Raleigh on the Rocks: The Canada Shipwreck of HMS Raleigh

Serge Durflinger is a professor specializing in Canadian military and
diplomatic history at the University of Ottawa.

Richard Rohmer, prolific author and accomplished airman, has
investigated a fascinating and virtually uninvestigated incident in the
maritime history of Canada and Newfoundland. In August 1922, following a
goodwill visit to the United States and Canada, the British cruiser HMS
Raleigh ran aground off the coast of Labrador. The ship was a total loss
and 10 sailors lost their lives. This tragic and embarrassing incident
led to the courts-martial of the ship’s commanding officer and
navigating officer, both of whom were found guilty of negligence.

By developing proper colonial, naval, and social contexts, a skilled
scholar could have made much of the Raleigh’s loss. But Rohmer’s is
not that kind of academic account and these issues are barely raised.
Given that 136 of the book’s 212 pages are illustrations, including
scans of dozens of documents from the Public Records Office, perhaps the
book’s greatest merit lies in its dissemination of primary material
for readers’ review. Although weaving a coherent narrative and
analytical approach based on documentary research is normally the
author’s task, here the reader must often fill the void.

The book lacks structure and appears organized around the documents
unearthed, not chronology or a cohesive topical framework. The
manuscript was in dire need of competent editing before going to press
but, notwithstanding its many foibles, Rohmer’s informal and exuberant
style still conveys passion for the subject and its importance. There is
little analysis in the work, however, and even Rohmer’s harsh
assessment of the Admiralty’s hard-line reaction to the

loss of the vessel seems emotive rather than reasoned.

His two pages devoted to the salvaging of the ship’s guns are among
the work’s most interesting, and the section detailing the deliberate
destruction of the ship’s forlorn hulk is fascinating. The Canadian
navy’s more recent attempts to clear the site of unexploded ordnance
is also noteworthy. In 2003, disposal teams destroyed 400 large-calibre
7.5-inch shells.

Rohmer’s work is a welcome and helpful place to start for those
interested in the basic chronology of Raleigh’s story and an overview
of the issues that led to its destruction, but it is hardly the final
word.