out the results of undertaking.”37 horse races in the south. He later became Aircraft flying in the area needed the operator of a horse ranch at Lac La a beacon for navigation purposes, and Hache. the St. Roch was a natural place for it. They left Cambridge Bay in August, However, operator L. C. Smith was alone and on the return trip to Vancou- and could not possibly provide 24-hour ver, Captain Larsen was arrested and service. Smith solved the problem by detained overnight by the Russians building a beacon. He rigged up the when he anchored off Large Diomede motor of an old electric gramophone Island. For once radio let them down. with a contraption of a disk of plywood They had been unable to communicate and pulleys using heavy rubber bands to with the Russians by radio and had to obtain the proper speed and tension. The resort to semaphore—a skill no longer disk was notched with Morse characters known to radio operators. They arrived signalling VGSR. Several of the visitors in Vancouver on September 26, 1946, came on board to see the beacon and thus completing their eleventh winter found it hard to believe that they had in the ice. tuned in on this contraption. The ship wintered over at Herschel This, the fourth winter spent at Cam- Island in 1947−48, having supplied bridge Bay, was their longest and coldest. detachments in the Western Arctic. Most Radio operator L. C. Smith wrote of of the crew were flown out for Christmas. the bitter cold: “When tightening up On her return to Vancouver, the St. Roch the rivets on the boat plates, the rivets was laid up. were so brittle you had to be careful with On January 25, 1949, it was decided a hammer not to hit too hard as they that the Naval Department, which was would go right through.”38 already overhauling the vessel, would Larsen wrote that Cambridge Bay take over responsibility for the radio was changed forever that year. To meet equipment, bringing to an end an a requirement for long-range navigation arrangement with Department of Trans- in the Arctic, the area was surveyed to port, which had lasted since 1928.39 find a location for Loran towers. Loran In 1950, the St. Roch sailed from Van- used a frequency of 180 kHz and its couver to Halifax by way of the Panama

Volume 33, 2020 17 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950

Canal, becoming the first ship to circum- the radios and other electrical devices navigate North America. without running the main engine. In 1954, with Henry Larsen again Gradual improvements to the pro- in command, the St. Roch returned to pulsion equipment of the St. Roch had Vancouver by way of the Panama Canal been made by 1945. The main engine of for preservation as a museum vessel.40 the schooner was a Union Diesel model 55, with 300 hp, which drove the ship’s THE RADIO INFRASTRUCTURE main generator, a 5 kW Electric Tamper Power Sources and Equipment Company, at 120 volts, Henry Larsen, in The Big Ship, wrote that 42 amps. the original ship had an auxiliary 8 hp gas engine that was used for the wireless Equipment transmitter and smaller loads. Shortly after being launched, the ship Batteries were charged from was fitted with a Canadian Marconi 1928−1943 by a 150 hp, six cylinder, 100W4 main transmitter and a 100 watt, four cycle, Union Diesel power plant. medium wave (375 to 1,428 kHz) unit An auxiliary engine, a Russel Newbury used for ship-to-ship or ship-to-shore diesel engine Type D2, 18 hp at 1,000 work. Also installed was a 50 watt short- rpm, was added in 1940. It drove a 3.4 wave experimental transmitter; this was kW Pratt and Whitney generator at an HF set for communicating with sta- 1,000 rpm, which produced 110 volts tions beyond the range of the main set, at 31 amps used for battery charging. such as the area around Hudson Bay, These generators carried, among other or possibly Ottawa (see Fig. 7). In the loads, one set of Hart batteries–56 cells 1928 to 1932 period, three receivers were in series–110 volt C.K.Y. type 15 plates, installed covering, in all, a frequency 14 trays.41 A model 301 ammeter was range from 15 meters to 20,000 meters. used to monitor battery charging cur- Two of these receivers were an MST rent. During the winters from 1940−42, tuner with MSA amplifier and a Cana- they charged the batteries every five days dian Marconi 4VSW-6 receiver. The to provide lighting and power for the third receiver type remains unknown. It transmitters. should be noted that although the wire- Sixteen years after being launched, less equipment was state of the art for St. Roch was refitted at Dartmouth, 1928, the ship lacked navigational aids NS, in preparation for her 1944 voy- (a functional gyro and an echo sounder) age. The 150 hp diesel engine was and was thus heavily dependent on the replaced with a 300 hp diesel, a battery navigational skills of Captain Larsen. charger was installed in the radio room, When Sealey reported for duty on and a new battery bank on a platform the ship in the summer of 1928, he had in the engine room. A small gasoline to prepare a requisition for radio sup- auxiliary engine was used to charge the plies for the running of the ship’s sta- batteries. This allowed the crew to use tion. This included items such as spare

