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HMCS SHEARWATER
K02
Condor
Class Sloop
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HMS SHEARWATER
Source / Credit: Corvus Publishing
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Laid down: 1899
Launched: 10
Feb 1900
Commissioned: 1900
Paid off: 1914
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Transferred to RCN: 1914
Commissioned: 8
Sep 1914
Paid off: 13
Jun 1919
Fate:
Registry closed 1937. Broken up in 1938
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Stationed at Esquimalt, the
sloops HMS SHEARWATER and HMS ALGERINE were, in 1914, the last remnants of
the vanished RN Pacific Squadron. SHEARWATER's two 4-inch guns were
put ashore to defend Seymour Narrows when the First World War broke
out, and her crew was sent to Halifax to man HMCS NIOBE. The
Admiralty agreed to lend SHEARWATER to the RCN, and on 08 Sep
1914, she was commissioned as HMCS SHEARWATER, a tender to the newly acquired
submarines CC1 and CC2. On 21 Jun 1917, HMCS SHEARWATER, with CC1
and CC2, sailed from Esquimalt via the Panama Canal to Halifax. On 03 Jul 1917 they arrived in
Seattle and were invited, along with the crews of CC1 and CC2, to lead the
Seattle Independence day Parade on 04 Jul 1917. She was paid off
13 Jun
1919, and in 1924 sold into mercantile hands and renamed Vedas.
In 1933, J. Earle McQueen, a tug boat
captain, purchased the old rumrunner VEDAS from Canada Customs for
$1,285. The VEDAS, which still had two working boilers, was rented out
to a dredging company that was pumping out the channel of the Detroit River
and were in desperate need to extra boilers for steam, for $800 per
month. Five years later he sold the hull for scrap for $4,500.
(Source: MacLean's Magazine 01 Sep 1947 - Thars Gold in Them Thar Hulls)
Historical tidbits of info: The
helm of SHEARWATER is mounted over the pool table at the local legion -
presented to the Legion by Capt McQueen. SHEARWATER'S mast was mounted at a
park in Windsor, Ontario along the Detroit River for years, but dry rot set in and it was taken down.
Vedas (ex-SHEARWATER) is mentioned in a book titled "Booze Boats &
Billions" by C.W. Hunt when she was a rum runner.
Photos and Documents
Ship's
company photos
Commanding Officers
LCdr Bertram Edward Jones, RCN
In memory of those who have crossed the bar 
They shall not be
forgotten
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Appleton,
Llewellyn W.
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Atcherely,
John
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Birley, Yvon
____-____
Appointed to SHEARWATER 19 Apr 1916 as
Slt, RCN
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Bissett,
Audrey A.
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Bissett, Clarence
____-____
Appointed to SHEARWATER 18
Jun 1918 as Head Schoolmaster, RCN
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Boak, Eric W.
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Burton,
George
1882-1946
Served in SHEARWATER 29 Dec 1916
- 05 Jan 1917 as an OS, RNCVR
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Byrne,
Harold John
____-____
Appointed to SHEARWATER 1918 as Art (E), RN
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Cox,
James Ernest
____-____
Served in SHEARWATER 1914-1918 as
Gunner, RN, Gunnery Officer |
Cross,
Arthur
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Edwards, George Hamilton Scandrett
____-____
Appointed to SHEARWATER 27 Jul 1915
as Lt, RNCVR |
Edwards,
John C.I.
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German,
Phillip Barry
____-1981
Served in SHEARWATER 1917-1918 as
Lt, RCN
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Goodman,
Lawrence Halloway
1902-____
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Hickman,
Frank D.
