HMCS FORT FRANCES

It is not generally realized that the Canadian Government owns and operates quite a large fleet of ships on both salt water and fresh, vessels other than ships of war.  These, collectively, are known as Canadian Government Ships (their names prefixed by CGS) and from the days of the Great War through the Second World War many saw service under the White Ensign.

These ships are sailed under the orders of several departments providing a great variety of services to the Canadian people, services ranging from lighthouse and buoy tending, surveying and charting, fisheries protection, control of smuggling, search and rescue, oceanographic research, to ice-breaking, and even delivery of the mail to isolated outports.

The Navy in time of emergency has always made good use of this ready reserve of ships and in recent years ships of war have reserved this pattern by lending themselves to other government departments for service in a variety of capacities.  Such a ship is HMCS FORT FRANCES.  Built for war, most of her 16-year life has been devoted to peace time scientific pursuits.

The FORT FRANCES is an “Algerine” Class minesweeper, the second to last of the twelve built in this country for the RCN.  However so far as the Canadian fleet of the Second World War was concerned this class name was a misnomer, for none of the twelve was fitted with minesweeping davits nor winch.  The fact is it was recognized from the start that the “Algerines” being larger than the corvette and having good endurance and manoeuvrability that comes with twin screws, made excellent convoy escort ships for the Western Ocean.

Fashioned from an established British design all twelve ships of this class were built by the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. Ltd, at Port Arthur, Ontario.[1] The FORT FRANCES took some seventeen months to build and cost more than one and a quarter million dollars.  Her keel was laid on 11 May, 1943, and she was launched at noon on 30 October.  Almost a year to the day later, her sea trials were carried out on the broad waters of Lake Superior, some 2,000 miles from her destined element.  At 1700 on 28 October, 1944, she hoisted her White Ensign as a commissioned ship of the Royal Canadian Navy.

FORT FRANCES’ Commanding Officer, Lieutenant D. E. Ryerson, RCNVR, soon received his sailing orders from NOIC, [2] Toronto, Commodore E. R. Brock, RCNVR, requiring the ship to clear Port Arthur on 30 October with a Great Lakes pilot embarked, refuel at Sarnia and arrive Pier 6, Toronto, 4 November, for gunnery trials.  The Lakes at that time of year being notorious for violent storms, Lieutenant Ryerson was advised that in winds of over Force 4, he should seek shelter and, as far as possible, to traverse the shallow waters of the Lake and River St. Clair and Detroit River, as well as the Welland Canal, in daylight.

After four days at Toronto, HMCS FORT FRANCES proceeded on her way down Lake Ontario through the Thousand Islands for Montreal.  This port was reached on the 10^th but here she was delayed for dry docking and replacement of both propellers the blades of which were badly curled in two groundings, one at Lock 19, Cornwall, the other at Lock 4, Lachine.  The Commander-in-Chief at Halifax commented that while there was no direct evidence of negligence, the two groundings in two days indicated a want of caution by both the Captain and the pilot.  The ten-hour run to Quebec was made on 16 November.

Seven days were spent at Quebec and the records do not indicate the cause of the delay.  Naturally, there had been a rush to get out of the Lakes ahead of the freeze-up, leaving much storing and correction of minor defects to be done at Halifax.  Though commissioned, FORT FRANCES was not yet a fighting ship.  Perhaps the delay was to learn more about the German submarine situation in the Gulf and off Nova Scotia.  Certainly when Captain Gauvreau of HMCS CHALEUR II at Quebec sent down his sailing orders he instructed Lieutenant Ryerson to take all anti-submarine precautions including a zig-zag course, for U-boats were known to be in the area, one in the Gaspé Passage.  On 2 November, the SS Fort Thompson, deep laden with grain for North Africa, had been torpedoed in the river off Matane and while FORT FRANCES herself was steaming through the Gaspé Passage on the night of 24/25 November, HMCS SHAWINIGAN, corvette, was lost with all hands just across the Gulf, the victim of the torpedoes of U-1228.

At any rate, FORT FRANCES cleared Quebec the evening of 23 November, passed Mulgrave early on the 26^th and via the Gut of Canso raised her new base the same day.  Passing the gate with her new pennants, J-396, flying, FORT FRANCES entered Halifax harbour for radar installation and harbour “work-ups”.

