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A Reserve of Determination
Commander Walter Hose often referred to the period of 1912 to 1914 as the 'heartbreaking starvation time' and with the state of the navy in general, it evident as to why. With HMCS Niobe left in drydock and later allowed to rot pier side, personnel started to hemorrhage rather worryingly. Recruiting had fell to the wayside with essentially zero effort being put into the matter, posters within post offices were scarcely replaced and showed out of date information. Recruits turning in quickly found themselves deserting or transferring to the Royal Navy instead if they even decided to join. Figures for enlisted sailor intakes in 1912 listed 126 new sailors but 149 deserters. What personnel remained within the navy were found to be older pensioners from the Royal Navy, the average rating left assigned to Niobe in this period was well over 30 years old with some of the oldest being almost 50. The situation regarding training opportunities were so poor that the midshipmen from the College were forced to serve temporarily with the Royal Navy to receive their qualifications. Rainbow herself had fared better than Niobe, largely due to Commander Hose and his dogged determination. Her shrunken compliment largely relegated her to training in Esquimalt harbor and on the odd occasion, enough crew could be shaken out of the Fisheries Protection Force to allow the cruiser to stretch her legs up the coast. In fact, through this period, Rainbow was occasionally utilized as a fisheries protection ship herself although her considerable size and slow speed meant she was generally unsuccessful at catching smaller vessels within the 3-mile limit. Her one notable capture was that of the US schooner Edrie on February 21 of 1913 which she seized and brought into port after a quick blank shot from her 6 pdr battery.
The above chart shows the truly dismal state of the RCN leading up to WWI. As of 1913-1914, HMCS Rainbow effectively carried the bulk of the RCN's active personnel.
Even with this sporadic work on his plate, Hose was not a man to stand idle for any period of time. Admiral Kingsmill’s disapproval of his plan regarding a volunteer naval reserve not withstanding, he was not ready to let the idea go. With the rate of attrition, the regular force was going through, there would need to be a pool of even semi-trained personnel to pull from in case of an emergency. It turns out that Hose did not have to scheme for long as the opportunity fell directly into his lap. In July of 1913, a group of men including Royal Navy reservists in Victoria decided that they would attempt to form a volunteer naval force along similar lines to that of the Royal Navy. This raggedy group of naval enthusiasts, Royal Navy pensioners, yachtsmen and businessmen spent the next few weeks gathering financial, material, and political support through Victoria, the news eventually reaching Commander Hose in Esquimalt. While Hose could not go against the wishes of Kingsmill just yet, he met with the group multiple times and pledged to help in any way he could. Hose undertook a risky move and went above Kingsmill’s head, speaking directly to the Minister of the Naval Service, John Douglas Hazen. Hazen was outwardly sympathetic towards the group and with his permission, the unofficial reservists were granted permission to use the Esquimalt facilities with Hose’s supervision. When news of this eventually reached Kingsmill and Ottawa, both were furious at both the direct disobeying of orders and the lack of transparency in both parties’ actions.
Even after a personal rebuke from Kingsmill, Hose started the training of the reservists fervently. This group had no official status, little funding, and no pay whatsoever. All equipment was loaned from Esquimalt’s stockpiles and for a rather long time, these out of place men marched through the yards of Esquimalt, rifles in hand and clad in civilian attire. Instruction came from Commander Hose alongside members of Rainbow’s crew and Esquimalt base staff. All instructors were volunteers and took time out of their personal lives and even careers to ensure some semblance of training was passed to this vital group of trailblazers. During the following month, the new Indefatigable class battlecruiser HMS New Zealand stopped to visit Vancouver on its scheduled world tour. The leaders of the volunteers were surprised when the battlecruisers commanding officer, Captain Lionel Halsey, invited them aboard for a meeting. The officer made it a point to reinforce how crucial the role of the reserves was to the struggling organization and in the end, provided written resources for the unit to assist in their training. By around the same time of next year, the group had grown to over 140 members, although their training was somewhat surface level.
