Postal History Corner

Canadian Navy Mail : 1953-1966
This article deals with navy mail during the Karsh to Cameo periods, 1953-1966, and is organized as follows:

1. Ships at Sea
2. Home Ports
3. Great Lakes
4. Naval Reserve Units
5. Sea Cadets
6. Souvenir Mail

1. Ships at Sea

Canadian ships at sea did not cancel mail posted on board the ship. When the ship was in a foreign port, a mail orderly brought and picked up sealed bags of mail at the local post office or at the Canadian embassy or consulate. (Bailey and Toop at page 56 of The Canadian Military Posts Volume 3)

Naval Mail Cachets
Ship mail was identified by the use of circular naval mail cachets :

HMCS Ontario

HMCS Ontario was a Minotaur class light cruise built for the Royal Navy as HMS Minotaur but transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy on completion in 1944 and renamed Ontario. She was used for training duties postwar until paid off on October 15, 1958.

Forces Air Letter mailed from the HMCS Ontario (Pacific Ocean) , ship cachet February 6, 1954
Cancelled at Victoria HMCS Dockyard, February 11, 1954:

Victoria HMCS Dockyard

HMCS Quebec

HMCS Quebec (C66) was a Crown Colony class light cruiser that served the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Uganda (C66) during World War II. Renamed in 1952, HMCS Quebec served until she was decommissioned in 1956.

The cover below was described in an earlier article, Coronation Review of the Fleet.

HMCS Quebec, Spithead, England to RCAF Station Chatham
Ship cachet, June 13, 1953
Cancelled at Montreal, June 16, 1953

HMCS Labrador

The icebreaker HMCS (later CCGS) Labrador was commissioned into the Canadian Navy in July 1954. The Labrador was the first ship to circumnavigate North America when, in 1954, she transited the Northwest Passage and returned to Halifax through the Panama Canal. Labrador was also involved in the construction of the Distant Early Warning Line, a chain of radar stations built in the mid-1950s to detect incoming Soviet bombers. In 1958, Labrador was transferred to the Department of Transport becoming the first Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker.

HMCS Labrador ship cachet October 17, 1955
Montreal cancellation, October 20, 1955

HMCS Lauzon

The HMCS Lauzon (FFE 322) was a Prestonian-class WWII ocean escort frigate that was converted from a River-class frigate placed in reserve following the end of WWII. Lauzon served until 1963.

HMCS Lauzon ship cachet June 15, 1956
Cancelled at FMO Halifax, June 31, 1956

Unidentified Ships To 1956

Posted on ship in Italy, November 5, 1954 and cancelled at Halifax on November 9, 1954

Ship cachet October 14, 1955
Cancelled at Montreal, October 18, 1955

Numbered Ship Cachets

In 1956, rubber ship cachets with numbers were produced and assigned to ships.

HMCS New Waterford

HMCS New Waterford 304 was a River-class frigate that served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1943- 1945 and as a Prestonian-class frigate from 1958 -1968.

Post Card from crewman on board HMCS New Waterford in port at Copenhagen, Denmark
Ship Cachet # 6 assigned to New Waterford dated May 23, 1966
Cancelled at Montreal AMF, May 29, 1966

View of the Royal Danish Arsenal Mueum

HMCS Fraser

HMCS Fraser (DDH 233) is a St. Laurent-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from 1957 -1994. The St. Laurent-class destroyers were the first Canadian designed and built warships.

HMCS Fraser letter to Ottawa
Ship Cachet # 59 dated April 14, 1965
Cancelled at Vancouver April 18, 1965

Crest on back of envelope

Great Lakes Cruise

Posted on board ship in the Great Lakes
Indistinct numbered ship cachet, August 2, 1960
Cancelled at Toronto, August 3, 1960

Ship Cachet # 31

Post Card sent from crewman whose ship was in Hawaii
Ship Cachet # 31, dated June 21, 1964 (#31 unlisted)
Cancelled at Vancouver, June 22, 1964

Waikiki Aerial

2. Home Ports : Atlantic and Pacific Fleets
In the home ports of Halifax and Victoria, naval personnel made use of the Fleet Mail Office (FMO) for postal service.

a) Halifax

Fleet Mail Office Halifax, February 16, 1959

Halifax FMO, November 28, 1962

HMCS Stadacona

HMCS Stadacona was the naval barracks post office at the Halifax naval base.

HMCS Stadacona to London, March 5, 1962

HMCS Stadacona to Southsea, England, February 7, 1965
15 cents air mail letter rate

b) Victoria

HMCS Dockyard, Victoria

HMCS Dockyard, February 11, 1954

HMCS Naden

HMCS Naden was the naval barracks post office located at the Victoria naval base.

