The People's Boat - HMCS Oriole: Ship of a Thousand Dreams

Can$26.95

Shirley Hewett presents a captivating account of this remarkable ship in The People's Boat. Fully illustrated, her book highlights the yacht's first overall victory in the Victoria to Maui Yacht Race in 2000, which capped the 50-year career of the Royal Canadian Navy's most endearing craft. Launched in 1921 as Oriole IV, for twenty years the vessel was the prized possession of Commodore George H. Gooderham of Toronto's Royal Canadian Yacht Club. Oriole then served as a training vessel for sea cadets when in 1952 The Royal Canadian Navy commissioned her. In 1954, she sailed via the Panama Canal from Halifax to Esquimalt, B.C. Forty-eight years later, she has earned the name "the people's boat." There may be no other sailing ship in North America that has touched the lives of so many people during her 80-plus years of existence. Oriole has toured the Pacific and trained thousands in the ways of the sea (her last training operation was as recent as training bridge officers for Canada's warships in the Persian Gulf). She has raced with tall ships and private sailing yachts, and become a fixture at nautical events in Victoria's harbour. Her story reflects social, economic, cultural, and technical trends. Shirley Hewett has long been fascinated by HMCS Oriole. A scribe for the sailing scene and a Swiftsure authority, Shirley invested years of effort to compile facts, interviews, and the grand collection of illustrations found in The People's Boat.
 

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