"A Great Fleet of Ships: The Canadian Forts & Parks" (used book)

A Great Fleet of Ships: The Canadian Forts & Parks

by S. C. Heal

About the Book

Used Book. Hardcover. Dust jacket included. Excellent condition.

-- From the dust jacket

 The era of the Canadian Forts and Parks has long since passed into history. While it lasted, it engaged a great deal of effort and capital on a scale never seen before in our country; from the men and women in the shipyards, to the crews who manned the ships, and the industrial leaders who transformed the shipyards from very small-scale producers into world-scale shipbuilders for their day.

By 1941, Canada’s small shipbuilders had begun to turn out a fleet of 10,000- and 4,700-ton merchant ships which in every way were the equal of those from British and American shipyards. At the height of this great effort, the Canadian yards were delivering one new ship every three days.

Not only did we sent to sea a large fleet of Park ships under the Canadian flag, manned by Canadian crews and managed by Canadian managers, but we also bare-boat-chartered a similar size fleet of Forth sister ships for British management and operation. These fort and Park ships were to be found in every theatre of war from 1942 on, at all times willing workhorses of the oceans, unheralded, unsung and later, like their crews, usually ignored by historians and government alike.

While the postwar survivors of this fleet sailed under many flags, they did constitute an important element in rebuilding the peace that followed. And now that Canada is no longer an owner of deep sea ships under the Canadian flag, it is timely that we remember our achievement of over fifty years ago. It was a unique undertaking that will never be repeated in a world now so different.