For Posterity's Sake         

A Royal Canadian Navy Historical Project

 

In memory of those who have Crossed the Bar 

 

William Dennis Cardy

 

Cook, Royal Navy, WW I

 

William's son Roy Cardy served as an AA rating in the RCN during WW2

 

Photos and documents courtesy of Dennis Cardy (son of Roy Cardy, grandson of William Cardy)

 

Ships and bases served in:

HMS Pembroke I - 16 Jun 1915 - 01 Mar 1916

HMS Lancaster- 02 Mar 1916 - 26 Nov 1918

HMS Euryalus - 27 Nov 1918 - 26 Jun 1919

 

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(1) William Cardy's WW1 medals  (2-3) HMS Euryalis  (4) William Dennis Cardy in front of HMCS Reindeer 716 alongside HMCS York, Toronto, circa 1952-53  (5) William Dennis Cardy on the flight deck of HMCS Magnificent

 

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(6-11) William Cardy's Identity and Service Certificate for the British Mercantile Marine

 


 

 

Visit of Admiral Sir Roger and Lady Keyes, Toronto, 1934.  Back row, 2nd from left - William Dennis Cardy

Click here to read the speech Admiral Keyes gave at the Empire Club of Canada, Toronto on 04 Sep 1934

 


 

Crossing the line certificate (Equator) for Hans Robert Alfred Olling

onboard the German Armoured Cruiser SMS Scharnhorst - 09 Feb 1910

 

SMS Scharnhorst crossed the Equator at 97 deg 37 min East

Auf der Reise von Sabang nach Padang (On the journey to Sabang after Padang)

 

Webmaster's note: While this certificate is not from a ship of the RCN - Scharnhorst was a ship of the Imperial German Navy - it was in the Cardy family collection and deserves recognition as a piece of naval history. This certificate somehow made it from the Scharnhorst, which was sunk in 1914, to an antique shop in the Niagara area of Ontario, where it was purchased by the Cardy family.

 

Hans Robert Alfred Olling went by Alfred. He was born Jan 18,1888 in Haderslev, southern Denmark. During his time this was Jutland, part of Prussia and the German Empire and so he would have enlisted with the German forces. He was a carpenter and glazer by trade and initially was in the Naval Reserve. He was onboard Scharnhorst during her transfer to the Far East Squadron. He appears to have returned from his far east tour of duty on SMS Scharnhorst and got married to a Cathrine Marie Gilbert in 1914. He was subsequently assigned to SMS Blücher (date unknown). On Jan 24, 1915 he was serving in SMS Blücher when she was engaged in the North Sea battle of Dogger Bank. He was among the 700 + that died on board in that battle and subsequent sinking of the Blücher. There is a memorial of his service at a Monastery church in his hometown. His plaque can be seen in the 2nd image attached, 2nd from right, top row. I believe the cross symbol and "V Helgoland" on the memorial stone could possibly indicate he was buried on the German island of Helgoland (Heligoland) out in the North Sea. (Researched by Wayne Mullins)

 

Photo of monument in the hometown of Alfred Olling     Close up of Alfred's name on monument

 

Click on the above photos to view a larger image

 

Historical note: Canada's and the RCN's first casualties in WW I occurred during the Battle of Coronel, on 11 Nov 1914, between a Royal Navy squadron comprising of HMS Good Hope, HMS Mammoth, HMS Glasgow and HMS Otranto and a German squadron comprising of the armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau, and the light cruisers SMS Lepzig, SMS Nurnberg and SMS Dresden. During this battle the Good Hope and Mammoth were sunk with a loss of all hands which included 4 midshipmen of the RCN. Scharnhorst was later sunk at the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 08 Dec 1914.

 

Photo of SMS Scharnhorst by Arthur Renard

 


 

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