The First Canadian Escort Squadron consisting of HMC ships Algonquin, Lauzon, Prestonian and Toronto embarked on a Mediterranean cruise in September 1954 under the command of Captain Ralph Hennessy. Here are some vital statistics about that cruise:

Left Halifax, N.S. on September 8, 1954.
New Broom II (exercise)  from September 9 until September 15, 1954.
Plymouth, England, from September 20 until September 23.
Morning Mist (exercise) from September 23 until October 3.
Portsmouth, England, from October 3 until October 7.
Londonderry, N.I. and local exercises from October 10 until October 15.
To the Mediterranean Cruise on October 17.
Lisbon, Portugal, October 21 until October 25.
Valetta, Malta, October 29 until November 1.
Venice, Italy, November 3 until November 7.
Athens, Greece, November 9 until November 14.
Istanbul, Turkey, November 16 until November 19.
Palma, Majorca, November 23 until November 26.
Algiers, Algeria, November 27 until November 30.
Ponta Delgada, Azores, December 4 until December 5.
Halifax, N.S., December 10, 1954.

From September 8 until December 9 the Squadron steamed 16,540 miles, spent 67 out of 93 days at sea, visited eleven ports, used eight units of currency and tried seven foreign languages. During this time the crews mastered pounds, shillings, pence in the United Kingdom; escudos and centavos in Portugal, Maltese pounds in Malta; lire in Italy; drachma and lepta in Greece; Turkish lira and kurus in Turkey; pesetas in Spain; francs in Algeria and more escudos in the Azores.  Among the "firsts" that the crews accomplished were: the first formed Squadron of the Royal Canadian Navy to visit the Mediterranean, the first ships of the RCN to visit Venice, the first time the Squadron had gone astern to come to its moorings such as at Malta, and the first time the ships anchored and then swung to their berth, as at Athens and Algiers. For most of the crews in the Squadron, it was their first time in the Mediterranean and also the first meeting with Dghaissa boats, gondolas and karrazzin. It was also the first time any Canadian Squadron, had the opportunity to communicate directly with so many NATO countries.

Shown below is a montage of photos which are a blend of all crews from the four ships. participating in Med '54. This is intended to be a sample illustration of life at sea. The three sections which were selected from the cruise souvenir book, were influenced by your Webmaster's favourite preferences.

The ELECTRICAL BRANCH - Only one of many trades required to keep a ship operational. (Photo montage courtesy RCN)

Ron Bezant  <bezantre(at)sympatico.ca> identified some of the crew in this photo.

Row 1 Column 1: Ron White
Row 1 Column 2: Alan Wilkinson and Claude (?) Blouin
Row 2 Column 1: Andy Reid and Dave Spence
Row 2 Column 2: Guy on the left might have been Eldon Johnston
Row 3 Column 2: Guy on the right might have been Bill Bruce

 

IN CLOSING

When the Med '54 cruise was over, Captain Hennessy wrote this letter to the crews of all ships. It appeared in his own handwriting near the back of the souvenir cruise book.

HMCS ALGONQUIN

It was an honour in many ways to command the First Canadian Escort Squadron during the Mediterranean Cruise. Firstly, because a formed Canadian Naval unit had never cruised in these historic naval waters before; secondly, because we visited some ports which had never seen RCN ships in war or peace; and thirdly, because I was fortunate enough to have under my command a group of officers and crew whose conduct and deportment was at all times a credit to their Country and their Service.

I am very proud of you all. Well done, and to those who may be leaving the squadron, good luck and may this Cruise Book bring you many happy memories.

R. Hennessy
Captain, RCN