HMCS ARMENTIÈRES

Battle Class Trawler

Commissioned from 05 Jun 1918 to 28 Oct 1919. After the war she was loaned to the Fisheries Dept. Returned to the RCN, ARMENTIÈRES re-entered naval service on 05 May 1923.  On 02 Sep 1925 HMCS ARMENTIÈRES struck an uncharted rock in Pipestem Inlet, BC. and took on water. The crew attempted to beach the ship without success. Local fishing boats rescued the entire crew.  She was re-floated on 26 Oct 1925 and re-commissioned the following year and continued in service, primarily as a training ship, but with occasional intervals on fishery patrol. In the spring ARMENTIÈRES used to escort the fur seals en route to their breeding grounds in the Pribilof Islands, to protect them from illegal hunting procedures. From 1934 until the outbreak of the Second World War she was the only one of her class still in naval service. She served as an examination vessel at Prince Rupert throughout most of the war. After the end of the war, she was paid off and sold, and entered mercantile service becoming A.G. Garrish in 1947, later renamed Arctic Rover in 1958, Laforce in 1962 and Polaris in 1973. In 1978 she was engaged in carry tourists from St. Maarten to St. Barts. In 1980 she was engaged in the drug trade. She was lost somewhere in South America.

Photos and Documents         Ship's company photos

Commanding Officers

     In memory of those who have crossed the bar    

They shall not be forgotten

Former Crew Members

Photos and Documents

(ARM001) Article on HMCS THIEPVAL, HMCS GIVENCHY, HMCS ARMENTIÈRES and HMCS STADACONA transiting from Halifax to Esquimalt.  THIEPVAL arrived safely in Esquimalt, while ARMENTIÈRES and GIVENCHY had to escort / tow STADACONA to San Francisco after she lost her rudder in a storm  //  The Daily Colonist, Victoria, BC, Saturday 24 May 1919  //  Courtesy of Dwight Farrell 

(ARM002 - ARM003) HMCS ARMENTIÈRES sinking in Pipestem Inlet, B.C., on 02 Sep 1925  //  Courtesy of the CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum

(ARM004) Article on the sinking of HMCS ARMENTIÈRES  //  Courtesy of Roger Litwiller

(ARM005) Salvage vessel alongside the wreck of the ARMENTIÈRES  //  Courtesy of Roger Litwiller

(ARM006) HMCS ARMENTIÈRES - 27 May 1933  //  Walter E. Frost Collection  //  City of Vancouver Archives

(ARM007) HMCS ARMENTIÈRES  //  From the collection of LCdr Douglas J. Ford  //  Courtesy of Jay ford

(ARM008) HMCS ARMENTIERES - undated  //  Facebook post on Canadian Naval Alumni  //  Original source unknown

(ARM009) Officers and ratings in the wheelhouse of HMCS ARMENTIERES  //  Chief Skipper Cilien Matte, RCNR 2nd from left  //  From the collection of Chief Skipper Cilien Matte, RCNR  //  Courtesy of Larry Matte

(ARM009) HMCS ARMENTIÈRES  //  From the collection of Jim Silvester  //  Courtesy of Jim Silvester

(ARM010) HMCS ARMENTIÈRES in Esquimalt - 1937

(ARM011) HMCS ARMENTIÈRES in Campbell River, BC

From the collection of Jim Silvester  //  Courtesy of Jim Silvester