The First Encounter: Fighting for Naval Supremacy on Lake Ontario, 7–10 August 1813

To upgrade the fighting ability of the Provincial Marine, the Royal Navy sent one of their best young commodores along with 465 officers and ratings to operate the ships of the Lake Ontario squadron. This detachment of Royal Navy personnel, including four commanders, were all veterans with a wealth of sea experience. Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo was described as a zealous, enterprising officer whose daring was unequalled in the annuals of the Royal Navy. Hence his rapid rise to flag rank and his knighthood at the age of thirty-one. The purpose of this article is to illustrate that the way in which Chauncey and Yeo conducted their operations on Lake Ontario was very much in keeping with their background and experience. It was evident from their first encounter that Yeo, the veteran, was the confident aggressor while Chauncey, the administrator, was wary of the reputation of his knighted opponent and unsure of his own squadron’s capabilities

Review of Morale and Discipline in the Royal Navy during the First World War by Laura Rowe

Review of Morale and Discipline in the Royal Navy during the First World War by Laura Row

In the Tradition of Nelson: The Royal Navy in World War II

Review of Correlli Barnett, Engage the Enemy More Closely: The Royal Navy in the Second World War. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1991

\u3cem\u3eThe U-Boat Hunters: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Offensive Against Germany’s Submarines\u3c/em\u3e by Marc Milner [Review]

Review of Marc Milner, The U-Boar Hunters: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Offensive Against Germany\u27s Submarines. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994

Leonard Brooks—War Artist (1911–2011)

Just 13 days after his 100th birthday, Leonard Brooks, a Second World War Canadian artist passed away. Trained as a commercial artist, Brooks joined the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in 1943 and was appointed an official war artist the following year. He painted scenes of the Royal Canadian Navy on Canada’s east coast, shipboard life on minesweepers, frigates and aircraft carriers and various war scenes in England and France. A total of 113 pieces of his work, “all my children” in his words, are held by the Canadian War Museum

The End of HMCS \u3cem\u3eSt. Croix\u3c/em\u3e

The following story tells of the end of HMCS St. Croix and HMS Itchen. It was written by the sole survivor of St. Croix, a stoker. The story which follows originally appeared in the Royal Canadian Navy Monthly Review in August 1944. It is printed without embellishments or alterations

Canada\u27s Bastions of Empire: Halifax, Victoria and the Royal Navy, 1749-1918 (Book Review) by Bryan Elson

Review of Canada\u27s Bastions of Empire: Halifax, Victoria and the Royal Navy, 1749-1918. Bryan Elson. Halifax: Formac. Pp. 280

Piracy and Due Process

This article explores in depth the law of nations, English domestic law, and English government practice from the late medieval period through the eighteenth century, and the U.S. constitutional law and government practice during the Founding and antebellum periods. I conclude that Chapman’s claims about due process and piracy suppression are incorrect. Both Parliament and the U.S. Congress; both the Crown and its counselors and U.S Presidents and their advisers; both the Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy; and commentators both English and American believed that (1) pirates on the high seas could lawfully be subject to extrajudicial killing, but that (2) the criminal justice system was usually the preferred approach to dealing with pirates, and when tried for their crimes in English or American territory respectively, accused pirates were entitled to due process of law

Naval Narratives of Re-enactment: In Which We Serve and Sea of Fire

This essay examines two narrative examples of the Royal Navy and naval combat on screen, exploring their resemblances in the reenactment of naval history and their portrayal of the past through consistent representational strategies. In Which We Serve (Noel Coward and David Lean, 1942) and Sea of Fire (Ian Duncan, 2007) use deliberate and self-conscious recreations of the past to authenticate their interpretations of British naval history, and evince comparably conservative stances towards the Royal Navy and perceptions of its traditions. The similarity of their narratives, which describe the events leading up to the loss of two Navy destroyers, helps to reveal and reinforce the tonal, structural and stylistic parallels in their depictions. The correspondence in their portrayal of naval combat and the institution of the Royal Navy illustrates the consistencies of representation which characterise the naval war film as a distinctive, definable narrative form. Above all, their commitment to the recreation and reenactment of identifiable historical events underpins their importance in the representation and commemoration of the national, naval past. It is this aspect of both productions which is significant in the exploration of the role of visual representations to construct, affirm and broadcast pervasive and persuasive versions of popular history

“Pusser grub? My God but it was awful!” Feeding the Fleet During the Second World War

When Canada declared war on Germany in September 1939 the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR), and Royal Canadian Naval Reserve (RCNR) consisted of perhaps 3,000 officers and men. The RCN was manning six destroyers and seven smaller craft out of Halifax and Esquimalt. While the men of the RCNR had seagoing experience through the merchant navy and the fishing fleets, only a limited number of men from the RCNVR had managed to spend any time in RCN vessels. No reservist from either category that had any significant prewar training or experience in food supply or preparation for large groups could be located for an interview. However, former navy cooks who joined just before and during the course of the war have been interviewed by this author or by other researchers, as have seamen who served with these men and consumed the meals they prepared at sea. This study will examine the validity of the statement quoted in the title. It will look at the victualling and cook trades, the drafts (postings) these men had between 1939 and 1945, the type of trade training they received, the foods they were permitted to order and were given to prepare, the conditions under which they worked in different classes of ships, how the seamen responded to their meals, and the role they played in feeding the men as well as keeping up morale and playing their part in fighting the ship