18 The AWA Review Gilbert and Proc

Fig. 7. St. Roch radio gear 1928−29. (Source: Parks Canada St. Roch photograph collection, HSIN-20-03) tubes, headsets, a voltmeter, multiple MHz. On the 1940−42 voyage, Hadley plugs, insulators, lightning arrestors, describes using for broadcasting a modi- copper wire, and a radio set (which fied Marconi 100W4. A modulator was one assumes was additional to the one already installed). In the same requisition he asked for four “Layerbilt B-25 bat- teries, 28 Fuller inert cells, and a radio loudspeaker.” The next day he added more tools. For his reference library, he purchased Radio Aids to Navigation and a radio licence book. He later submitted a requisition for batteries and radio com- ponents for the 1929 season (see Fig. 8). In the spring of 1936, the St. Roch wireless office was supplied with a Gen- eral Radio model 358 wavemeter. In 1938, an order was placed for the acqui- sition of an HRO standard receiver to cover the frequency range of 1.7 to 30 MHz. This also included an unspeci- Fig. 8. St. Roch radio gear 1930−33. (Source: fied transmitter (similar to the Marconi Parks Canada St. Roch photograph collection, 200PT) to operate on 6.31 and 12.32 HSIN-30-02)

Volume 33, 2020 19 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950 added to the transmitter using a pair of The set was fitted in 1954 as a navigation 204 vacuum tubes. aid for the trip from Halifax to Vancou- In 1944, prior to the St. Roch’s west- ver through the Panama Canal. This was east Northwest Passage transit, the Mar- to be the last voyage for the St. Roch. coni 100W4 transmitter was replaced with the Marconi LTT-4 transmitter (which Antennas is currently installed on the ship at the Photos of the ship in 1928 show it was Vancouver Maritime Museum (VMM)). equipped with a “cage” antenna–a con- Other equipment at this time was: ductor made of several wires held apart by wooden spreaders–popular in the ■■ Marconi 200PT transmitter. This 1920s and similar to the antenna used was the main transmitter. by Fred Barnsley mentioned earlier (see ■■ National HRO receiver. This was Fig. 9). Sealey requisitioned wire and the main receiver. A new Vibrapack insulators, no doubt for the antennas power supply was replaced just prior they intended to erect on the ice when to the voyage. the ship was in its winter quarters. A ■■ Marconi 3V SW-5 receiver. This was requisition for radio equipment specifi- the emergency receiver. Marconi cally states that no antennas or masts receivers in the model range of 3V were required. Given the orders that SW-x (three valve, shortwave) covered “strict economy is to be exercised in the 100 kHz to 21 MHz. purchase of supplies,” the cost of com- mercial antennas may well have been In 1947, the Marconi 200PT trans- prohibitive. A pair of Marconi 70 foot mitter was replaced with a Collins masts in 1921 was $1,180. 32RA-8 transmitter. This then became On the second voyage, John Duke the main transmitter until replaced with went to great lengths to erect anten- a Canadian Marconi CM11 transmitter nas while frozen-in at Tree River. in 1951. This was the last transmitter to After some early difficulties when his be installed, and it was removed when antenna masts had shifted with the ice, the vessel was reconfigured to its 1944 he described his antenna on November state. 1, 1930, as “Southwest pole 40 feet high, In June 1949, the Marconi 200PT- aerial 64'8½", feeders off 6'2½" from 4C transmitter was decommissioned. centre, spaced 14" apart” (see Fig. 10). That same month, the Marconi 150PT3 This antenna setup lasted well into June transmitter, which had been replaced 1931. On June 11 he overhauled the ship’s by a Collins transmitter, was declared antenna–lengthening the aerial by one surplus. A Bendix DR-5B depth sounder foot and resetting the guy wires. He also was also fitted to the ship in 1951. installed an aerial counterpoise on deck An LN-16 X-band radar, designed for 23.4 meters, the ship still being in and developed by the National Research solid ice at the time. The ship left Tree Council, was built by Canadian Marconi. River on July 14.

