HMCS GALIANO

 

Auxiliary Patrol Ship

 


 

HMCS GALIANO

 

Laid down: 1913

Launched: 1913

Acquired by RCN: 1917

Commissioned: 15 Dec 1917

Foundered: 30 Oct 1918

 

In late Oct 1918, the GALIANO, just returned from the Queen Charlotte Islands (now Haida Gwaii) and, in need of some repair, was sent with supplies to the light house at Triangle Island off Cape Scott at the northwestern tip of Vancouver Island. A number of her regular crew were unable to make the trip due to illness as the 1918 flu pandemic had reached her base at Esquimalt. She set out towards the Queen Charlotte Islands from Triangle Island at 5 pm on 29 Oct 1918. When she made her only distress call at 3 am the next morning, she was estimated to be within visual range of the light at Cape St. James 95 miles from Triangle Island. She was never heard from again and went down with the loss of all hands. At the time of her distress call, there were heavy seas running at her location in Queen Charlotte Sound. She was lost just days after the SS Princess Sophia ran aground on Vanderbilt Reef, near Skagway, Alaska also in heavy weather. The Naval Memorial in Ross Bay Cemetery, Vancouver Island, British Columbia bears the names of 39 officers and men who were lost at sea.

 

The Victoria Daily Colonists noted, on November 03, 1918: "The men of GALIANO died in the performance of duty. They have ventured into rough places and taken their chance many a time before. They did it without a flourish of trumpets. This time they took a chance and lost."

 


 

Photos and Documents          Ship's company photos

 


 

Newspaper transcriptions about the loss of HMCS GALIANO

 

The wreck of HMCS GALIANO - Nauticapedia          Court of Inquiry Report into the loss of HMCS GALIANO

 

“For God’s Sake send help” HMCS GALIANO, Pacific Navigation and life in the West Coast Reserve fleet, 1913-1918

 


 

Commanding Officers

 

Lt Robert Mayes Pope, RCNVR - 15 Dec 1917 - 30 Oct 1918

 


 

     In memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice    

     Lest We Forget     

 

AIRD, James

AB, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

AITKEN, Peter

AB, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

BATE, George D.S.

Sh Ck 3, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

BENTLEY, William J.

LS, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

DOBBYN, Matthew

Sto 1c, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

EBBS, Wilfred A.

AB, RNCVR

died - 30 Oct 1918

EDMONDS, Peter W.

ERA 4c, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

GILBERT, Joseph

Bos'n, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

GREENSHIELDS, Frank

CERA, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

HANBURY, Charles L.

Sto 1c, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

HUME, Arthur E.

Sto 1c, RNCVR

died - 30 Oct 1918

JEWKES, Arthur L.

AB, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

JONES, Alan O.

AB, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

KANEEN, Thomas F.

L/Sto, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

KING, William J.

AB, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

MacLEAN, Neil

LS, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

McGUFFIN, Hudson

OS, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

McLEOD, Roderick

Boy, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

MERCER, Harold

ERA 4c, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

MUNRO, Alexander E.P.

LS, RNCVR

MPK 30 Oct 1918

MUSTY, George H.

Sto 1c, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

NEARY, Michael J.

W/T.O. 4c, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

NEWTON, Roy E.

Boy, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

ORDANO, Austin R.

AB, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

PETERS, Frederick G.

Boy, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

POERE, Edward C.

LS, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

POPE, Robert M.

Lt, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

PRICE, Noel G.

L/Sto, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

REEVES, Alfred J.

Sh.Ck1, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

STAFFORD, William J.

AB, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

STIRRUP, Harold

Sto 2c, VR6728, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

TABONE, Michael

V.P.O., RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

THERIAULT, William G.

Sto 2c, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

VINNICOMBE, James

CPO, VR5725, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

WALLACE, William

Boy, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

WATSON, Philip A.

ERA 2c, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

WHITWORTH, Frederick

L/Sto, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

WILLIAMSON, George

V.P.O., RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

YOUNG, John

Sto 1c, VR974, RNCVR

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

No Photo Available

 

BRUNTON, Emma Mary

 

Civilian

 

MPK - 30 Oct 1918

 


 

     In memory of those who have crossed the bar    

They shall not be forgotten

 

Raine, Thomas C.