When fully fitted out FORT FRANCES at this time had 271 Q radar in the familiar lantern over the bridge as well as the two components of IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) and high on the peak of the mast the birdcage looking antenna for FH3, “huff-duff” (HF/DF – High Frequency Direction Finder) for intercepting and pinpointing radio transmissions.  She was also fitted with type 144XCQ Asdic, type 764 Echo Sounder and Mark XIV Gyro.

The ship’s standard displacement was 990 tons; she was 225 feet long over all and her greatest beam was 35 feet, 6 inches.  At full load she drew 10’ 5” forward and 10’ aft.

Her twin shafts were driven by steam reciprocating engines designed with 2,400 horse-power which provided a maximum speed of 16 knots.  At economical speed, 11½ knots, this class had a range of 4500 sea miles.  Oil bunkers at capacity were 239 tons.

The ship’s gunnery armament consisted of one 4-inch gun on the forecastle, four twin Oerlikons (20 millimeter) and two .303 Brens.  Her anti-submarine weapon was the depth-charge and she was fitted with four throwers, two rails and two traps – all controlled by a Firing Clock.  Her full outfit of depth-charges amounted to 135.

Harbour training under Captain (D), Halifax, was completed 12 December and HMCS SOMERS ISLES, the RCN training base at Bermuda, was alerted for FORT FRANCES’ arrival in those pleasant southern waters.  However, troubles with her sea-water condensers kept the ship at Halifax for more than a month, well into 1945.

Now fully repaired FORT FRANCES on the morning of 18 January, 1945, steamed around Chebucto Head into St. Margaret’s Bay for HF/DF calibration and at the end of the day’s work was ordered to proceed directly to Bermuda.  The morning of the 21^st as she approached Bermuda, FORT FRANCES was informed to keep clear of the Italian submarine, Onice, being escorted by the destroyer escort, USS Albert T. Harris.  (The role of this submarine has not been determined but since the Italian armistice had been signed in September, 1943, it is likely that the Onice was a “tame” submarine being used by the USN to train her anti-submarine forces).

All went well at SOMERS ISLES where the RCN staff put the FORT FRANCES into fighting trim; she was back in Halifax on 12 February.  Five days later she became a fully operational ship when she was allocated to W-8 Group of the Western Escort Force under the orders of C-in-C, CNA (Commander-in-Chief, Canadian Northwest Atlantic) at Halifax.

It should be explained that the Western Escort Force was a fleet of groups of ships each group number being prefixed by the letter “W”.  In a carefully controlled schedule the “W” Groups escorted Atlantic convoys, both east and west-bound, between New York and Westomp, the latter being a position to the eastward of St. John’s, Newfoundland, a point that changed according to the U-boat situation and whose name stood for “Western Ocean Meeting Place”.  Small feeder convoys to and from other East Coast ports were also the responsibility of this Force.

As will be readily seen, FORT FRANCES was a “Johnny-come-lately” in the Battle of the Atlantic for the German surrender was only three months away.  But the ship packed fourteen convoys into those few months.  Though the end of the war in the Atlantic was clearly in sight, it was no time for letting down the defences; the Germans could still hit hard.  This was brought home only too tragically when HMCS CLAYOQUOT had been torpedoed and sunk in the Halifax approaches on Christmas Eve, and within days of the close of hostilities HMCS ESQUIMALT met the same fate just off the Halifax gate on 16 April, 1945.

HMCS FORT FRANCES’ first mission was to escort three merchantmen out of Halifax to beyond Sable Island where she detached to bring in a small Halifax-bound convoy, a part of ONS-41A, that had been badly battered in heavy weather east of the Grand Banks.