Men of the unofficial Victoria naval reserve pose for a photo, the mismatched civilian clothing and scatterings of naval uniforms can be seen throughout.
It would seem that through their determination, the group of amateur sailors from Victoria attracted the attention of the federal government. Utilizing an order in council through the Naval Service Act, the government strangely passed the ruling which brought the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve (R.N.C.V.R.) into being. It is unknown why a government seemingly hellbent on destroying the current navy would drop it a lifeline however, it is theorized that it was a kind of Liberal appeasement strategy or simply preparing for the Conservatives own navy. Regardless, the Reserve drew immediate criticism from the Liberals as they saw the organization not as a means of strengthening the existing Naval Service, but as an inevitable siphon to push more capable men into Royal Navy service. The organization itself was laid out with officers and enlisted men, open to all capable seafaring men up to 45 years old. The personnel would be volunteers in peacetime but would be engaged with the navy’s regular personnel during wartime. Contracts would be drafted in 3-year intervals with the ability to reenlist until the cut-off age. With a budget of $200,000 and a personnel goal of 1,200 men, the organization was to be split into 3 separate divisions. The Atlantic Division encompassed the entire East Coast until Quebec, the Lakes Division covered Quebec City to Manitoba and the Pacific Division held the rest of the nation. The Reserve would embark on 21 days of training per year in all of the same aspects as the regular force and would receive similar payment to the Canadian Militia.
The men of the Victoria Reservists were absorbed into the Pacific Division and in July of 1914, 50 of it’s members would be mobilized onto HMCS Rainbow. As the 1911 Sealing Convention signed by Russia, Japan, the United States, and Great Britain entailed, various vessels of each nation would patrol the Northern Pacific to prevent unethical harvesting of the population. This duty was usually reserved for the sloops HMS Algerine and HMS Shearwater which were the only remaining Royal Navy units in Esquimalt however during the summer of 1914, both these vessels were engaged in peacekeeping operations off Mexico. Rainbow was therefore readied for a 3-month cruise in their place, the members of the reserve being complimented by regulars from Niobe and abroad. She was undergoing cleaning and store replenishment in drydock when, in early July of 1914, she received an urgent call to assist in an ongoing international incident in Vancouver.
HMCS Rainbow alongside HMS New Zealand during her 1913 visit to British Columbia, the modern arrangement of the battlecruiser heavily contrasting the vintage cruiser.
Hose himself would not complain, any reason to get his ship and crew at sea was acceptable to him. This indifferent demeanor would soon change as Rainbow would quickly become involved in one of the most infamous Canadian racial episodes of the 20th century.
The above chart shows the truly dismal state of the RCN leading up to WWI. As of 1913-1914, HMCS Rainbow effectively carried the bulk of the RCN's active personnel.
Even with this sporadic work on his plate, Hose was not a man to stand idle for any period of time. Admiral Kingsmill’s disapproval of his plan regarding a volunteer naval reserve not withstanding, he was not ready to let the idea go. With the rate of attrition, the regular force was going through, there would need to be a pool of even semi-trained personnel to pull from in case of an emergency. It turns out that Hose did not have to scheme for long as the opportunity fell directly into his lap. In July of 1913, a group of men including Royal Navy reservists in Victoria decided that they would attempt to form a volunteer naval force along similar lines to that of the Royal Navy. This raggedy group of naval enthusiasts, Royal Navy pensioners, yachtsmen and businessmen spent the next few weeks gathering financial, material, and political support through Victoria, the news eventually reaching Commander Hose in Esquimalt. While Hose could not go against the wishes of Kingsmill just yet, he met with the group multiple times and pledged to help in any way he could. Hose undertook a risky move and went above Kingsmill’s head, speaking directly to the Minister of the Naval Service, John Douglas Hazen. Hazen was outwardly sympathetic towards the group and with his permission, the unofficial reservists were granted permission to use the Esquimalt facilities with Hose’s supervision. When news of this eventually reached Kingsmill and Ottawa, both were furious at both the direct disobeying of orders and the lack of transparency in both parties’ actions.
