I found this website only this past year, and I think it’s one of the greatest labours of love and tributes to the tens of thousands of men and women who’ve served in the RCN, in war and peace, that you’ll find online or elsewhere.
"For Posterity's Sake: A Royal Canadian Navy Historical Project" is “dedicated to the men and women of the Royal Canadian Navy and the ships they lived and served in”.
Online since 2012, FPS opens with a disclaimer that identifies it as a personal website unaffiliated with the Government of Canada or the Department of National Defence. It’s a compilation of information “from government websites, books and other resources such as wartime diaries and stories from the memories of those who served,” and is intended for informational purposes only.
Its stated goal is “to preserve and share the history of those who have sailed in the ships of the RCN.
“The history we all have buried in our basements or closets in boxes and photo albums — photos of grandparents and parents, aunts and uncles who have also taken pictures and told stories of their time in [the RCN]. This is the history you will not find on the government's historical pages — and it’s these photos and stories that we all have that I'm hoping to preserve here for posterity's sake.”
The editor, who isn’t identified, advises readers that some submitted information may be inaccurate. So you take your chances that FPS, like Wikipedia, isn’t 100 per cent guaranteed. What you will find when you click the FPS link and “cross the brow,” however, is a treasure-house of content and photos of every single seaman that the editor has been able to acquire. Websites just don’t get more personal than this one, and anyone who has ever had a family member who served in the RCN has the opportunity to learn about their ship(s) and shipmates.
Visitors are invited to submit photos or stories at info@forposterityssake.ca. “With the help of all sailors past and present, and their families,” the editor declares, “this page can be made into a historical site for future generations to learn about our proud past. May you always have fair winds and following seas!”
The very first entry, below a photo of HMCS Monnow, is about HMCS Galiano, the only Canadian naval vessel lost in the First World War. There were no survivors and her fate is all the more tragic because she died in home waters, off the southern tip of the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii), just weeks before Armistice, November 1918. She’s of special interest to us in the Cowichan Valley as one of her able seamen, Austin Ordano, whose body was never recovered, has a headstone in the family plot in St. Peter’s, Quamichan cemetery. He’s also listed (his name misspelled) on the Victoria Memorial in Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria.
What we need now is an equivalent website for the long under-recognized men and women of the Canadian Merchant Navy.
