Unit I Culminating Assignment: Canadian War Museum; Canada's Merchant Navy (Canadian Government Merchant Marine)

Description:

This is a painting of Canada’s Grand Armada, a group of ships carrying the First Canadian Contingent on 31 ocean liners escorted by Royal Navy warships. The ships are sailing out of Quebec and forming up in the gulf of St. Lawrence. The First Canadian Contingent (1st Canadian division) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force rode upon the ships. some 31000 men, horses, weapons and equipments was on board these ships

Content:

This painting is a digital copy of the original. The original is permanently stored at the Canadian War Museum. This painting, by Frederick Sproston shows the convoy of ships carrying canadian troops and equipment forming at the mouth of the St. Lawrence river

Reliability:

The is a reliable source, as it was drawn shortly after the war in 1919. This painting has no real bias as it has no significant propaganda value as it was painted after the war. However, this is an important piece of historical artwork as it show how the first canadian contingent’s convoy of ships would have looked like, and give historians insight to what kinds of ships that canadian sailors’ may have served upon.

Description:

A typical Allied Merchant Ship. The Allies used these sized ships to transport various goods and servicemen to the Britain where they would be accounted for and sent to the front lines. This example has dazzle paint scheme. This was to confuse enemy of the type, size and direction of ship.

Content:

This is a photograph of a typical merchant ship that was taken during the war in Halifax harbor. It was taken for documentation purposes and is published and documented on the Canadian War Museum website and at the museum’s archives

Reliability:

This is reliable because this is a real photograph taken during the war and was digitally scanned by Canadian War Museum, For use George Metcalf Archival Collection which features 765 meters of documentation such as blueprints, postcards and history tapes. The photographic portion of the collection contains over 90,000 original photographic prints meaning that the picture has not been tampered with. This is not a biased picture because many other photographs of ships in this era also have dazzle camouflage to confuse the enemies. It is useful because it provides insight into what ships looked like back then and what the mariners would to to protect themselves for the Germans

Description:

Here you can see what a ship’s typical load out. This particular ship, the HMT Olympic, is a ocean liner designed to carry passengers. She was in fact the largest passenger ship of the time and was the sistership of the famous Titanic. The deck is crowded with people and supplies.These conditions continued throughout the war on various vessels. This ship was one of the ships that carried thousands of Canadian soldiers overseas and onto the battlefield.

Content:

This is a photograph of deck of the RMS Olympic, The only surviving ship of the Olympic Class ship she was converted for service with the royal navy on September 24, 1915. She was designated HMT Olympic (Hired Military Transport) and was chartered by the Canadian Government to move Canadian troops for Halifax to Britain. This photo was publish for public use by Queen’s University as part of their online archives

Reliability:

This is a reliable source because Queen’s university in Kingston is a respectable university and is an educational institution. The data on Queen’s university is very accurate and is updated frequently for errors. This picture is not bias as it was not altered to show the public that the voyage across the sea was a good event, instead the photograph shows how crowded decks of ships were.

Canadian Government Merchant Marine

Virtual Museum Exhibit

Works Cited

Canadian War Museum. "The Merchant Navy." WarMuseum.ca - Canada's Naval History - Explore History. Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, 29 Oct. 2010. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.

Chauhan, Yamini. "Merchant Marine." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Ed. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, 01 Sept. 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

Granatstein, J. L., and Dean F. Oliver. The Oxford Companion to Canadian Military History. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.

Graves, Donald E. "Canada and the Sea: 1600-1918." In Peril on the Sea: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle of the Atlantic. Toronto: Published for the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust by R. Brass Studio, 2003. 22-`-26. Print.

Halford, Robert G. "Backgrounder." The Unknown Navy: Canada's World War II Merchant Navy. St. Catharines, Ont.: Vanwell Pub., 1995. 15-16. Print.

Jin, Shan, and Deirdre Bryden. "An Archival Look at World War I." Queen's University Archives. Ed. Gillian Barlow. Queen's University, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.

Mackenzie, Kenneth S. "C.C. Ballantyne and the Canadian Government Merchant Marine." Canadian Nautical Research Society - Société Canadienne Pour La Recherche Nautique. Canadian Nautical Research Society, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. <http://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol02/tnm_2_1_1-13.pdf>.

Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. "Merchant Navy (United Kingdom)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Feb. 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.

Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. "RMS Olympic." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Olympic>.

Canada’s Grand Armada

What was the CGMM?

Canada’s Merchant Navy (CMN) or the Canadian Government Merchant Marine (CGMM) was a planned program during World War One. The program, led by the Minister of Marine and Fisheries Charles Ballantyne was motioned in parliament on April the 4th, 1918, the last year of the war and only few short months before the end of the war.

The canadian government ordered shipyards along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to build 63 vessels for service in the CGMM. The Ships varied in size, from the largest at 10,500 DWT (Deadweight Tons) to the smallest 2800 dead weight tons. These ship were well suited for transport within Canada but not out in the open waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The total cost for these ships was $79,521,932.

Ships and cost

Historian view point

Soon, it was clear that these ships were in fact built to bolster the Canadian export capabilities after the war as if canada wanted them for helping Britain's Merchant Navy, they would have ordered these ships a long time ago. The need for these ships were long past due because the Americans joined the war effort, ships transporting supplies to Britain will mostly be made by the Americans due to their industrial strength

Dazzle-painted Merchant Ship, Halifax Harbour

Significance of Merchant Marine/Navy

The merchant navy was an integral part of how canada help the allied offense. Ships from all over the world was asked to take part in the cross Atlantic journeys that supplied the french and the British. Canadian Sailors sailing upon ships of other nations helped win world war one this eventual caused King George V to bestow the title of Merchant Navy on the british commonwealth ships following their service in WWI.

Fun Fact: The First Canadian Contingent was escorted by some of Britain's largest ships. In the foreground is the HMS Princess Royal, a battlecruiser, weighing 26,000-ton

That didn’t mean that Canada’s merchant sailors were out of the action, over a quarter million canadian men served upon sips baring other nation's flags. These quarter of a million men manned over 12000 steamships under flags such as American, British, French and other commonwealth countries, crossing through the roughest seas and enemy infested waters

Canada's involvement in Merchant Marine

Trivia Question: What ship is depicted here?

This is the HMT Olympic! The Olympic was a common sight in the Atlantic port of Halifax, where she made many trips to. Her Dazzle colours were brown dark blue light blue and white. This painting was a painted by an famous Canadian artist in the group of seven, Arthur lismer

Canadian merchant sailors did not go unnoticed though, on parliament hill, the book of remembrance lists the 578 known sailors from Canada who risked their lives, and winning the war. On September 3 of every year we honor them by celebrating merchant navy veterans day of remembrance. The Convoy system was used more effectively during the Second World War, thanks to organization of the convoys of world war one and the lessons learned which in turn helped the Allies to win once again

Deck of HMS Olympic