ARGONAUTA The Newsletter of The Canadian Nautical Research Society Volume VII Number Three July 1990 ARGONAUTA Founded 1984 by Kenneth S. Mackenzie ISSN No. 0843-8544 EDITORS Lewis R. FISCHER Gerald E. PANTING BOOK REVIEW EDITOR Olaf U. JANZEN ASSISTANT TO THE EDITOR Margaret M. GULLIVER ARGONAUTA EDITORIAL OFFICE Maritime Studies Research Unit Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's, NOd. A1C 5S7 Telephones: (709) 737-8424/(709) 737-2ffJ2 FAX: (709) 737-4569 ARGONAUTA BOOK REVIEWS Department of History Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Corner Brook, NOd. A2H 6P9 Telephone: (709) 637-6282 FAX: (709) 639-8125 ARGONAUTA is edited for the Canadian Nautical Research Society within the Maritime Studies Research Unit at Memorial University of Newfoundland. THE CANADIAN NAUTICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY Honourary President: Niels JANNASCH, Halifax Executive Officers Liaison Committee President: WA.B. DOUGLAS, Ottawa Atlantic: David FLEMMING, Halifax Past President: Barry M. GOUGH, Waterloo Quebec: Eileen R. MARCIL, Charlesbourg Vice-President: Eric W. SAGER, Victoria Ontario: Maurice D. SMITH, Kingston Councillor: Garth S. WILSON, Ottawa Western: Christon I. ARCHER, Calgary Councillor: Eileen R. MARCIL, Charlesbourg Pacific: John MACFARLANE, Victoria Councillor: M. Stephen SALMON, Ottawa Arctic: Kenneth COATES, Victoria Councillor: Thomas BEASLEY, Vancouver Secretary: Lewis R. FISCHER, St. John's CNRS MAILING ADDRESS Treasurer: G. Edward REED, Ottawa P.O. Box 7008, Station J Ottawa, Ontario K2A 3Z6 Annual Membership, which includes four issues of ARGO­ Individual $15 NAUTA plus the annual Canadian Maritime Bibliography: Institution $30 JULY 1990 ARGONAUTA 1 ARGONAUTA EDITORIALS way of establishing the long-awaited CNRS journal. Our proposal was totally consistent with the report of the Ad (I) Hoc Committee on Publications (1987) and the decision of the Halifax Annual General Meeting in 1989. It would This issue of ARGONAUTA contains a wealth of news involve, beginning in January 1991, the appearance of a from the Annual General Meeting in Victoria. For the most publication tentatively named the Northern Mariner. It part we think the material speaks for itself, but there are a would be produced (as is ARGONAUTA) at Memorial few points we believe worthy of comment, especially re­ University of Newfoundland and would be edited by the garding the elections. current editors and the Book Review Editor of ARGO­ NAUTA. The journal would be responsible to an editorial First, CNRS members have elected a new President. Dr. board appointed by the executive and would appear quar­ WA.B. Douglas will be well-known to most readers as the terly. In the first instance, we believe it feasible to produce long-time Secretary of the society. In that post, as well as in a quarterly publication of about sixty pages per issue. We his full-time position as Director of the Historical Director­ have raised the funds to cover the fixed expenses; the only ate at National Defence Headquarters, Alec has done per­ cost to CNRS will be for printing. haps more than anyone in the country to promote interest in maritime history and membership in CNRS. Following in Unfortunately, in life most silver linings tend to be sur­ the footsteps of Keith Matthews, Gerry Panting and Barry rounded by clouds. In this case, the "cloud" would be the Gough as our fourth President, we cannot think of anyone cessation of ARGONAUTA. This is in our view advisable better able to guide CNRS at this time than Alec. We con­ for two reasons. First of all, as desirable as it might be, we gratulate the membership on the wisdom of its selection. simply do not have the resources to publish both a journal and a newsletter. Second, we believe that a name change So too do we welcome the selection of Garth Wilson as a also has an important symbolic component. ARGONAUTA Councillor. For the society to grow and prosper, it is essen­ was established as a newsletter. When we assumed the tial to have new additions to the executive. Garth has editorship, we attempted as well to increase the publication already made important contributions to maritime studies of essays. But ARGONAUTA connotes the elevation of in his posts with the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at news over articles. Our proposal is to reverse the emphasis. Kingston and now at the National Museum of Science and Technology. We look forward to the enthusiasm, energy At the Victoria meetings, much concern was expressed that and new ideas that Garth is certain to bring to his new this proposal would somehow deprive readers of news. Yet position in CNRS. our proposal guarantees that a minimum .of twelve to flf­ teen pages of each issue will be devoted to this feature. On The 1990s are sure to