Having been initiated with these short missions, the FORT FRANCES in Group W-8 now commenced full-fledged convoy operations.  On 25 February fifteen merchantmen steamed down-harbour from Bedford Basin out through the gate past McNab’s Island and were marshalled into columns by the escort, HMC Ships FORT FRANCES (Senior Officer), ARVIDA, KENOGAMI and KAMSACK, three veteran corvettes.  This was a feeder convoy, HHX-340, to be taken to HOMP (Halifax Ocean Meeting Place) and there joined to the main convoy of forty-one ships, HX-340.  On the evening of the 26^th, the fifteen ships were wheeled into their new stations in the main convoy and the escort from the south headed by HMCS MIDDLESEX detached for other duties.

Without further incident FORT FRANCE duly brought her charges that covered many square miles of ocean to the appointed rendezvous east of Newfoundland on the 28^th and turned them over to a Mid-Ocean Escort headed by HMCS LANARK, for the long passage to Britain.  FORT FRANCES and her corvettes then proceeded to St. John’s to await a North American-bound convoy.  Some difficulty was encountered as W-8 approached the port on 1 March because of the masses of pack-ice, a condition that was to prevail throughout the spring months.

Two days later on the 3^rd, W-8 sailed from St. John’s, WETASKIWIN replacing KAMSACK.  At Westomp, Convoy ON-286 was picked up next day.  Arrival at the rendezvous off Halifax was delayed nine hours owing to rising gales and the resultant stragglers amongst the merchantmen.  However, the Halifax ships were safely detached on 6 March and W-8 continued with the main convoy for New York.  Off that port FORT FRANCES carried out a depth-charge attack on a rather doubtful asdic contact, with no result.  This is one of the greatest focal points of shipping in the world and FORT FRANCES was taking no chances.

The towers of Manhattan came into view on 9 March and FORT FRANCES’ company welcomed a five-day stop-over in the great city.  Group W-8 sailed on the 14^th, this time with fifty-four merchant ships, the Convoy Commodore of which was one of those elderly, intrepid, retired British flag officers, Vice-Admiral Sir Malcolm Goldsmith, flying his pennant in the Norwegian Topdalsfjord loaded with general cargo and army tanks.  This was Convoy HX-344 and after twenty more ships were safely brought into the far-flung columns from Halifax, W-8 detached for that port arriving the next day.

Convoy HX-346 brought W-8 to St. John’s on 31 March and from this port owing to another bout of trouble with her condensers she was unable to sail on schedule.  However, on 9 April, she and the “Bangor”, HMCS BURLINGTON, cleared St. John’s with a small convoy for Halifax, JHF-55, arriving on the 11^th.  Next day FORT FRANCES, with HMC Ships BITTERSWEET and TRURO, sailed for Sydney with Convoy HS-219A.  On the 13^th, off the Gut of Canso, FORT FRANCES detached independently for Pictou, N.S., for a brief refit that began the next day.

On the 18^th the ship was transferred to Group W-9 and two days later arrived at her home base with a coastal convoy from Sydney, SH-216.  Next day, on the 21^st, she steamed out and picked up the Halifax-bound ships of the Atlantic convoy, ON-295, and brought them safely to port on the 22^nd.

A week later on the 29^th, FORT FRANCES, now Senior Officer of W-9, with the Corvettes AMHERST, WOODSTOCK and MORDEN, cleared Halifax with a convoy for Saint John, New Brunswick, HF-172A.  Just out of the harbour the ships encountered an American frigate, USS Groton, blasting away at a suspected U-boat.  It due course, the target was declared “non-sub” and W-9 continued for the Bay of Fundy.

In recent weeks there had been a dire shortage of fresh water at the Bermuda base SOMERS ISLES, and ships on “work-ups” had had to be diverted for exercises to Annapolis Basin in Nova Scotia where NOIC Digby, the Captain of HMCS CORNWALLIS, was prevailed upon to put these ships through their paces.  This had been such a successful programme that, now that W-9 was in his waters, NOIC Digby (Captain J. C. I. Edwards, RCN) was asked to exercise FORT FRANCES and the other ships of W-9.  This was done during the first two days of May and included anti-submarine, gunnery, seamanship and exercises with aircraft.  Halifax was reached next day, 3 May.