20 The AWA Review Gilbert and Proc

Hadley, from 1940 to 1942, adds check the antennas as a “unique experi- another dimension to the antenna story, ence. All the things you might need to describing his first time up the mast to make repairs, you take with you, then

Fig. 9. St. Roch in 1928 showing the cage antenna. (Source: City of Vancouver Archives, public domain, AM54-54 BoN243)

Fig. 10. Antennas on the St. Roch in the ice at Tree River. (Source: Parks Canada St. Roch photo- graph collection, HSFR-30-12)

Volume 33, 2020 21 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950 either climb up the rigging or use a over. The two decades after 1954 were bosun’s chair to get up high enough to the heyday of HF radio communica- reach the antenna yardarm…the motion tions in the North. Even the smallest of the ship is amplified as you go higher community could boast of at least one and the view is spectacular.” radio station, and every community was Finally, the antennas were reconfig- festooned with antennas. This era came ured during the 1944 refit and can be to an end early in 1972, when satellite seen in Fig. 11. communications came to the North and dishes replaced wire antennas. Prologue Ernie Lyall, who spent 65 years in the In 1954, the St. Roch was sold to the North and knew the St. Roch well, wrote: City of Vancouver. The schooner is now “There was no such thing as voice radio a National Historic Site and the main early on, so we had to learn the key. We attraction at the Vancouver Maritime started out with Morse code on the radio Museum. to send and receive all our messages.… Wireless and aviation had opened up By 1949 [at Spence Bay] we had radios. the Arctic during the operational life- There was a two-way radio at the post, time of the St. Roch. Her mission was but we had an ordinary receiving set in accomplished and her Arctic days were our home too. What I liked listening to

Fig. 11. St. Roch antennas after 1944 refit. (Source: City of Vancouver Archives, public domain, AM54-54 LP143)

22 The AWA Review Gilbert and Proc especially was any news about people in left was the tower at Cambridge Bay–a the North–anything about the Mounties landmark and the tallest structure in in the North, or anything at all to do the territories (see Fig. 12). In August with the North.”42 2014, the tower was taken down as being When Henry Larsen was at Cam- structurally unsound. bridge Bay in 1946, he remarked on the The last surviving member of the changes that were afoot for the com- St. Roch crew was radio operator Dean munity. A major Loran installation was Hadley (see Fig. 13), who passed away being planned which led to three 633- on July 13, 2018. He had been the radio foot freestanding towers being erected operator on the ship on its epic voyage at Barrow, Cambridge Bay, and between through the Northwest passages, west the two, at Kittigazuit. Technology to east, in 1941−43. See also the VGSR passed them by, and finally all that was nameplate (see Fig. 14).

Fig. 13. Dean Hadley–last of the crew members. (Vancouver Sun)

Fig. 12. The 633-foot self-support­ing tower at Cam­bridge Bay. (Author’s collection, Fig. 14. Nameplate showing VGSR, callsign of the St. Roch. (Source: credit Judith Banning) Vancouver Maritime Museum, 2004.1366.0001)