bring new problems and new oppor­ average, the current ARGONAUTA devotes only ten pages tunities to CNRS. We wish the new executive every success per issue to news. We are thus hardly suggesting diluting in overcoming the former and capitalizing on the latter. In this service. its endeavours, we trust that it can count on a committed and helpful membership to ensure that the society con­ In presenting our proposal, we were hopeful that it would tinues in its unique role to promote interest in Canada's be welcomed by the membership. The issue of a journal is maritime heritage. as old as our society, and successive general meetings have called for its establishment. While we are not wedded irre­ Lewis R. Fischer vocably to the precise details of our proposal, we believe it Gerald E. Panting is logical, consistent and feasible. More to the point, we have invested considerable time and effort in working it out (II) and obtaining the necessary commitments and resources. While we are disappointed that the membership did not In the minutes of the Annual General Meeting, readers will give its approval, we are heartened by the news that some­ note that the current editors ofARGONAUTA have made time this summer the executive will decide how to proceed. a proposal for a drastic restructuring of CNRS publications. At the risk of being accused of special pleading, we very While we have provided officers of the society with com­ much hope that it will decide to go ahead. To do otherwise, plete details and members in Victoria heard a summary, we at least in the absence of feasible alternatives, would we think it wise to tell all readers what we have in mind. believe postpone the establishment of a journal indefinitely. In framing this proposal we attempted to fmd a method of First of all, we should tell you that what we proposed was a meeting the expressed needs of the membership, at least as 2 ARGONAUTA JULY 1990 these have been communicated to us at general meetings age, would not be possible without a constant supply of and in correspondence. But we are neither masochists nor goods and services by vessels plying the seas, rivers and possessed of unlimited time. If others have alternative sug­ lakes that border and criss-cross our land. gestions, or are willing to volunteer to raise the necessary funds and to edit such a publication, we would be happy to As I write, the First Ministers are in private conclave, dis­ withdraw. But regardless, we believe that the time has come cussing Meech Lake. If Stephen Leacock were alive he to make a decision. We look forward to the results of the would no doubt make a rude remark about mentioning executive's deliberations. ships and Meech Lake in the same breath, but one of this Society's members, Commander L.B. "Yogi" Jenson of Lewis R. Fischer Queensland, Nova Scotia, writing to the editor of the To­ Gerald E. Panting ronto Globe and Mail on 30 May, has given me the excuse to do so. "When HMCS Ottawa was torpedoed in 1942," (III) wrote Commander Jenson, "nearly two-thirds of my ship­ mates died; many from Quebec. On D-Day, in HMCS Al­ The year 1992 is special for Canadian maritime historians, gonquin, we had the honour of supporting the Regiment de marking as it does the five hundredth anniversary of Col­ la Chaudiere, French Canadians, landing in Normandy in umbus' voyage to the New World and the two hundredth the greatest invasion in history: all Canadians prepared to anniversary of Captain Vancouver's voyage to the west give their utmost." coast. Lost in this plethora of birthdays, at least outside of Canada's heartland, is the two hundredth anniversary of the The sea is one, as they say, and it tends to obscure political establishment of the province of Ontario. differences. Closer to horne, even though the people who live on the shores of the St. Lawrence have intimate links We recently received a letter from CNRS member Bryan with the sea, and probably understand it better than most Kerman which contained a proposal for a maritime contri­ Canadians, the sight of vessels being torpedoed in the river bution to Ontario's bicentennial. What he and a group of in 1942 brought ships into the forefront of their conscious­ friends would like to do is to obtain government funding to ness in an unprecedented and frightening manner. "Qu'est build a replica of the Ontario, a sloop constructed in ce qui passe en Gaspesie?" indignantly asked the Quebec Oswego at the beginning of the Seven Years' War, in the writer Edouard Laurent, and it took a large governmental heart of Toronto's Harbourfront. The purpose would be to apparatus in Ottawa to come up with the answer. The sail­ heighten public awareness of the magnificent marine heri­ ors and airmen who tried to protect ships in the Gulf and tage possessed both by the province and the city.