DFO Lib ary / MPO - Bibliotheque IIII II III l 1111 I 05002573 • • A HISTORY OF MARINE RADIO IN CANADA CANADA Department of Transport RADIO STATIONS OPERATED AS AIDS TO MARINE NAVIGATION 1950 Coast Station • Direction-Finding Station ■ Fixed-Radiobeacon Station • Loran 0 FROBISHTK BA , 00ALuli RESOLUTION I t h A. Wes t NOTTINGHAM I T em-1;- r t(--17r CAPE HOPES ADV CE 0 CHESTERFIELD INLET Q DOMINO FT CHIMO .. ,, HOPEDALE SMOKER HAWKES HBR. LANGAFIA I. IKUUJJUAS) A T i..-• GRADY FISHING SHIPS HBR. .. ' •C4. 0. CARTWRIGHT ,., BELLE ISLE N E CE RUPERT ....................... n IP u dso FORT BIGHT BELLE ISLE DEAD TREE PT H •. 0 GOOSE PORT HARRISON BATTLE HRB 81 ! t PT AMOUR • CAPE BAULD ,e6 'is TRIPLE I , URCHILL B ay i. SWILLINGATE e? CAPE ST JAMES n d.. . • BONAVISTA . : • . • ' .7' • •. • CAPE WHITTLE c HBR C, , ST JOHN'S •... • • MATASHOUAN PT LERT BAY - i 0 j h PERROOUET I. CAPE RACE 0 6 . er r SUSTAINS APE LAZO / 4 Manitoba O SEVEN IS C SPRING S P ALDERGROVE ESTEVAN 4s at Che w an b e PORT AUX BASQUES ei" DES,NOSIERSER OSIERS ...T7 AMPHITRITE PT. •PT ATKINSON C PTE. DES MONTS ST PAUL I VANCOUVER Q 11 TOA 71 PACHE PT NROEORTISLET RACE FATH VICTORIA C'IAANHTSOSPYTDNEY O n t a r .1° MING 0 WAX SABLE I CAMPERDOWN, SAMBRO LIGHTSHIP QUEBEC I ROSS I SLATE I PORT ARTHUR MICHIPICOTEN LIAR WESTERN HEAD • C • BACCARRO A. 1 MICHIPICOTEN I • MONTREAL V ANGUS I ARIBOU I •• • SEAL I U ASAULT STE. MARIE • .. • A 1 '' HOPE I . t GROS C CORNWALL 14 V. MIDLANDLAND KINGSTON ed s MAIN DUCK A „ "tiv It tates TORONTO A LINGTON GIBRALTAR PT WELLER c ' 0 WELLAND CANAL GUARD LOCK PORT COLBORNE PT PORT BURWELL .e3 Stephan Dubreuil Come Quick, Danger A History of Marine Radio in Canada Ship to shore, do you read me anymore, This line is bad, and fading, Ship to shore, answer my call, Send me a signal, a beacon to bring me home; Chris De Burgh O Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada — 1998 Available in Canada through your local bookseller or by mail from Canadian Government Publishing – PWGSC Ottawa, Canada K1A 0S9 Catalogue Number T31-107/1998E ISBN 0-660-17490-1 411%, •.: Printed on recycled paper. Acknowledgments vii Foreword ix The Wireless Wizard 1 The "Big Thing" 4 Mulock and Smith 5 Republic and CQD 7 The Laurentian Region: They Came Out of the Backwoods to Build a Radio Station ll Riviere -au-Renard 13 Grosse-Ile 14 Pointe-au-Pere and the Empress of Ireland 15 Cap-aux-Meules Coast Guard Radio 18 Sept-Iles 18 Riviere-du-Loup 20 Newfoundland and the Titanic 21 London Radiotelegraph Conference 26 Safety ofLife at Sea (SOLAS) Conference 27 Cape Race, Newfoundland 27 St. Lawrence and Comfort Cove 28 St. Anthony 30 St. John's 32 Stephenville 33 Calling Nova Scotia 35 In Action 38 Transatlantic Communications 43 Halifax Radio VBQ 50 Post-war Camperdown 50 The Italia 51 Radio Stations Combined 52 The End of Manual Scanning 54 Human Distress 55 Rum Running on the East Coast 58 Yarmouth 63 Sydney and Charlottetown 65 Halifax Coast Guard Radio 66 Radio and the Great Lakes System 67 Thunder Bay 69 Port Burwell 70 Point Edward and Sarnia 71 Radiotelephone 72 Toronto and Cardinal 76 VHF (Very High Frequency) 77 The "Ghost" 79 The Sinking of the Aigle 1:POcean and the Arctic Region 81 Nottingham Island V 85 Cape Hope's Advance 87 /qa/uit 88 Inuvik 89 Resolute 90 Point-to-Point 92 Untin Bowler and Point-to-Point 93 Voice Broadcasts 94 Killiniq: Returning to the Old Haunts 95 The Pacific Region 101 Marconi Loses the "Shoe-in" 102 The First Decade 105 Triangle Island 108 Bull Harbour and Comox 109 The End of Dead Reckoning 111 Radio Broadcasting 114 Interference Call 115 Estevan Point and World War II 118 Vancouver / Women Join the Team 119 Safe Passage—Clean Seas: Marine Communications and Traffic Services 121 Ecareg and VTS 122 Quebec 126 Montreal 127 LORAN 128 DGPS 129 Suez, Supertankers and MCTS 130 100 Years of Service 131 n producing this book, I discovered that writing about history I requires more than simply exploring pertinent facts and myths. It also means grappling with the totality of the subject at hand. As well, I learned that the "new frontier," often evoked in the context of the United States' past, is also entrenched in Canadian history. As the frontier matured and changed with each foot forward, so too did the Canadian psyche and identity take shape. Not unlike the major leaps of ages past, 20th-century technology continually marches forward. But this time, the pioneering path is peopled by men and women I have been fortunate to meet. I visited some of these pioneers in their homes and, over coffee and across the kitchen tables, heard their stories. Not all of these accounts are