{"id":343,"date":"2014-03-20T15:21:46","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T22:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/hmcsrainbowhistory\/?page_id=343"},"modified":"2014-04-12T18:36:41","modified_gmt":"2014-04-13T01:36:41","slug":"pre-war","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/hmcsrainbowhistory\/history-2\/pre-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Rainbow During the Pre-War Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"B10T5156edit\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

The Naval Service of Canada and the Rainbow\u2019s <\/i>Beginnings<\/h2>\n

On the 5th<\/sup> of May, 1910, the Naval Service of Canada was officially legislated into existence.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Thus ended a long debate within Canada of whether or not a dominion run and serviced navy was a plausible entity.\u00a0 Immediately after its inception, the government of Wilfred Laurier set about creating a navy which could provide its own officers, ratings, and ships.[2]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 Ships were required to train crew on, and Canada lacked the means to convert or produce any. For this purpose, two old cruisers were purchased from the British Navy, the Niobe <\/i>and the Rainbow.[3]<\/b><\/a> <\/i>Within time, Laurier planned to have ships built in Canada to serve on, but for now, these two ships would have to do.\u00a0 The Niobe, <\/i>A relatively large and still powerful cruiser, <\/i>was scheduled for service on the Eastern coast of Canada.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 The Rainbow <\/i>was to serve as a training ship operating out of Esquimalt Naval Base on Vancouver Island.<\/p>\n

The Rainbow <\/i>was originally launched in on March 25th<\/sup>, 1891.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 An Apollo Class<\/a> cruiser, she was commissioned into the Canadian Navy on the 4th<\/sup> of August, 1910, and ordered to sail from England to Esquimalt to report for duty. These were the first orders ever given to a warship by Canadian naval authority.[6]<\/a> After a tumultuous 15,000 mile journey around Cape Horn, on which she was nearly swamped in high seas on numerous times, she reached Esquimalt on the November 8th<\/sup>.[7]<\/a> \u00a0Arriving fully dressed in flags and regalia, she fired off a 21 gun salute and prepared to receive \u201cdistinguished guests.\u201d[8]<\/a> The Canadian Naval Service had officially come to British Columbia.<\/p>\n

British Columbia Welcomes the Rainbow<\/h2>\n
\"The
The Rainbow arrives in Esquimalt greeted by the H.M.S. Shearwater.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although she was just a training ship, the Rainbow <\/i>was received enthusiastically by Victorians.\u00a0 Feeling isolated and vulnerable at the far edge of the Empire, any ship was a good ship to them.[9]<\/a>\u00a0 The day after arrival at Esquimalt, the Victoria Colonist <\/i>announced \u201cHistory was made at Esquimalt Yesterday. H.M.C.S. Rainbow <\/i>came: and a new navy was born.\u00a0 Canada\u2019s blue ensign flies for the first time on the Dominion\u2019s own fighting ship in the Pacific.\u201d[10]<\/a> The paper took a measured approach and admitted that \u201cthe Rainbow <\/i>is not a fighting ship,\u201d however, \u201cshe is manned by fighting men, and her mission is to train men so as to make them fit to defend our country from invasion, protect our commerce on the seas and maintain the dignity of the Empire everywhere.\u201d[11]<\/a> \u00a0The first speaker at the ships reception opined\u00a0 this was the most momentous moment in Canadian history since confederation.[12]<\/a> The Victoria Times <\/i>welcomed the Rainbow <\/i>as a sign of things to come; the ship was \u201cthe necessary forerunner of the larger vessels which will add dignity to our name and prestige to our actions.\u201d[13]<\/a> Victoria gushed at the arrival of what many British Columbians saw as the start of a powerful navy.<\/p>\n

After the reception in Victoria, the Rainbow <\/i>made a port call at Vancouver. The ship was greeted just as warmly as in Victoria.[14]<\/a>\u00a0 Almost immediately, the Rainbow<\/i> picked up volunteers for training and began to cruise the British Columbia coastline.[15]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 On March 13th<\/sup>, 1911, the Premier of the province and the Lieutenant Governor gifted the ship a new set of armoured plate, and the Rainbow <\/i>entertained an entourage of the public.[16]<\/a>\u00a0 During the next year and a half of cruising, she was in constant demand to make ports of call to participate in ceremonies in her honour.[17]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Kept busy training, visiting, and chasing poachers out of Canadian waters, was much celebrated and beloved by the people of British Columbia.<\/p>\n