Fog was so thick on the 5^th that it was considered imprudent to sail Convoy HHX-354 but the next day, 6 May, this was done; W-9 was the escort.  Because of the recent attacks just outside the gate, in one of which HMCS ESQUIMALT was lost, a Support Group of frigates, EG-26, was on hand off Chebucto Head.  Two days later on the 8^th, the frigate ST. STEPHEN joined as the convoy ploughed ahead for Westomp.  This day the 8^th, of course, was the day that Germany surrendered.  But it made no difference to Atlantic convoys for large numbers of German submarines would have to be accounted for before the great waters could be considered safe for merchantmen “upon their lawful occasions”.

On 10 May, W-10 was ordered to detach and at last light the west-bound convoy, ON-300, loomed up with HMCS PENETANG heading the Ocean Escort.  FORT FRANCES and her fellows took the merchantmen from this positon on the Grand Banks right down to New York arriving on 18 May.  It was during the latter part of this passage that the officers and men of the RCN had the great joy of seeing the navigation lights of the whole convoy switched on and left on, a stirring event after six years of darkness in the war at sea.

But ships were still sailing in convoy and W-9 took HX-358 out of New York on 23 May and after detaching arrived at Halifax on the 26^th.  FORT FRANCES’ last convoy was ON-305 for which she sailed with JONQUIERE (Senior Officer) and PORTAGE on 5 June.  New York was reached on the 11^th.  Actually, the U-boat campaign had been officially declared ended a week earlier at 0001Z, 4 June, but all convoys then at sea had continued to their destinations.

On 8 June, HMCS FORT FRANCES, no longer required for escort duty, was transferred to the Halifax Force and ten days later the Commander Eastern Sea Frontier at New York ordered her and her sister ship PORTAGE to Halifax.  They arrived on the 20^th and a quiet respite ensued for nearly three weeks.

On 26 July, the ship cleared Halifax and arrived Sydney the next day where her company was to be reduced to a “care and maintenance” party preparatory to paying off on 3 August.

All through these summer months, Sydney harbour was a very busy place indeed.  Hundreds of corvettes and “Bangors” had been arriving to secure in the numerous anchorages called “trots” awaiting their turn to be de-stored before proceeding to Sorel for final disposal.  Worn-out destroyers, silent and rusting, strained at their lines as the tides ebbed and flowed.  But the “Algerines” were new ships and had a definite place in the post-war fleet as Fleet Minesweepers.  However, as thousands of sailors headed for home and peace had returned to these shores, they would in the meantime have to go into reserve.

It was on 18 October, 1945, that steaming parties were mustered and the three “Algerines” WALLACEBURG, PORTAGE and FORT FRANCES sailed for Halifax arriving the next day.  On 23 October, HMCS FORT FRANCES recommissioned with a greatly reduced complement headed by Lieutenant L. McQuarrie, RCNR.

By 20 November the ship was in refit at Halifax, particularly for winterization.  This meant changes to be made so that while lying in a dormant state with no men on board other than watchmen, no damage would be done by freezing temperatures.  On 5 April, 1946, HMCS FORT FRANCES was paid off into Reserve Fleet.  Thus ended her career as a commissioned ship of the Royal Canadian Navy.  It had been a brief tour of duty but a wholly successful one.  So little more than a year after her departure from Lake Superior, the FORT FRANCES lay alongside at Halifax to await what was next in store for her, a long term of useful service as a surveying ship.

It may be well to mention here that this ship over and over again has suffered her good name to be misspelled.  So often she is given the masculine “Francis”, probably being confused with the old Canadian destroyer, St. FRANCIS.  In fact this “Algerine” was named for the Town of Fort Frances on Rainy River in north-western Ontario, the site of an earlier fur-trading post.  The fort had been named in honour of Lady Frances Ramsay Simpson, wife of Sir George Simpson of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

The sealed pattern of the badge of HMCS FORT FRANCES was approved and signed in 1948 and Clarenceux King of Arms in London consented to the device used in the ship’s badge.  On a blue field is a unicorn’s head in silver having a collar of gold bearing a plate with a red maple leaf.  The unicorn’s head was taken from the arms of a line of the Ramsay family and the maple leaf shows the Canadian connection.  From this badge comes the ship’s colours, white and blue and for her service as a close escort for fourteen convoys in 1945, HMCS FORT FRANCES had been awarded the battle honour, “Atlantic, 1945”.

