PACIFIC DEFENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 92, 20 April 1939, Page 8

PACIFIC DEFENCE

CANADA'S COAST

FISHERMEN NAVY TRAINED

BOATS FORM FLEET

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

VANCOUVER, March 29

Several months ago, when the fishing fleet was returning to port, the look-out on the watch tower at the Lion's. Gate, entrance to Vancouver Harbour, was amazed to see the fleet, of over a hundred boats, steaming along in naval formation. It was an experiment they were trying, in order to convince the authorities that, should danger come, their services would be available to look after the comparatively undefended coast of British Columbia, whose hundreds of bays and inlets would afford ample shelter for an enemy. The Navy has just completed putting 40 fishing vessels and their crews through a course of training, and the new arm to his Majesty's defence force is held in high regard by the senior service. The fishermen are proud of their new interest in life. They wear a uniform as an auxiliary unit, and their boats and their persons have vastly improved in appearance. "We're in the Navy now," remarked one of their leaders, "and we're proud of it!" There is no age limit for the Fishermen's Flotilla. Skippers and men are permitted to join as long as they are legitimate fishermen and Canadian citizens of white extraction. There are hundreds of Japanese fishermen on this coast, and, if a moiety of the tales told be true, there is a good deal of subversive activity going on. Hence the white race clause in the qualification for the Flotilla. No physical standard is set, other than freedom from communicable disease. The men of the Flotilla, 200 of them, include British, Norwegian, Danes, Icelanders, Yugoslavs, Italians, and naturalised Canadians. The masters are equal in rank to the Royal Naval Reserve masters. But it has taken the master fishermen some time to get accustomed to their rank. They continued to salute the petty officers of the Navy, and to address them as "Sir," until their rank was impressed on them. WELCOME TO DISCIPLINE. . Lieutenant-Commander Donald, of the Esquimalt Naval Dockyard, who had charge of their training, observed: "These men are 100 per cent, better than we anticipated. The various fishing companies told us that they would not be able to stand it when we submitted them to discipline, as for so many years they had been accustomed to have their own way, especially at sea. This morning, the majority of the skippers told us we were not making the discipline stiff enough. They are in .their element along the coast, which has one of the roughest seas in the world. When they are 'topped off' by the Navy, they will be a credit,to the Service, as well as to themseLres." The president of .the Salmon Purse Seiners' Union of the Pacific, Mr. Elgin Neish, echoed the sentiments of masters and men when he said that not only did they not find the duties irksome but they relished them. The Navy treated them well, and, at the end of the four weeks of training the fishermen entertained the officers and other ratings at a banquet.

Each boat carries a skipper, engineer, cook, and two seamen. The pay scale for the training period is: Skippers, 100 dollars; motor mechanics, 80 dollars; leading seamen, 64 dollars; able seamen, 48 dollars. In addition, the skippers received 70 dollars for the use of their boats, gasoline free, and ten cents a mile, travelling between their homes and Esquimalt.

Although the Navy assured them they are for defence in emergency, the fishermen are convinced that they are in the business to curb Japanese encroachment on their industry. When the first ship's crew handled its Lewis gun, the skipper jokingly gave the order, "Full speed ahead for Steveston." The majority of the Japanese fishermen live at Steveston, at the mouth of the Fraser River.