Even after a personal rebuke from Kingsmill, Hose started the training of the reservists fervently. This group had no official status, little funding, and no pay whatsoever. All equipment was loaned from Esquimalt’s stockpiles and for a rather long time, these out of place men marched through the yards of Esquimalt, rifles in hand and clad in civilian attire. Instruction came from Commander Hose alongside members of Rainbow’s crew and Esquimalt base staff. All instructors were volunteers and took time out of their personal lives and even careers to ensure some semblance of training was passed to this vital group of trailblazers. During the following month, the new Indefatigable class battlecruiser HMS New Zealand stopped to visit Vancouver on its scheduled world tour. The leaders of the volunteers were surprised when the battlecruisers commanding officer, Captain Lionel Halsey, invited them aboard for a meeting. The officer made it a point to reinforce how crucial the role of the reserves was to the struggling organization and in the end, provided written resources for the unit to assist in their training. By around the same time of next year, the group had grown to over 140 members, although their training was somewhat surface level.
Men of the unofficial Victoria naval reserve pose for a photo, the mismatched civilian clothing and scatterings of naval uniforms can be seen throughout.
It would seem that through their determination, the group of amateur sailors from Victoria attracted the attention of the federal government. Utilizing an order in council through the Naval Service Act, the government strangely passed the ruling which brought the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve (R.N.C.V.R.) into being. It is unknown why a government seemingly hellbent on destroying the current navy would drop it a lifeline however, it is theorized that it was a kind of Liberal appeasement strategy or simply preparing for the Conservatives own navy. Regardless, the Reserve drew immediate criticism from the Liberals as they saw the organization not as a means of strengthening the existing Naval Service, but as an inevitable siphon to push more capable men into Royal Navy service. The organization itself was laid out with officers and enlisted men, open to all capable seafaring men up to 45 years old. The personnel would be volunteers in peacetime but would be engaged with the navy’s regular personnel during wartime. Contracts would be drafted in 3-year intervals with the ability to reenlist until the cut-off age. With a budget of $200,000 and a personnel goal of 1,200 men, the organization was to be split into 3 separate divisions. The Atlantic Division encompassed the entire East Coast until Quebec, the Lakes Division covered Quebec City to Manitoba and the Pacific Division held the rest of the nation. The Reserve would embark on 21 days of training per year in all of the same aspects as the regular force and would receive similar payment to the Canadian Militia.
The men of the Victoria Reservists were absorbed into the Pacific Division and in July of 1914, 50 of it’s members would be mobilized onto HMCS Rainbow. As the 1911 Sealing Convention signed by Russia, Japan, the United States, and Great Britain entailed, various vessels of each nation would patrol the Northern Pacific to prevent unethical harvesting of the population. This duty was usually reserved for the sloops HMS Algerine and HMS Shearwater which were the only remaining Royal Navy units in Esquimalt however during the summer of 1914, both these vessels were engaged in peacekeeping operations off Mexico. Rainbow was therefore readied for a 3-month cruise in their place, the members of the reserve being complimented by regulars from Niobe and abroad. She was undergoing cleaning and store replenishment in drydock when, in early July of 1914, she received an urgent call to assist in an ongoing international incident in Vancouver.
HMCS Rainbow alongside HMS New Zealand during her 1913 visit to British Columbia, the modern arrangement of the battlecruiser heavily contrasting the vintage cruiser.
Hose himself would not complain, any reason to get his ship and crew at sea was acceptable to him. This indifferent demeanor would soon change as Rainbow would quickly become involved in one of the most infamous Canadian racial episodes of the 20th century.
- RelativeGalaxy7
- Word Count: 1.3k