As she lay at her moorings at Halifax in 1948, wheels began to turn that would see the FORT FRANCES transformed into a survey ship for the Canadian Hydrographic Service.  In January the Navy was approached unofficially to see if a request for two “Algerines” on loan would be favourably received.  On 3 February the Naval Staff recommended full co-operation.  However on the 11^th the Naval Board rejected the idea, considering that as the ship was part of a strategic reserve of fast minesweepers, it would take too long in an emergency to reconvert her for naval service.

On the 19^th came an official plea from the Department of Mines and Resources followed by another letter in March stating that as no surveying ships were available from the Admiralty or the USN, it was virtually important to acquire and convert two “Algerines” for Atlantic Coast survey work in the spring of 1949.  After further study, it was considered that reconversion would take but two months, not twelve, and Naval Board belatedly approved the programme on 12 May, 1948.  On 25 May Mines and Resources were informed that it had been decided to lend HMC Ships FORT FRANCES and KAPUSKASING on condition they be altered in such a way that they could revert to minesweeper service in two months and that the initial conversions should be carried out in HMC Dockyard, Halifax.

In June inter-departmental discussions were held to determine what changes were to be made.  Endurance of the ships was considered acceptable but provisions would have to be made to carry on the upper deck four 31-foot motor launches, two 24-foot life-boats and three 18-foot dories, all to be hoisted by electrically-powered davits capable of being handled by two men.  Accommodation would have to be drastically altered to serve a ship’s company of seventy-one of very different make-up to that of the ship’s naval crew.  The new company would consist of a maximum of ten Deck and Engineering Officers, nine Hydrographers, twelve Petty Officers, fourteen Seaman, sixteen Firemen and ten Cooks and Stewards.

In event of loss FORT FRANCES’ depreciated value was set at just under one million dollars; her original cost was just over one and one quarter millions. The agreement between the two departments was signed on 17 September, 1948.

As things were going the two ships certainly would not be ready by the spring of 1949.  In September 1948, Halifax Dockyard advised that its staff could not handle the conversions and by January, 1949, it had been decided to convert the KAPUSKASING at Halifax Shipyards Ltd, and the FORT FRANCES at Saint John Drydock Co. Ltd.  By the 25^th of the month the FORT FRANCES was at Saint John, N.B.

The decision had been taken to retain the ships’ original names and, in the case of CGS FORT FRANCES, after trials in the Bay of Fundy the ship steamed for Halifax for manning and storing.  She was there by 22 August, 1949, where she was joined by the KAPUSKASING on 1 September.  The conversions of the vessels had cost just under $400,000.00 each.

For the next eight years CGS FORT FRANCES was engaged in hydrographic surveys largely in the waters of the Newfoundland – Gulf of St. Lawrence – Labrador area and in that period made important contributions to our knowledge of Canadian coastal waters.  The KAPUSKASING carried out similar duties.

As early as 1955, however, Naval Headquarters began to hear intentions to return the FORT FRANCES.  The Department of Mines and Technical Surveys (its name had been changed in 1950) had under construction a special survey ship “for service in northern waters” and it was intended to use the FORT FRANCES’ crew to man the new vessel, named CGS Baffin.  However, it was another two years, in 1957, that the roaming FORT FRANCES returned to the fold.

In March of that year the ship was lying alongside the French Cable Wharf on the Dartmouth side of Halifax harbour, steam being supplied by CGS KAPUSKASING.  It was suggested she be returned to the RCN on 1 April but Mines and Technical Surveys agreed to keep steam on her until the warm weather arrived.  The actual transfer to the Navy occurred on 10 June, 1957, and on the 16^th and 17^th the FORT FRANCES was under tow by the Navy’s deep sea tug CNAV ST. JOHN, bound for Sydney, N.S.

The question now arose as to whether the ship should be reconverted to her original state in accordance with the agreement of 1948.  It will be remembered that the FORT FRANCES at that time had been a member of the RCN’s strategic reserve of fast, fleet minesweepers.  But nine years had gone by and an appreciation made at Naval Headquarters indicated that the ship might be of more value in her present condition either for sale as a surveying ship or perhaps in the Navy as a scientific research ship.  In any event, the latter view prevailed and she remained for the moment just as she was.