Volume 33, 2020 23 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950

Postscript 5. John S. Moir, History of the Royal Canadian Corps Background on the voyages of the of Signals (Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, Ottawa, 1962). St. Roch, as well as a large annotated bib- 6. http://www.nwtandy.rcsigs.ca/1923_29.html liography may be found at the Vancouver 7. The full story of the Herschel Island station Maritime Museum St. Roch Collection can be read at http://www.nwtandy.rcsigs.ca /1923_29.html and on microfilm at the LAC at: https://www.vancouvermaritime RG85-C-1c, Radio Station, Herschel, YT, museum.com/sites/default/files/st. microfilm T-13264. _roch_research_collection_2015.pdf. 8. Amateur Radio Shoves Off for the Pole, QST, Abbreviated bibliographical references Vol. 6, July 1923, p. 10. Complete technical details for the Zenith set appear in this article. are given in the endnotes. 9. LAC RG12, Vol. 163030, Radio, Government Additional technical information Owned, Northern Radio Stations. about the radios used aboard the St. Roch 10. Lewis J. Morrison, Showing the Flag, (UBC Press, Vancouver, 1985) p. 30. can be found here: http://jproc.ca/ve3fab 11. LAC RG12, Vol. 1112, RCMP Radio Stations /st_roch.html; this document contains 1924−36. links to the bibliography and other docu- 12. Solar cycles during the St. Roch years are as follows, with cycles running from minimum ments of potential interest. to minimum: Solar cycle 16 minimum was The authors have made every effort August 1923, and maximum was April 1928. to acknowledge and credit all sources Solar cycle 17 minimum was September 1933, but some remain unknown. The authors and maximum was April 1937. Solar cycle 18 minimum was February 1944, and maximum would be pleased to acknowledge and was May 1947. correct omissions or errors. 13. During the IGY, (1957) co-author John Gilbert noted that the high power station at Rugby, Eng- Endnotes land, was audible under the worst of conditions. 1. While the term “radio” replaced the term “wire- 14. Marine wireless historian Spud Roscoe confirms less,” the two terms were used interchangeably that low frequency spark equipment was never for many years. This paper adopts the term used used on the St. Roch. in source documents. 15. LAC, Order-in-Council registers. 2. Guy Lawrence, 40 Years on the Yukon Telegraph, 16. Henry A. Larsen, The Big Ship, (McClelland (Caryall Books, Quesnel, BC) 1990. (Note: for and Stewart, 1967) p. 141. full bibliographic references visit http://jproc 17. Charles Peter “C. P.” Edwards, a naval officer .ca/ve3fab/st_roch.html). Herschel Island, home in the Royal Canadian Navy in WWI, became base for the St. Roch when in the Western Arctic, director of the Canadian government radio is the most northerly part of the Yukon Territory branch in 1921 and deputy minister of the and the most difficult to serve. Department of Transport when it was formed 3. The history of the development of radio com- in 1936. A pioneer in telecommunications, he munications in Canada is covered in Radio had worked with Marconi. He died in Ottawa Communication in Canada: A Historical and in 1960 at age 74. Technological Survey by Sharon A. Babaian, 18. The places visited by the St. Roch are remote even (National Museum of Science and Technol- today. Further detail on place names and other ogy (Canada), 1992). Bill Miller’s Wires in The details can be seen at http://jproc.ca/ve3fab Wilderness (Heritage House, 2004) covers the /st_roch_broadcast_frequencies.html story of the Yukon telegraph. The history of the 19. Vancouver Maritime Museum (VMM) Series NWT&Y radio system is covered at: http://www 2.3, Box 12, File 6. .nwtandy.rcsigs.ca/history.htm 20. This section draws from Tom Clarke’s The 4. Stations Radio General: Wireless Telegraph in Mounties Patrol the Sea (The Westminster Press, the North, Part 1, Library and Archives Canada Philadelphia, 1969). (LAC) RG12, file 2159. 21. Bradley P. Tolppanen, The RCMP Schooner

