May 1969: Quadra, alongside the jetty where she awaits her berthing in the drydock. When both ships were out during the patrol swap, the dock sure looked lonely. When Captain Dykes commanded the Quadra, he always kept her bow pointed towards the harbour entrance, a habit consistent with his naval training. By pointing the bow towards the harbour entrance, that would allow the ship to clear the harbour quickly without having to waste time doing a 180 degree turn.

May 1969: Quadra in drydock. Now known as the Esquimalt Graving Dock, it is owned by Public Works Canada.  This drydock is one of the largest, if not the largest on the west coast of North America.

May 1969: Quadra in drydock.

All photos in this table by Dennis Engemoen

October 1969: Taken from the deck of Vancouver, Quadra is relieving Vancouver at Ocean Station Papa. The water is 4,200 metres deep at Station Papa.

Only to have the seas this calm all the time!

All photos in this table by Dennis Engemoen.

Phil Slater, who currently lives in East Sussex, UK, relates his experiences while being on loan to the QUADRA.

"As a “Brit”, I was lucky enough to serve as oceanographer on CCGS QUADRA in the early 1970s. I had the opportunity to go to Ocean Station Papa on  short notice and took all of 5 seconds to decide.

It was quite a trek to get from the UK, across Canada to Vancouver, hop across to Victoria and then to Esquimalt.I boarded QUADRA and almost straight away went out into a North Pacific storm in early January. Three days out and a Japanese freighter sank with 42 on board. Nothing was found other than one life ring which was returned to Esquimalt.

Then followed one of the best experiences I have ever had, once accustomed to the “choppy” sea. The thought of 4.2 km of water underneath the keel was quite sobering. The crew were very welcoming. I enjoyed the extraordinary meals, the card schools and the weekly films. The baked Black Alaskan cod and chips were very tasty.  Cheese Whiz and meringue pies were also favourites.

The ship took quite a battering and turning at the end of the grid was pretty scary with the ship taking on some alarming angles. I remember still rolling around after we returned to land at the end of February. The Captain was interested in very deep sea trawling. On calmer days, he would drop a net and sample container as far as it would go and see what came back. Most of the catch was dead owing to the pressure difference, but I do remember a Fang-toothed Viper fish being brought up. Some of the crew would put hand lines down in the spare time. The salmon which were caught were either chum, sockeye or coho.

Some of the work involved sending down sampling gear as far as it would go and the release weight called a "messenger". It  could take 20 minutes or so to drop down the wire from the surface. Migrating birds used to home in on the ship’s lights, but sadly, many got washed off the decks.

There was also a tsunami warning during the trip which led to everything being battened down. What did strike me on clear nights was the huge number of stars visible. The seas were enormous, and the ship took a beating.I remember seeing one of the crew going round the superstructure on the way home, marking up all the new cracks with a yellow crayon.

One of the crew members, Chris, put me up for a few days in the city of Vancouver and gave me the opportunity to look around and go over to Seattle. Instead of returning from Vancouver directly to Heathrow, I swapped part of the air ticket for a train ticket as far as Calgary. The winter scenes through the Rockies were spectacular. Calgary was blisteringly cold and I had a one and only sauna to warm up.

I am very proud to have been on one of your vessels and to have the chance to meet some really nice Canadians.
As this year (2022)  marks my 50th anniversary of the trip, I have been looking around for a memento and have a ball cap and CCG cap badge on order from a Canadian supplier. I will wear with pride.
 

Funny enough, this year (2022) is the 200th anniversary of the founding of the British Coast Guard, from being started as a crude rescue service and anti-smuggling organization through to what they do now, coordinating rescues and helping police the English Channel with the almost daily traffic of illegal immigrants crossing from France. It’s probably not on the same scale as the US and Canadian CG, but you have an awful lot more coast to guard.

Reading material on board QUATRA was limited. You had your choice of National Geographic or Playboy.  QUATRA was also a "wet" ship (alcohol permitted)  whereas CCG S Vancouver was "wet" but only for the upper deck. Why ? Vancouver's Captain was a retired Royal Navy Captain. Randy Dykes of the Quadra wasn’t.

There can’t be many Brits who had such an experience".

Terry Sampson adds the following about QUADRA being a "wet" ship. "Before we went on the 1974 Gate voyage, the Chief Purser Dick Hughes suggested that we should increase the liquor drinks because of all the guests that would be visiting the ship while in Dakar, Senegal. The price was increased from 20 cents to 25 cents for a 1.5 oz drink. The Quadra was the most popular bar in Dakar. Every night the Quadra lounge was full of Russian, Americans, British, French, etc visitors. After the Russians got a few drinks under their belts, they would start singing. They asked us to sing some Canadian songs. We only knew the first verse of Alouette, Gentille Alouette. That was okay because the Russians finished the song".

In 1974, CCGS Quadra was tasked for an entirely different kind of operation for which she was well designed  and for which she was to win many accolades. The port of call would be Dakar, capital city of Senegal, a country located  on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast. Dakar is the westernmost city on the African mainland.