 

 

 

 

 


 

Photos and Documents

 

Chief Petty Officer James Vinicombe

 

Chief Petty Officer James Vinnicombe, HMCS GALIANO's boatswain, was among those who perished when the ship sank in an October 1918 storm. A handwritten caption identifies Vinicombe as "the bos'un". As boatswain (a word spelled in a wide variety of ways including "bosun"), he was responsible for GALIANO's rigging, cables, anchors, and deck crew. The 53-year-old Vinicombe, likely photographed aboard the GALIANO, was one of 40 lost when the ship sank off the British Columbia coast. Like the majority of the crew, he was a resident of British Columbia, although he had been born in London, England.

 

Source: Canada War Museum

Credit: VRP992.84.57 CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum

5 sailors on APS GALIANO

 

Ref: ENMM No. VR992.84.14

 

Source:  Canadian Military History Volume 19 | Issue 1 Article

Newspaper article on Doug Bate and Arthur Hume

 

Source: George Douglas Stanley Bate and the Lost Ship, the GALIANO

 

Courtesy of Gayle Jesperson

SS GALIANO ashore at Royal Roads Lagoon, ca. 1916.
B.C. Archives photo, call number B-03998.

Source: George Douglas Stanley Bate and the Lost Ship, the GALIANO

Courtesy of Gayle Jesperson

Doug Bate and friend Arthur E. Hume on HMCS GALIANO

 

Source: George Douglas Stanley Bate and the Lost Ship, the GALIANO

 

Courtesy of Gayle Jesperson

George D S Bate, Cook, VR/6117, RCNVR


HMCS GALIANO


MPK - Wednesday, 30th October 1918

 

Source: George Douglas Stanley Bate and the Lost Ship, the GALIANO

 

Courtesy of Gayle Jesperson

Officers of the GALIANO: Commander, Lieut. (Capt.) R.M. Pope, R.N.R. (in centre); Chief Engineer, I. Greenshields (right); Wireless Operator, Michael J. Neary (left).

 

Lieut. Pope, commander of the GALIANO, had commanded the GALIANO ever since she came to this country in 1913. He was born in England and came to this coast about 15 years ago. He had already served on sailing ships out of Great Britain to India, and was an officer aboard the steamers of the East India Company. He was also an officer in the Cape service from England to Africa. Later he served on a cruiser in the British Navy as a lieutenant. After he arrived here he made several voyages with the Empress of Japan as third officer. He then joined the Quadra and was with her under Capt. J.F. Walbran and Capt. C. Hackett. Lieut. Pope remained ashore some time and then took command of the GALIANO.

 

Frank Greenshields, chief engineer, has been on the GALIANO ever since she arrived in Victoria.

From the The Daily Colonist, Victoria B.C., November 1, 1918

 

The following wireless message was received from the whaling tender Gray at 3:47 yesterday afternoon: "Whalers went out to positions I gave this morning and met the G.F. Foster, a trawler, which accompanied them and picked up one dead body foul of a life jacket. Soon after picked up engine room skylight which without a doubt is the GALIANO's. No more wreckage in sight. Weather thick and dirty."

 

Yesterday evening at 5 o'clock the following message was received from the Ikeda wireless station: "Gray advises clothing on body picked up is marked W.H. Ebbs, a sailor."

From the The Daily Colonist, Nov. 3, 1918

 

Before Aird went away on his last trip he was sick, but he would not stay ashore, because he said that as so many of the boys were laid up with "flu" it might be thought that he was shirking. They needed him. And so he went to his ship wearing several plasters, the work of "Mother" Ranns." who had been doctoring him. From Vancouver he sent her a book with a message scribbled on the lid of the box enclosing it, the title being "Old Friends Like You."

 

James Aird came from Calgary. His mother lives in Scotland. In a recent letter from her she told of a brother being killed in action. The last letter told of another brother being wounded in France.

From the The Daily Colonist, Nov. 3, 1918

 

When Mr. James Reeves, cook on the GALIANO, left his wife to join the ship for her last trip he said: "This is going to be an awful trip; but don't worry. We'll all come home." 

From the The Daily Colonist, Nov. 3, 1918

 

Working in the Armory at the Navy Yard, Mr. King was chosen to replace a member of the GALIANO's crew incapacitated with "flu". The longest journey he had ever made on the water was as a passenger to Vancouver and Seattle. Before leaving on the trip his relatives teased him about getting seasick. 

GALIANO's Crew: Names of the Lost

 

Toronto Globe 05 Nov 1918

 


 

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