FORT FRANCES’ pennant numbers through the years showed her changing function.  It will be recalled that during the Second World War, though employed as a convoy escort vessel, she flew the pennants of a minesweeper, J-396.  By 1952, “Algerines” had the prefix “AM” for Ocean Minesweeper; in the case of FORT FRANCES, though on loan in a different role, it was AM-170.  In 1953, this was changed to coincide with NATO identification and the ship became, at least on paper, FSE-170, i.e. an Escort Vessel.  And lastly, in 1959, she is shown more realistically as AGH-170, a Surveying Ship.

As FORT FRANCES lay at Sydney in 1957, discussions were continuing at Naval Headquarters regarding the most useful employment she could be given.  This was brought to a head when it became necessary to find a substitute for the Oceanographic Vessel, CNAV SACKVILLE (ex-corvette) who required a complete new boiler installation.  This ship having been out of service for six months had seriously impeded the scientific investigations being carried out for Defence Research Board by the Naval Research Establishment at Dartmouth.

On 18 October, 1957, the decision to reactivate the FORT FRANCES in this new role was sent to Sydney and the Naval Tug RIVERTON was to be there on the 30^th to tow her back to Halifax for another conversion.

A point of interest that a study of FORT FRANCES’ records has brought to light is ship registry.  Canadian naval ships are never insured nor are they registered by the Government authority charged with this duty, the Department of Transport.  But the Department of National Defence now has a registry of all its auxiliary vessels; CNAV FORT FRANCES’ Certificate of Registry is No. 34, dated 10 June, 1957, and certifies that she is “engaged solely in the public service of Canada”.

By the end of 1957, having been fitted out in HMC Dockyard, Halifax, FORT FRANCES proceeded to take over SACKVILLE’s oceanographic duties.

A year and a half later on 1 June, 1959, the decision was taken to carry out yet another conversion in the FORT FRANCES.  She was to be again allocated to the Naval Research Establishment, this time to replace the worn-out LA HAVE, a former landing craft, that had for several years been used to conduct researches in the field of underwater acoustics.  For this purpose, later in the year, she was taken to Lauzon, P.Q.

For her new duties CNAV FORT FRANCES was to have her outward appearance markedly changed.  From the aesthetic view-point the “Algerines” with their straight lines were never considered beautiful ships but when they put that great box-like structure on the after part of the ship, and full breadth at that, a homely lady became distinctly disfigured.  However, at all costs a ship must be functional and in FORT FRANCES space had to be found for laboratories and all sorts of expensive electronic and other scientific apparatus.  Means also had to be furnished to keep temperatures and humidity within acceptable bounds.

CNAV FORT FRANCES was ready for service early in the summer of 1960.  Though no longer a fighting ship she is in 1961 performing tasks vital to the fighting efficiency of the Fleet.

The way of a ship is like life itself – unpredictable.  Certainly those men at the head of Lake Superior who built her and those who manned her in the western Atlantic convoy after convoy, could have had no inkling that HMCS FORT FRANCES would be making her mark in such a useful way some sixteen years later.

COMMANDING OFFICERS – HMCS FORT FRANCES

• 28 October 1944 to 25 July 1945
  Lieutenant Donald E. Ryerson, RCNVR, (promoted Lieutenant-Commander 25 June, 1945)
  It is not known who commanded the ship between 25 July and 3 August when it is said she was paid off at Sydney.
  It is also not known who was in command when the ship was sailed from Sydney on 18 October, 1945, and recommissioned at Halifax 23 October, 1945.  An Operations message states Lieutenant McQuarrie recommissioned FORT FRANCES 23 October, 1945, but his personal file and “Pers. N.” records give his appointment as 27 October, 1945, that he commanded HMCS LANARK until this time.
• 27 October 1945 to 5 March 1946
  Lieutenant Lachlan McQuarrie, RCNR, (on 1 January, 1946, RCN(R)).
• 6 March 1946 to 5 April 1946
  A/Lieutenant-Commander Wilfred O. O. Barbour, RCN(R).