Quadra was to be the only Canadian ship to participate in an international science venture involving the participation of 39 other ships from 10 different countries. These ships would be working in close coordination with each other and with fixed-wing aircraft and zeppelins. Further, because of the need for highly precise observations and measurements, the first of a new generation of satellites had already been placed in orbit (the first of the Satnav satellites) to augment the more traditional navigation methods.

The purpose of this science venture was several-fold but mainly it was the derivation of the physical processes of different scales in the atmosphere and ocean responsible for the primary heat engine driving the local and the general circulation of the Earth's atmosphere. It was hoped that an understanding of why the Sahara desert was extending itself ever southward each year and laying waste to much of North Africa's arable land would also be achieved, although it was understood from the outset that it would take years and the use of sophisticated next-generation computers to decipher the information which was to be collected over the coming months.

The project being undertaken was part of the Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP), and specifically it went under the acronym G.A.T.E. (GARP ATLANTIC TROPICAL EXPERIMENT). CCGS Quadra and scientists from Canada's own Institute of Ocean Sciences would be playing a key role both in carrying out specific components of the science program as well undertaking overall coordination of the program in the first and third phases.

Quadra left for her mission to Dakar from Esquimalt on May 17, 1974 and returned back to her home base on October 23, 1974, covering a distance of 23,795 miles.Quadra left for her mission to Dakar from Esquimalt on May 17, 1974 and returned back to her home base on October 23, 1974, covering a distance of 23,795 miles.  In her absence, the hydrographic vessel Parizeau (CGBS) filled in. Apparently the met data provided from station Papa was still quite valuable at that time, especially the upper air soundings.

To illustrate the value of weather data in that era, surface observations would be also be done by one of the mates on merchant vessels  which sailed  the waters between Canada’s west coast and the Orient.  It was strictly a volunteer effort and the Canadian Government would supply these interested vessels with the necessary instruments, such as barometers and thermometers, log books, etc.  Every little observation would help to form a picture of tomorrow’s weather, especially on the west coast.

When CCGS Parizeau was in service, she was stationed in Patricia's Bay, B.C. and stood in for Vancouver and Quadra whenever these ships were not able to carry out their time on station. After Ocean Station Papa  was stood down, Parizeau remained as an oceanic research vessel with Fisheries and Oceans Canada until she  paid off in 2001 and was renamed Destiny Empress under civilian ownership. The 58-metre-long ship then passed through several owners before being seized by the Spanish Police off the coast of Spain with 1.5 tonnes of cocaine concealed in a hidden compartment.  The above photo of the Destiny Empress was  taken some after December 2009, while under the custody of Spanish authorities.  (Photo by Pierre F. Munoz)

Quadra's radio room 1968. The operator reading the paper is Pete Pennyfather and facing the camera is Jerry Mah.  Pete is at the Aeradio Position while Jerry is handling the Marine Position.  The transmitter in the middle of the photo is a British Marconi Crusader.  To its right, a Racal RA17 is in evidence.  Below the Racal is a Marconi Atlalanta receiver. There is also a rack of 13, vertically mounted Canadian Marconi XH13, solid state, HF momitor receivers.  The XH13's  monitored a number of marine and aeradio HF frequencies.  Almost all contacts were made on VHF air/ground or maritime mobile. (Photo by Bob Manning)

Frank Statham recalls some other details about Quadra's radio room photo above. "Pete's position also comprised of three racks, similar to the Marine position.  There is a small sliver of a Racal RA-17 peeking out at the left side of the photo. Pete would have a Marconi Crusader too, but it had been tweaked off the marine bands, (as it came from the factory) and put onto the aeronautical bands.  Marine would be the even frequencies  2-4-8-12 MHz etc while the air position had the odd 3-5 etc frequencies.   Of course 500 kHz was also included in the mix.  I don't think the transmitters were synthesized--no direct dial up of frequency.  Pete's position also had dedicated air/ground transmitters in the equipment room above which covered the 120 and 240 MHz bands. The VHF gear was made by GE while UHF equipment came from the military.

We had a lot of MAC aircraft (Military Airlift Command) flights in the early days (around 1970) due to the Vietnam war in addition to the regular commercial flights.  The "fly boys" would call up and ask for the weather and give their position.  If they wanted, we could give them a check on their position by having a look on the AN/FPQ-10 radar, and surprisingly the course, speed and altitude we gave them agreed with their own numbers more often than not.

The weather ship was also supplied with material to rescue passengers from any aircraft that would have to ditch.  It never happened, but we were ready. At Christmas, the RCAF Argus would fly out and drop us a few items too, come to think of it."

2010: Some of the remaining weather ship met and telecom staff. Most of these guys served aboard Quadra and Vancouver. It was taken at Nanaimo BC outside a pub close to the Vancouver ferry dock. At least three or four have the old ships under their belts. Click on photo to enlarge. (From the collection of Frank Statham)

Credits and References:

1) Bob Manning ( now deceased)
2) Frank Statham <fstatham(at)gmail.com>
3) Quadra in Africa    http://ccgawest.ca/news/news_data/2009_11_News.pdf
4) Parizeau  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/scrap-in-the-trash-led-to-uk-drug-bust/article2120370/
5) Dennis Engemoen <dhengemoen(at)shaw.ca>
6) Philip Slater [pgslater(at)btinternet.com]

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Oct 8/22