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Jellet,
Herbert St. Clair
____-____
Appointed to SHEARWATER 18 Jun
1917 as Mate, RNCVR |
Jones,
Bertram Edward ____-1975
Served in SHEARWATER as CO from
1914 - 1919. Also CO Sub flotilla 1915-1919. |
Lake, Geoffrey ____-1918
Served in SHEARWATER for training
voyage to Bermuda in 1917 |
McDonald,
William Robert
____-____
Appointed to SHEARWATER as Lt, RNCVR |
Milman,
Henry August
____-____
Appointed to SHEARWATER as
A/Paym, RN |
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Ray,
Malcolm Philip
____-____
Appointed to SHEARWATER 19
Jun 1917 as A/St/Paym, RNCVR |
Thomas,
Arthur Francis
____-____
Appointed to SHEARWATER 16 Jun
1916 as Lt(N)
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Walker, Wilfred Tyrrel
____-____ |
William,
James
1886-1955 |
Winsloe, Richard Edmond
____-____
Appointed to SHEARWATER 28 Jul 1915
as A/SLt, RNCVR |
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Wurtele, Alfred
Charles
1897-2000
Served in SHEARWATER in 1917 |
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Photos
and Documents
HMCS SHEARWATER'S connection to
Amherstburg, Ontario
Source: "Reflections" -
Newsletter of the Marsh Historical Collection, Amherstburg, Ontario
Volume IV Issue 4 - Summer 2011
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Postcard - HMS SHEARWATER crew with First
Nations people onboard
Courtesy of Daron Fairfax
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A sailor from
HMCS SHEARWATER poses behind one of
the ship's 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns. This relatively small gun formed part of
SHEARWATER's limited armament. A sloop designed and used before the
war for patrol work, SHEARWATER was lightly armed with four 4-inch
guns and four 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns like the one seen here. The
unidentified crew member's cap tally reads "RNCVR,"
indicating that he is a member of the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer
Reserve, which had been established in May 1914.
George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM
19840218-002_20
Courtesy
of the Canadian War Museum
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HMCS
SHEARWATER, seen here during a transit of
the Panama Canal, was one of three warships on Canada's west coast
at the start of the First World War. Originally a Royal Navy vessel,
SHEARWATER and
another British ship, HMS Algerine, were transferred to the Royal
Canadian Navy in September 1914. Soon afterwards, many of SHEARWATER's crew were sent to HMCS Niobe in Halifax, which was
short of trained sailors. SHEARWATER subsequently served as a tender
- or support ship - for submarines CC-1 and CC-2, escorting them on
an almost four-month long trip to Halifax in mid-1917.
George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM
19840218-002_8
Courtesy
of the Canadian War Museum
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HMS SHEARWATER in Esquimalt Harbour,
circa 1908 |
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Nine members of
HMCS SHEARWATER's crew pose
against one of the ship's guns, with the barrel seen on the right. This is one of several photographs from
SHEARWATER's voyage with CC-1 and CC-2 that belonged to Abner
Beckwith Willford, an American-born stoker in SHEARWATER's crew.
Willford (back row, second from right) was responsible for tending
the ship's coal-fired boilers. While the location of the photograph
is unknown, the weather is warm enough that two sailors (middle row)
are not wearing their uniform jumpers over their white gunshirts.
George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM
19840218-002_19
Courtesy of the Canadian War Museum
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HMCS SHEARWATER |
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HMCS SHEARWATER (left) HMCS Rainbow
(right) 1910
Source: Library and Archives of Canada
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HMCS SHEARWATER with submarines CC1 and CC2. The
ship on the right is unknown
DND / RCN Photo - Crown copyright
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Bertram E. Jones, Commanding Officer HMCS SHEARWATER,
with ship's mascot. Photo taken off Jamaica, 1917
From the B.E. Jones, R.N. Collection
Courtesy of Julie H. Ferguson
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HMCS SHEARWATER
RCN Photo
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Article on SHEARWATER'S post-WWI career
The Windsor Daily Star 02 Mar 1937
Researched by / Courtesy of Andrea Grimes
Note: The article makes an incorrect ref to
SHEARWATER being pressed into service as a minesweeper during WWI. She served as
a tender for CC1 and CC2.
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HMCS SHEARWATER - 1920
Photo Credit: SHEARWATER Aviation Museum
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