24 The AWA Review Gilbert and Proc

St. Roch and Superintendent Henry A. Larsen, Acknowledgements (BC Studies) No. 177, Spring 2013. This article could not have been written 22. Annual Report of the RCMP, 1928, and Sea- ley’s Report on Radio-telegraphic Apparatus and without the support and encouragement Conditions, LAC RG18-F-1, Vol. 3477, File of Doreen Riedel Larsen, daughter of S-1200-17, 1928−32. Henry Larsen. Tom Brent, Spud Roscoe, 23. LAC RG12, Vol. 1112. 24. Richard Finnie and Terry Parsloe were stranded Mitch Powell, Diana Trafford and others on the ship for several days during a winter storm. have provided important information 25. Charlie Harris, VE6HM, handled traffic for and advice. We are grateful to the staff co-author John Gilbert 1956−58 while the latter of the Vancouver Maritime Museum and was at Eureka, NU. 26. Moir, History of the Royal Canadian Corps of Library, and Archives Canada, for their Signals, p. 281. help in researching archival documents 27. Thomas R. Roach, “The Beaver,” The Saga of and artifacts. Northern Radio, June 1938. 28. Larsen, The Big Ship, p. 113. 29. Comments by Dean Hadley are from his book About the Authors What a Life, (Xlibris Corporation, 2008) and Long-time AWA member John Gilbert from VMM Series 2.3, Box 10.5. 30. Ibid. This is where the cabin is on the St. Roch began his career in radio communica- at the Vancouver Maritime Museum. tions as a radio operator. He served in 31. Doug Gray, RMS Nascopie: Ship of the North the 1950s at the remote weather sta- (Golden Dog Press, 2000). tions Eureka and Resolute, , 32. Sgt. F. S. Farrar, Arctic Assignment (MacMillan, 1974). and at radio range stations in London 33. J. Lewis Robinson, “Conquest of the Northwest and Toronto, Ontario. He worked as Passage by RCMP Schooner St. Roch,” Canadian an avionics technician while obtaining Geographic Journal, Feb. 1945 (reprint), p. 23. 34. Ibid. a degree in political science, graduat- 35. John Beswarick Thompson, The More Northerly ing from Carleton University in 1969. Route (Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs, From 1969, he worked in the Depart- 1974). 36. Sgt. Henry Larsen, FRGS, commander, RCMP, ment of Communications, retiring in The North-West Passage 1940−1942 and 1944, 1991 as Director-General Government (Royal Geographical Society, 1947) Vol. 110, Telecommunications Agency. In 1984 p. 8. he was seconded for a year to the Inde- 37. Larsen, The Big Ship, p. 196. 38. L. C. Smith, VMM, Series 2.3, Box 9, File 7. pendent World Wide Telecommunica- 39. LAC RG18, Vol. 3477, letter dated Jan. 25, tions Commission. Following 15 years 1949, from deputy commissioner to controller as a private consultant on projects aimed of radio. 40. The St. Roch can be seen today at the Vancouver at improving communications in the Maritime Museum. It can also be seen at the web- developing world, he has spent the past site: https://vancouvermaritimemuseum.com decade researching the history of radio /permanent-exhibit/st-roch-national-historic-site 41. LAC RG24, File 5824. A naval service file. communications in remote areas. He is Letter from the engineer superintendent, Ship an active radio amateur (VE3CXL) and Repairs West Coast, Esquimalt, BC, while has written several articles on amateur the vessel was berthed in the naval yards at radio, including a project in 2017 using Esquimalt. 42. Ernie Lyall, An Arctic Man (Goodread Biogra- a WSPR terminal on the Canada C3 ves- phies, Edmonton, 1979). sel the Polar Prince, which sailed for 150

Volume 33, 2020 25 Wireless and the St. Roch: 1928−1950 days circumnavigating Canada’s coasts. support specialist. Jerry is known for his He is a member of the Ottawa Vintage restoration of the radio systems aboard Radio Club. John Gilbert is shown in HMCS Haida, a WWII-era Tribal Class Fig. 15. destroyer. During this restoration he Jerry Proc’s interest in electronics was became interested in crypto, sparked by sparked at a very young age. During the 1999−2001 visits to the National Cryp- 1960s he developed a fascination with tologic Museum at Ft. Mead, Maryland. military radio gear. In 1970, he graduated In October 1999, his restoration efforts with a diploma in Electronics Engineering were recognized by the Historic Naval Technology from the Radio College of Ships Association, which awarded the Canada. Later, he obtained an Advanced Bos’n Marvin Curry award to Jerry, who Networking Certificate through the Con- was the first Canadian to receive it. In tinuing Education Studies program at early 2001, Jerry’s research work on radio Humber College, Etobicoke, Ontario. and radar was officially recognized and Jerry has served in both a technical and incorporated into the Appendices of the managerial capacity in the mainframe new book HMCS Haida - Battle Ensign computer and data communications field Flying by Barry Gough. His web pages since 1970, and is retired from Bell Can- may be viewed at http://jproc.ca. Jerry ada, where he held the position of network Proc is shown in Fig. 16.

Fig. 15. Photo of author John Gilbert. Fig. 16. Photo of author Jerry Proc.

26 The AWA Review