In the early 20th Century, Canada didn't have much of a navy. We were still conjoined with Britain, and one of the consuming federal issues of the pre-First World War years was whether to properly fund a real and independent Canadian Navy.
Then the war came. And for a brief and strange time, not only did Canada have a navy, but British Columbia had one, made up solely of two submarines.
In July 1914, war panic was settling in over the British Empire. The politicians and merchants of Victoria were worried about the vast coast of British Columbia - and about the fact that a pair of German warships were somewhere in the North Pacific. By Aug. 5, Britain would declare war and bring Canada along.
B.C. Premier Richard McBride wanted to defend his coast. So he did an end-run around the entire military establishment, and acted on a tip that two submarines were finished
and ready to ship out from a dock in Seattle.
The subs had been built for the Chilean Navy, ordered in 1911. However, the Chileans had fallen behind on their payments. James Paterson of the Seattle Dry Dock and Construction Company was doing the assembly work on the boats, and he let McBride and others know that they were up for grabs.
He forgot to mention that one of the reasons Chile had stopped paying was that the subs had failed to meet performance specifications.
With the Germans allegedly approaching, McBride jumped on the deal. The price? Unknown. The capabilities of the subs? Unknown. Torpedoes? Nope, none to be had on the West Coast.
The boats had to be smuggled out of Seattle under cover of darkness. The U.S. had just introduced legislation to stay out of the war, including a ban on sales of warships to either side. Paterson ushered the ships into Canadian waters on Aug. 5, hours before the president would sign the bill.
The new subs should have then sailed into Esquimault Harbour to a triumphant
crowd. Instead, they were almost shelled by panicky Canadian militia gunners.
No one, apart from McBride and a few compatriots, knew about the purchase. So the batteries at Black Rock loaded shells and prepared to fire, assuming they were under attack by German torpedo boats.
Fortunately, a second look revealed a white flag flying from the mast of one sub.
The Canadian Navy belatedly accepted the subs, and rustled up crews from scratch.
The subs could dive. In fact, they could dive too well, plunging straight down in some cases, far faster than was safe. The opened ballast tanks revealed planks, rags, and a pair of overalls left during construction.
The two subs, CC1 and CC2, never fired a shot in anger, but they did train up a number of Canadian submariners. And as for the German warships steaming up the coast? They never even approached British Columbia.
Matthew Claxton is a reporter and columnist with the Langley Advance, a sister paper to the Now.