Editorially speaking...
As the son of a career Royal Canadian Navy man, and the writer of many, many stories on shipwrecks, a recent article in the Nanaimo News Bulletin piqued my interest.
But, as I’m feeling lazy today, and it’s that time of the year when most people get to ease up and enjoy a little down time, I’ll take the easy route and let Wikipedia tell you about HMCS Saskatchewan:
“HMCS Saskatchewan was a Mackenzie-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and later the Canadian Forces. She was the second Canadian naval unit to bear the name HMCS Saskatchewan. The ship was named for the Saskatchewan River which runs from Saskatchewan to Manitoba in Canada.
“Entering service in 1963, she was mainly used as a training ship on the west coast. She was decommissioned in 1994 and sold for use as an artificial reef. She was sunk as such in June 1997 off British Columbia.”
More specifically, “off British Columbia” is 100 feet down at the mouth of Nanaimo Harbour. Which is why I have her in both my naval and shipwreck files. The Bulletin article consisted of 60th anniversary reminiscences by several of the Saskatchewan’s former seamen.
HMCS Saskatchewan reminds me of the golden age in the 1950’s-1960’s when even American sailors admired what was called Canada’s ‘Cadillac Navy.’ What a far cry that is from today’s 30-year-old ships and worn-out, dis-functional British submarines. Billions of dollars later, their long promised replacements still in the clouds because of unending delays and changes of course by the federal government.
At least the former seamen of HMCS Saskatchewan and her sisters have the satisfaction of having served on first-class naval craft. We can only hope that, one day, the government will get off the pot and the same may be true again.
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I’ve been retelling the story of martyred BC Forest Ranger Oliver G. Clark, here and on Facebook. As flames swept towards Port Neville in 1925, he went back to see that no one had been left behind and died in the fire.
How sad that we have three more fallen firefighters as of this summer: Devyn Gale who was killed by a falling tree, and helicopter pilot, 41-year-old father of two, Ryan Gould. Devyn Gale was just 19.
A third, as yet unnamed, hero was killed near Fort Liard, NWT.
I hope that, years from now, they shall be remembered and honoured as Oliver Clark has so deservedly been.
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There’s a new acting CEO at the Royal BC Museum. Here’s hoping Tracey Drake sticks it out longer than her predecessor and that she cleans up some of the mess that has become almost a byword for what’s supposed to be the Fort Knox of British Columbia museums and historical repositories.
Here’s hoping, too, that the B.C. government sorts out another mess on its hands, the under-funding and resulting confusion and disorder among various historical societies and other volunteer agencies who are giving up on trying to keep various historical and heritage sites almost on their own.
All governments, it seems, are front and centre when it comes to talking the talk when it’s about saving history. But walking the talk—i.e., funding—ah, that’s a problem.
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