The Rainbow. A World War One on Canada's West Coast Timeline
- Thread starter YYJ
- Start date
Destroying lighthouses within the narrow passages and treacherous shores of British Columbia is an understandable precaution but also rather cruel choice for any other civilian vessels operating in the area, there's some real potential for repercussions there down the line if such a thing is done.
It's essentially the destruction or movement of road signs taken to a much larger scale.
It's essentially the destruction or movement of road signs taken to a much larger scale.
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More like removing 'bridge out' signs, than 'Peoria 1 mi'
Donald Reaver
Donor
If he had or does end up taking up the lighthouse and an American ship heading to Alaska sinks with a heavy loss of life because of it, could get bad.
Open to the sky
Aug 18, 1100 hours, HMCS Rainbow, Esquimalt Naval Yard.
Sub Lieutenant Thomas Brown stood on the teak deck of Rainbow’s aft bridge, as the ship left Esquimalt harbour. The day was beautifully sunny, with just a few patches of high cloud. A strong breeze blew in from the Pacific. To their starboard stood Fisgard Lighthouse, on its own little island. The coastal battery gunners watched the cruiser as it passed through the harbour mouth and entered Juan de Fuca Strait.
After his role in the great submarine caper, Brown had expected that he would be either be inducted into the submarine flotilla, or become a naval intelligence officer. A spy. But after the sloops arrived and had their crews dispersed, and the final crew allotments where made, Brown was assigned to the Rainbow. His role ended up being commander of the after bridge, in charge of steering the Rainbow should the main bridge become untenable for some reason. None of these reasons would be good, and Brown estimated that if he needed to take command, the remainder of the crew would be swimming shortly after.
His station was open to the sky, atop the after deckhouse, with a bridge wing on either side, and the mainmast just forward. In the centre was a wheel, a binnacle, and an engine telegraph, all resplendent with polished brass. The bridge wings each mounted a searchlight. Beneath his feet was a cramped armoured box which duplicated the controls, and doubled as the torpedo aiming position. This would be the last refuge to steer the ship, if every other command position was destroyed. Although there were emergency controls in the steering compartment that allowed the rudder to be turned manually if need be.
Brown enjoyed the wind in his hair as, over top of the aft 6 inch gun, he watched Victoria fade astern. He hoped it would not be for the last time. Rainbow initially followed the course he has taken with Captain Logan, when they had taken a steamer to Seattle, the day the war was declared. But after an hour the cruiser turned north into the shipping channel to Vancouver that ran between the southern Gulf Islands. To their east lay San Juan Island, where the United States and The British Empire had almost gone to war in 1859 over a farmer’s pig. The island was best avoided today as well. An American Revenue Cutter steamed just inside the maritime border, enforcing American neutrality.
Rainbow continued up Georgia Strait. To the east, the purple snow capped peaks of the coastal mountains faded into infinity. The smoke of Vancouver appeared to starboard. The inland waterways were not subject to the shipping stop that had interrupted trans-Pacific trade, and all the usual maritime traffic was in evidence. Steamers ran the triangle route connecting Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle. Fish boats gathered off the Fraser River estuary stalking the Sockeye and Chinook salmon runs. A steam tug towed a scow laden with concentrated copper ore from the Britannia mine to the smelter in Tacoma. This would be a nice afternoon to be out sailing in his ketch, thought Brown.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisga...:Fisgard_Lighthouse,_Vancouver_Island,_BC.jpg
Sub Lieutenant Thomas Brown stood on the teak deck of Rainbow’s aft bridge, as the ship left Esquimalt harbour. The day was beautifully sunny, with just a few patches of high cloud. A strong breeze blew in from the Pacific. To their starboard stood Fisgard Lighthouse, on its own little island. The coastal battery gunners watched the cruiser as it passed through the harbour mouth and entered Juan de Fuca Strait.
After his role in the great submarine caper, Brown had expected that he would be either be inducted into the submarine flotilla, or become a naval intelligence officer. A spy. But after the sloops arrived and had their crews dispersed, and the final crew allotments where made, Brown was assigned to the Rainbow. His role ended up being commander of the after bridge, in charge of steering the Rainbow should the main bridge become untenable for some reason. None of these reasons would be good, and Brown estimated that if he needed to take command, the remainder of the crew would be swimming shortly after.
His station was open to the sky, atop the after deckhouse, with a bridge wing on either side, and the mainmast just forward. In the centre was a wheel, a binnacle, and an engine telegraph, all resplendent with polished brass. The bridge wings each mounted a searchlight. Beneath his feet was a cramped armoured box which duplicated the controls, and doubled as the torpedo aiming position. This would be the last refuge to steer the ship, if every other command position was destroyed. Although there were emergency controls in the steering compartment that allowed the rudder to be turned manually if need be.
