RCN Training Vessels: HMCS Skidegate, HMCS Venture

RCN Training Vessels

HMCS Skidegate

(DND Photo)

HMCS Skidegate.  Built in 1927, she was owned by Packers Steamship Co., Ltd., Vancouver BC, from 1927 to 1931.  Later owned by J. Dutton of Vancouver then J.J. Cross Marine Supplies.  Named Ochecac, she was purchased in 1938 and commissioned on 25 Jul 1938, for training purposes in connection with the Fishermen's Reserve, formed that year on the west coast.  Of declining use as the war progressed, HMCS Skidegate was paid off on 18 Feb 1942.  Sold in 1946 to John Steffich (MO), Vancouver BC.  In 1946 she was renamed as the Santa Rosa.

HMCS Venture

(DND Photo)

HMCS Venture.  The only sailing vessel among the thirteen ships serving in the RCN on the eve of the Second World War, this three-masted schooner was built at Meteghan, Nova Scotia, and commissioned on 25 October 1937 as a training ship. With war imminent, HMCS Venture was paid off on 1 September 1939 to become an accommodation vessel at Halifax for ratings on the staff of the Rear Admiral, 3rd Battleship Squadron, RN.  In November 1941, she was commissioned as guard ship at Tuft's Cove, at the entrance to Bedford Basin.  She gave up her name on 13 May 1943 to the former yacht Seaborn and thereafter was known as Harbour Craft 190.  She was sold on 10 December 1945 to a Halifax firm and renamed Alfred & Emily. Engaged first in the sealing trade and then in carrying coal, she was lost by fire at sea in 1951.

(DND Photo)

HMCS Venture.

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