related in these pages, but many a good tale has found its way in. As I began plotting my course for interviews and research leads, no doubt impossible without the help of Henry Phillips, Chief of Training & Human Resources at the Coast Guard's Marine and Communications and Traffic Services (MCTS), I soon found the task daunting, urgent in fact. Those pioneers of the technology age were, one by one, passing on. As my work progressed, I was shocked more than once to discover that someone had died, just days before our scheduled meeting. I regret that I never got to meet these individuals and that they never had the opportunity to recount their marine-radio experiences for this book. I would especially like to thank radio operator Spurgeon G. Roscoe for taking the time to sit with me and share his fascinating experiences. His unpublished manuscript on marine radio in Nova Scotia serves as a backdrop for the "Calling Nova Scotia" chapter. In the same vein, radio operator Jean-Pierre Lehnert's support was invaluable in gathering information about the Arctic region. Thank you also to W.J. Wilson, retired Director-General of Telecommunications Regulation, who shared his insight into accounts from the Great Lakes region. My appreciation also goes to the people at the S.P.A.R.C.' Museum in Coquitlam, British Columbia. Society for the Preservation of Antique Radio in Canada COME QUICK DANGER - A HISTORY OF MARINE RADIO IN CANADA The idea to produce this book issued first from Lea Barker, Director of MCTS, Canadian Coast Guard. Many thanks go to Lea. A special thank you also goes to the people at MCTS for providing me a wonderful work atmosphere and for taking the time to answer my many questions. I would also like to express my gratitude to the library personnel at Transport Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for their valuable assistance. I spent several months rummaging through their numerous stacks of annual government reports. My friends and family were also extremely supportive. I especially thank Robert Murray for his moral support and, most of all, for his advice and for the time he spent editing my early drafts. Of course, a special thank you goes to Marconi himself for the history he gave us and, incidentally, for the title of this book. The Marconi Company's wireless distress signal CQD took effect February 1, 1904. CQD in Morse is "_ . _ . _ _ . _ _ . .". The CQ really meant "Stop Sending and Listen" and the D was later interpreted as "Danger." The popular interpretation of the call was "Come Quick, Danger." And much like its successor, SOS, which some soon interpreted as "Save Our Souls," CQD is really part of Morse code, a universal language that stands outside of these fictional interpretations. CQ is still used today when addressing ships and stations. Given this, I found CQD a fitting title not only for its historical value but also for the mix of fact and fiction it presents. V n November 19, 1996, radio operator Vern Hillier sent the last O Morse code message from the Canadian Coast Guard Radio station at Ketch Harbour, Nova Scotia, closing an era in the long, remarkable history of Canadian marine radio operations. This book attempts to capture the nature and history of marine communications. But communications is a field that is rapidly overstepping itself with the implementation of competing satellite communications systems, the demise of Morse code radio transmissions and the ubiquity of the cellular telephone. At this very moment, the noiseless foot of time brings with it the end of the era of the traditional radio operator. The men and women who served in the vast network of Canadian radio stations deserve to have their dedication to safety preserved before their stories are gone forever. This determined, professional group of individuals provided an essential and comforting link to mariners off the coasts and on the inland waterways of Canada. Radio operators worked in extreme environments and in isolated locations, but always with the knowledge that their work was providing mariners with a safety and communications link to essential information, to business associates, to land-based rescue services and to families at home. In compiling this history, Stephan Dubreuil has selected from a great volume of material the facts and anecdotes that best represent the full sweep and colour of the experiences of Canadian marine radio operators from their beginnings to the modern era. I consider this an important work. Not only is it entertaining for the lay reader and for persons interested in the history of technology, it is also a document of archival significance.