The Ships of Canada's Marine Services

Gordon Turner is the author of Empress of Britain: Canadian Pacific’s
Greatest Ship and the editor of SeaFare, a quarterly newsletter on sea
travel.

As this book reveals, there’s more to this country’s
government-owned ships than vessels of the Royal Canadian Navy. For the
last 150 years, we have been served at various times by the Canadian
Coast Guard (and its predecessors), the RCMP Marine Division, fisheries
research ships, search-and-rescue cutters, and Arctic supply ships. The
Ships of Canada’s Marine Services is essentially a picture album,
featuring photographs and illustrations of nearly all vessels that have
operated under government auspices—icebreakers, lighthouse supply
ships, buoy tenders, hydrographic ships, patrol vessels, and hovercraft;
most are in black and white, although the book also has a 24-page color
section. Statistical information and a short account of each ship’s
career accompany the photographs, and each chapter has a short
introduction.

The currently active ships of Canada’s marine services carry out
essential duties in a broad variety of roles, usually unseen and
unheralded except by a small minority of Canadians. Some details
concerning Great Lakes ships are suspect, but, as a whole, the authors
have done a fine job of research and have obtained some top-quality
photographs. This attractive book should bring the vessels’ functions
and activities to a wider audience.