Deep Bay – but what is her name?
The Laurier was built in Quebec by the Morton Engineering & Drydock Company, in 1936.
Commissioned as the RCMP Laurier, it served as a patrol craft in the days of rum-running. In the Second World War, it became the HMCS Laurier after being ‘drafted’ into the Royal Canadian Navy’s auxiliary, where life-risking constables monitored radios, watched for mines and enemy submarines and escorted fleet convoys off the coast of Halifax.
She was commissioned in 1939 at Halifax for local A/S duties, and occasionally served as escort to the Sydney sections of Halifax convoys (SHX). By 1943 she was a member of the Sydney Force, based at Mulgrave, N.S., for examination and patrol duty in the Gut of Canso. In Feb 1944 Laurier returned to Halifax Local Defence Force, but rejoined Sydney Force in Sep 1944. She was paid off on 25 Mar 1946,
Laurier was returned to the RCMP, sold to the Department of Fisheries and later joined BC’s basking shark slaughter fleet.
Retiring from public duty, the Laurier II, now owned by a numbered company and registered with Transport Canada as a ‘non-commercial-other’ vessel, rested in Bamfield for several years.
No one seems to recall the exact day the Laurier entered Deep Bay or who owns her…
- Constructed: 1936, Morton Engineering & Drydock Company, Quebec
- Gross Tonnage (t): 201.00
- Net Tonnage (t): 81.71
- Construction Type
- Construction Material: Steel
- Vessel Length (m): 34.44
- Vessel Breadth (m): 6.40
- Vessel Depth (m): 3.17
- Engines: 2 x 1000 kilowatt, diesel
- Propulsion: Twin screw
- Speed (knots): 13.0