'For God's Sake send help': HMCS Galiano, Pacific Navigation and life in the West Coast Reserve fleet, 1913-1918

摘要

HMCS Galiano is remembered mainly for being the Royal Canadian Navy's only loss during the First World War. However, a close examination of this ship's history not only reveals important insights into the origins and identity of the West Coast's seagoing naval reserve, but also the hazards and navigational challenges that confronted the men who served in these waters. The aim of this article, therefore, is to determine how particular navigation challenges affected Galiano's commanding officer to the point where they contributed to the ship's sinking. It also proposes that the waters of British Columbia were witness to a remarkable evolution that effectively gave birth to a proto sea-going reserve fleet on the West Coast well before the establishment of the modern naval reserves in 1923.