A \u2018Heartbreaking Starvation Time\u2019<\/h2>\n
\"Rainbow<\/a>
Rainbow in Esquimalt dry dock.
Photo source: Maritime Museum of British Columbia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the positive response to the naval presence on the West Coast, politics would hinder the growth of the Royal Canadian Navy.\u00a0 In September of 1911, a newly elected conservative government under Robert Borden completely rejected the fleet that\u00a0 Laurier\u2019s liberals had built.[18]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0Borden favoured scrapping the Naval Service of Canada, and financing battleships for the Royal Navy which would be expected protect Canada\u2019s shores.[19]<\/a> According to Canadian naval historian Marc Milner, \u201cin the three years before the outbreak of the First World War, there was no clear Canadian naval policy, and by 1914, almost no Canadian navy at all.\u201d[20]<\/a> The debates over whether to scrap the service entirely; to retain a small fleet of civilian armed ships; or to maintain a fleet of light cruisers; waged back and forth as Borden tried to appease his party\u2019s and the British Admiralty\u2019s (with Winston Churchill as First Sea Lord), demands.[21]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Canadian men and boys who wished to volunteer for Canada\u2019s navy were often advised to \u201cjoin a real one,\u201d and pointed towards the Imperial Navy.[22]<\/a>\u00a0 For all and intents and purposes, it looked like the experiment of the Canadian Naval Service was a failure.\u00a0 Laurier\u2019s dream of Canadian men trained at home and fighting on Canadian made ships was on the verge of being a lost one.<\/p>\n

This was. according to Walter Hose<\/a> then commander of the Rainbow<\/i>, \u201ca heartbreaking starvation time.\u201d[23]<\/a>\u00a0 The Canadian Naval Service held on by a thread, as budget cuts took their toll on the manpower and resources available.[24]<\/a>\u00a0 Rainbow <\/i>may have been mothballed at this time, had not been so cheap to operate, and if not for British sailors who were on a pre-arranged five year loan from the Royal Navy.[25]<\/a>\u00a0 From 1912 to 1914, she lay at harbour in Esquimalt, only going out for short cruises to run the engine and to train her skeleton crew.[26]<\/a>\u00a0 On July 9th<\/sup>, the Rainbow <\/i>was finally prepped for a three month sealing patrol.\u00a0 Her skeleton crew was augmented up by importing East coast sailors and crew from the idle Niobe<\/i>.[27]<\/a>\u00a0 As she was preparing for this voyage, an interesting event was developing in Vancouver in which the Rainbow <\/i>was now in condition to intervene.<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

\u201cOur Only Ammunition is Coal\u201d: The Komagata Maru Incident<\/h2>\n

In May 1914, the Japanese ship the Komagata Maru <\/i>entered Canada with nearly 400 passengers from India. They were banned from entry to the country by Canada\u2019s \u201cContinuous Journey\u201d legislation;a thinly disguised anti-East Asian immigration policy. In the face of this, the Indian passengers seized the ship from the Japanese captain, and refused to leave the harbour.\u00a0 India was still a Crown Colony, which made these immigrants British subjects. Many of them were also Indian Army Veterans.[28]<\/a> The ship stay put until July 19, when local police attempted to board the ship and remove the passengers.[29]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 They were met with \u201ca storm of missiles which included lumps of coal,\u201d which prompted the police to withdraw.[30]<\/a>\u00a0 On July 18th<\/sup>, the Rainbow was instructed to offer assistance to the authorities in Vancouver; the offer was promptly accepted.[31]<\/a>\u00a0 The Rainbow <\/i>steamed from Vancouver that night, ready to offer whatever assistance might be necessary.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>
the Rainbow (right) and the Komagata Maru. Image Source: Vancouver City Archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Upon its arrival the next morning, Comander Hose<\/a> reported\u00a0 throngs of expectant crowds lined up \u201clike a regatta day\u201d to witness the Rainbow <\/i>in action.[32]<\/a> Apparently the public enthusiasm for the Rainbow <\/i>had not died down in its absence.\u00a0 A special dispatch from the Globe and Mail<\/i> spoke of the possibility \u201cthat bloodshed may occur before the mutineers are handcuffed,\u201d and dramatically wondered if the Rainbow <\/i>would survive \u201cthe fight with the Hindus.\u201d[33]<\/a> \u00a0As the Rainbow <\/i>circled the Komagata Maru<\/i>, Hose reported\u00a0 \u201ca grizzled veteran, late of the Indian Army, put the relieving touch of humour on the otherwise serious outlook by standing on the upper bridge of the \u2018Komagata<\/em>\u2019 and semaphoring to the Rainbow<\/i>\u2014 \u2018Our only ammunition is coal\u2019.\u201d[34]<\/a>\u00a0 Bloodshed would turn out not to be necessary.\u00a0 The mutiny crew of the Komagata<\/i> settled an agreement for provisions, and a pilot for the ship was supplied from the Rainbow.<\/i>[35]<\/a> <\/i>On July 23rd<\/sup>, Rainbow <\/i>escorted the Komagata Maru <\/i>out to the open seas. \u00a0Thus ended, according to Marc Milner, \u201cone of the most embarrassing incidents in Canadian history.\u201d[36]<\/a>\u00a0 Rainbow <\/i>had succeeded in its mission and she ordered back to Esquimalt.\u00a0 The clouds of war were beginning to gather. The ship would soon have more to deal with than a ship of hapless immigrants.<\/p>\n

