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As of August 1914, Premier McBride had served as the leader of British Columbia for 11 years and not once had the province been in such turmoil. That was somewhat understandable as he had not overseen the province through a major conflict yet, the situation was very troublesome nonetheless. It was rightfully obvious to everybody involved that when war was declared, British Columbia was in at least some kind of peril, although the exact severity was always up for debate. The skeptics were content to stick their fingers in their ears and go about their normal business while the professional worriers were convinced the entire East Asia Squadron would sail up any day and wipe Vancouver off the face of the Earth. McBride took a more logical view, he had always been on the side that something would likely happen to the major ports along the coast as they were far too valuable of targets given their antique and ineffectual defenses. The Premier had been consistently held back in his attempts to ready his province for war, routinely dog piled by multiple self important busybodies not wanting to rock the boat and cause panic within the general public. Even his submarine acquisition was heavily questioned by some of the Liberal leaning news publications and politicians in the area, at least until the morning of August 12 had come.


As the morning newspapers hit the streets across Canada, all of the obstacles impeding McBride seemed to fall to the wayside. Although no major bouts of violence occurred elsewhere as they did in Victoria, the Canadian people as a whole were devastated by such news. Only a single week after the declaration of war against Germany, months before any Canadian unit would set foot in Europe, its enemy had already dealt a mortal blow to the young nation. Half of the Royal Canadian Navy now sat on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, having taken effectively her entire crew of young Canadians down with her. The outpouring of grief was felt the most strongly in British Columbia however, vigils were also seen in many other cities such as Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Saint John and most surprisingly, the generally anti-Navy Quebec City. Most of the men lost were from British Columbia but some men hailed from all over Canada and even as far as Britain itself. Flags were flown at half mast across the country for the duration of August 12 and within British Columbia, the day was declared a provincial day of mourning. Canada's first shaky steps into this foreign war quickly turned out to be a colossal misstep that would haunt the government for years to come. Many Canadian politicians from across the nation addressed telegrams and letters to McBride and his province over the coming days. While the empty promises of support, condemnation of the Hun and condolences were indeed fine lip service, they were not what the province needed at the time. With Rainbow destroyed and their only hope of protection landing in the laps of barely operational submarines alongside questionable shore batteries, McBride once again took matters into his own hands. The Admiralty and Canadian government would be of little help in this situation so fitting the situation at hand, the Premier circumvented both organizations and went directly to an old friend. In a telegram addressed directly to the First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill on August 13, McBride communicated the following:

WINSTON OLD BOY

VERY URGENT. AS YOU ARE AWARE CRUISER RAINBOW SUNK BY GERMAN WARSHIPS OFF AMERICAN COAST. WEST COAST EFFECTIVELY UNDEFENDED AGAINST GERMAN WARSHIPS. VANCOUVER VICTORIA NANAIMO VULNERABLE TO BOMBARDMENT. INADEQUATE INTELLIGENCE REGARDING GERMAN MOVEMENTS. REQUIRE IMMEDIATE REINFORCEMENT OF ANY KIND. LOCAL DEFENSES NOT ABLE TO STAND UP TO ANY ATTACK. PLEASE RESPOND AT GREAT HASTE.

RICHARD MCBRIDE

For his part, Churchill was somewhat hamstringed in what could be immediately done to rectify the situation. The closest vessel that would be able to be detached without heavily effecting larger operations within the Pacific would be HMS Newcastle who was currently on route to Yokohama. Japanese units could also potentially be available in the coming weeks as Japan had issued Germany an ultimatum ending August 23, however such things could not be relied upon. If the British Admiralty was to be of little immediate assistance in the coming days, the Canadian ‘Admiralty’ in Ottawa would not be any better. In their preoccupied minds, it seems that Ottawa had not entirely grasped the severity of the situation on the West Coast and due to this, they had dropped the ball in relation to the handling of 18” torpedoes for the pair of Canadian submarines. The Halifax Dockyard’s ordnance stores were thoroughly ransacked from August 7 to August 8 in order to compile all of the stocks of 18” Mark IV torpedoes possible and associated equipment for the pair of BC based submarines. To the horror of the staff in Halifax, it was found that the stocks of 18" torpedoes were effectively empty. What was found showed that over 30% of the torpedo stocks remaining had deteriorated heavily over the period where the Canadian Government had taken ownership of the base and even the torpedoes which looked workable externally, showed issues in regards to lack of upkeep or simply being worn out due to heavy usage. Late into the night on August 9, an express train departed Halifax bound for Vancouver carried only 9 Mark IV 18” torpedoes and their associated equipment. Many freight and passenger services throughout the period would experience difficulties and major delays as this vital cargo was rushed across Canada with the highest priority possible. The lack of any real substance to the number of torpedoes supplied was definitely alarming however with the condition of the stocks in Halifax and the incompetence of the Admiralty, little could be done.

The potential scare regarding German cruisers in the area also prompted the disarmament of the newly arrived sloop HMS Shearwater. Without its crew and given the state of local naval reserve personnel, the ship itself was essentially nothing more than a floating gun battery. A pair of the ships 4”/40 guns were removed soon after her arrival and was slowly moved to Stanley Park in order to provide some semblance of defense to English Bay, Burrard Inlet and Vancouver itself. A large 12 inch by 12 inch wooden platform was sunk into the surrounding rock and soil with steel plates being fastened to the timbers, acting as a substitute for the deck of a ship in order to mount the weapons. This battery was placed roughly 300 feet to the south of Siwash Rock and presided over 100 feet above sea level which alongside the 9,600 yard maximum range of the guns, gave the battery itself a commanding presence of the local waters. As the firing path was cleared of foliage, a lookout platform was constructed within a nearby tree in order to be used for fire control and spotting. The members of the Naval Reserve who operated these weapons lived in a pair of Militia issued canvas tents placed somewhat back from the guns, various trenches and other articles of protection were planned to be constructed in the future to better protect the battery and its crews. As of August 15, the battery itself was complete and firing trials was soon planned to be undertaken. The hulk of Shearwater kept in Esquimalt while it was discussed what would be done with the vessel, ideas surfaced to use her as a floating battery in Nanaimo or Ladysmith while others put forward using her as a submarine tender or to strip more of her guns to be placed elsewhere.


With the defenses of British Columbia gradually reinforced even somewhat, the Navy was listening intently for any kind of intelligence regarding the German positions. The location of any German vessels was completely unknown, Leipzig had not reared her head since the action with Rainbow off San Francisco, but it was also thought that the cruiser SMS Nurnberg could also be lurking around the coast of British Columbia. Reliable information was incredibly rare, various scattered reports in the theater reported suspicious vessels everywhere but in the end, none of this could be verified. A well meaning but ignorant citizen could easily report a lost merchant as a warship or vice versa, the lack of anything besides fishery protection ships on the coast meant that most of these cases could not be investigated properly. This fog of war laid heavy over British Columbia and only added to the foreboding atmosphere building. The few active vessels in the area were spending their time ferrying militia troops and their equipment to vital wireless stations/outposts while being assigned to port patrols and such regularly. The fact that HMCHS Prince George had been completely radio silent for a few days was somewhat worrying but nothing out of the ordinary, losing wireless reception at such ranges was fairly common. It was not thought that a hospital ship would be touched, as wrong as that assumption would prove to be much later. Little could be done but wait, hopefully for some ally to swoop down to the Canadians rescue or alternatively, their greatest fear would be realized.