Brown enjoyed the wind in his hair as, over top of the aft 6 inch gun, he watched Victoria fade astern. He hoped it would not be for the last time. Rainbow initially followed the course he has taken with Captain Logan, when they had taken a steamer to Seattle, the day the war was declared. But after an hour the cruiser turned north into the shipping channel to Vancouver that ran between the southern Gulf Islands. To their east lay San Juan Island, where the United States and The British Empire had almost gone to war in 1859 over a farmer’s pig. The island was best avoided today as well. An American Revenue Cutter steamed just inside the maritime border, enforcing American neutrality.
Rainbow continued up Georgia Strait. To the east, the purple snow capped peaks of the coastal mountains faded into infinity. The smoke of Vancouver appeared to starboard. The inland waterways were not subject to the shipping stop that had interrupted trans-Pacific trade, and all the usual maritime traffic was in evidence. Steamers ran the triangle route connecting Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle. Fish boats gathered off the Fraser River estuary stalking the Sockeye and Chinook salmon runs. A steam tug towed a scow laden with concentrated copper ore from the Britannia mine to the smelter in Tacoma. This would be a nice afternoon to be out sailing in his ketch, thought Brown.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisga...:Fisgard_Lighthouse,_Vancouver_Island,_BC.jpg
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Good descriptive writing; I almost feel like I’m there.
I’m surprised that the coastal trade ships are still going, with an enemy cruiser raiding and raising hell close by. Maybe word hasn’t quite gotten out yet, or they feel safer this close to the Naval Yard.
I’m surprised that the coastal trade ships are still going, with an enemy cruiser raiding and raising hell close by. Maybe word hasn’t quite gotten out yet, or they feel safer this close to the Naval Yard.
Driftless
Donor
I'd imagine under the circumstances, there would be some feelings of:
- We make no money sitting in port
- Nobody's telling me what to do
- I don't believe they're close to here
- Why would they mess with my small ship/boat - we're nothing
- (It won't be me, it'll be the other guy)
Add to that is that the knowledge may not be common to those outside of the authorities. Especially to any vessel without a wireless, which spends much of it's time coasting in areas with no wireless.
Driftless
Donor
Good point. The authorities have both conflicting information about where the Nurnberg is and a desire to tamp down any information about what the Nurnberg's been up to at this point. (It's public knowledge through US sources that the Leipzig was/is in San Francisco, correct?).
Correct. As reported in the Victoria Daily Colonist August 17, 1914, page 1. Upper left corner.
https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist56y212buvic#mode/1up
Someone who was really paying attention could discern a pattern of genuine reports. But the rumours outweigh the real information trickling out from the North by an order of magnitude. The rumours have been raging since the outbreak of the war.
Correct. The chapter entitled Every Preparation and the wireless messages at the beginning of the chapter entitled All This Junk give the current intelligence picture.
Unless it's specifically know that Nurnberg is operating where their ships were, they'll need 3-5 days to declare a ship overdue.
ferdi254
Banned
And I am not sure but was there actually one authority who would be able to gather the data about the missing ship? Some port captain coming up with "oh, I am missing 5 ships now, Nuremberg is reported in the area, let´s call the next harbours north and south and allign information" Or would it be single agencies each missing one ship with no one there to connect the dots? And osme of those ships were bound to far off places so...? I do not know what was the system in place but if the latter...
In the Great Lakes, once a ship was declared overdue, they would wire the port that she was to leave, and make sure she left on time. Assuming she did, they'd wire any ports between the origin and the destination, to see if she put in there for weather/repairs, etc. Assuming another negative, there would be a general signal, asking all ships if they've seen the missing one. Not generally spoken, but this includes looking for wreckage.
The central hub would be the insurers. They'll know if a lot of ships are disappearing in one area.
Thank you, that is useful information.
When I am talking "overdue" in these recent chapters, I am speaking about the local steamship lines, so the Union Steamship Line, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Grand Trunk Railway. Those ships ran like trains, and would be noticed if they were an hour late. The 7 ships Nürnberg captured before the SS Prince Rupert are not overdue yet at their destination ports. Half of those ships were sailing ships with no wireless, and they were just a few days out of North America headed for Asia. Their crews are now enjoying the hospitality of Anyox, and will get to tell their story when someone from the outside gets around to checking on the town.
I account for some of the "uncertainlty" about the coastal ships going missing as a willful blindness of the leadership towards a part of the coast suddenly becoming a Bermuda Triangle from which nothing returns, as a tamped down panic reaction. "This can't be happening!" Fingers in ears going "La la la!"
There is also a skepticism overreaction by the naval officer and political class in the face of the rumour mill that the Germans are everywhere.
Maybe I should write this more into the story rather than as an aside in the discussion.