The Eve of war<\/h2>\n

So it was on the eve of war with Germany in late July, 1914, the Rainbow <\/i>lay in dry dock in Esquimalt.[37]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 She was the only ship in the Canadian Naval service on the entire Pacific Coast, and therefore the most powerful. She was outdated, undermanned, and outclassed by the modern German cruisers already reported to be lurking in the Pacific.[38]<\/a> As she was being cleaned and re-fitted for sealing patrol, the Admiralty warned the Canadian Government to keep her at ready.[39]<\/a>\u00a0 The Rainbow <\/i>was now officially in charge of defending the West Coast until help from the Royal Navy could arrive.\u00a0 It was soon time for the wholly unprepared Canadian Naval Service to go to war.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/h4>\n
\n
\n
\n

[1]<\/a> F.V. Longstaff, Esquimalt Naval Base: A History of its Work and its Defences<\/i>, (Victoria, B.C: distributors Victoria Book & Stationery Co, 1941): 65.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[5]<\/a> Admiral Patrick Brock, \u201cRainbow 1891-1910,\u201d in the Brock Files, Original documents in Maritime Museum of British Columbia, Victoria B.C., n.p.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[6]<\/a> Duguid, 12.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[7]<\/a> Marc Milner. Canada’s Navy: The First Century<\/i>, (2nd ed ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010) 20.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[8]<\/a> Tucker, 147.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[9]<\/a> Milner, Canada’s Navy: The First Century, <\/i>20.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[10]<\/a> Colonist<\/i>, Victoria, Nov. 8th<\/sup>, 1910.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[11]<\/a> Ibid<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[12]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[13]<\/a> Times<\/i>, Victoria, Nov. 7th<\/sup>, 1910.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[14]<\/a> Tucker, 148.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[15]<\/a> Brock, N.P.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[16]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[17]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[18]<\/a> Milner, Canada’s Navy: The First Century, <\/i>28.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[19]<\/a> Ibid, 26.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[20]<\/a> Ibid<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[21]<\/a> Ibid, 28.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[22]<\/a> Ibid, 29.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[23]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[24]<\/a> Ibid<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[25]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[26]<\/a> Tucker, 148.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[27]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[28]<\/a> Milner, 35<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[29]<\/a> Tucker, 149<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[30]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[31]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[32]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[33]<\/a> \u201cArmy and Navy Prepare to Quell Hindus To-Day,\u201d Globe and Mail<\/i>, July 21st<\/sup>, 1914, 1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[34]<\/a> Tucker, 149.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[35]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[36]<\/a> Milner, 35.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[37]<\/a> Longstaff, 73.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[38]<\/a> Brock, n.p.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[39]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Naval Service of Canada and the Rainbow\u2019s Beginnings On the 5th of May, 1910, the Naval Service of Canada was officially legislated into existence.[1]\u00a0 Thus ended a long debate within Canada of whether or not a dominion run and serviced navy was a plausible entity.\u00a0 Immediately after its inception, the government of Wilfred Laurier … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Rainbow During the Pre-War Years”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":891,"featured_media":0,"parent":321,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-343","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/hmcsrainbowhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/hmcsrainbowhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/hmcsrainbowhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/hmcsrainbowhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/891"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/hmcsrainbowhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/hmcsrainbowhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":896,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/hmcsrainbowhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/343\/revisions\/896"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/hmcsrainbowhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/hmcsrainbowhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}