HNCS Naden to Millet, August 19, 1958

3 . Great Lakes

HMCS Patriot located in Hamilton was the Headquarters of the Commanding Officer Naval Divisions (COND), as well as the Great Lakes Training Centre.

Fleet Mail Office Hamilton was HMCS Patriot's post office.

FMO Hamilton, July 13, 1959

HMCS Patriot to Hay River, July 6, 1966

4. Naval Reserve Units

Canada’s Naval Reserve was created in 1923. Naval Reservists are individuals engaged in their civilian lives while pursuing a military career, serving on a part time basis.

HMCS Cataraqui

In 1939, a Naval Division was established in Kingston, Ontario, and commissioned HMCS Cataraqui two years later.

HMCS Cataraqui , Kingston November 2, 1955

HMCS Hunter

HMCS Hunter was first established as the Windsor Division, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve on November 8, 1939. HMCS Hunter has been at its present location on Ouellette Street in Windsor since March 1944.

HMCS Hunter, Windsor May 31, 1956

4. Sea Cadets

The Cadet Program is the largest federally-sponsored youth program in Canada that includes the Royal Canadian Sea, Army and Air Cadets. It is a national program for young Canadians aged 12 to 18 who are interested in participating in a variety of fun, challenging and rewarding activities while learning about the sea, army and air activities of the Canadian Forces.

HMCS Quadra

HMCS Quadra is a sea cadet summer training centre located on Goose Spit adjacent the town on Comox, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island. Goose Spit became a Sea Cadet Training Establishment in 1952 and was commissioned as HMCS Quadra in 1956, operating continuously since.

HMCS Quadra correspondence to Coeur D'Alene, mailed at the Comox post office, August 13, 1958

6. Souvenir Mail

a) Norfolk Naval Station, Norfolk, Virginia

When naval ships made port calls at the Norfolk Naval Station "Welcome to Norfolk" covers were produced by Tazewell G. Nicholson. An example of such a cover made when the HMCS Lauzon visited Norfolk in 1954 is shown below:

"Welcome to Norfolk" covers had three elements:

i) Visiting ship cachet
ii) Printed cachet
iii) U.S. Ship cancel

i) Visiting Ship cachet

Personnel from a visiting ship would be asked if envelopes could be stamped with the ship's cachet:

ii) Printed cachet

Cachets identifying the class of vessel or the name of the vessel and its mission were printed in the upper left hand corner of the envelope.

iii) US ship cancel

The covers were taken to a US naval vessel in port for cancellation and entry into the mail stream.

The HMCS Lauzon cover was brought to the USS Allen M. Sumner

Nicholson offered this service to collectors who sent stamped addressed envelopes along with a small fee for each cover serviced. Collectors never knew from which visiting ship they would receive covers. Welcome to Norfolk covers were produced into the 1980s.

HMCS Prestonian

The HMCS Prestonian (FFE 3o7) was a Prestonian-class ocean escort frigate that was converted from a River-class frigate placed in reserve following the end of WWII. Prestonian served as an anti-submarine ship until 1956.

HMCS Prestonian, Regulating Office handstamp, February 21, 1954

HMCS Iroquois

HMCS Iroquois was a World War II Tribal class destroyer. After the war the Iroquois was converted to an escort destroyer with the designation DDE 217 serving until 1962. A detailed history of Iroquois can be found at the Canadian Forces web site.

HMCS Iroquois, Commanding Officer handstamp, April 1956

February 29, 1960

HMCS Haida

HMCS Haida was a World War II Tribal class destroyer. Haida sank more enemy surface tonnage than any other Canadian warship. After the war, she was converted to a destroyer escort and recommissioned on 15 March 1952 with the designation DDE 215 and serving until 1963.

HMCS Haida, Ships Office handstamp, April 1956

HMCS Gatineau

HMCS Gatineau (DDE 236) was a Restigouche-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later in the Canadian Forces from 1958 to 1974. Gatineau offered a 21 gun salute to President Dwight Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth on June 26, 1959 for the official opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

HMCS Gatineau, Commanding Officer handstamp, January 23, 1960

HMCS Kootenay

HMCS Kootenay (DDE 258) was a Restigouche-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later in the Canadian Forces from 1959 to 1996

HMCS Kootenay, Officer of the Day handstamp, November 26, 1960

HMCS Columbia

HMCS Columbia (DDE 260) was a Restigouche-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later in the Canadian Forces from 1959 to 1974. Columbia was the seventh and final ship in her class and is the second Canadian naval unit to carry the name HMCS Columbia.

HMCS Columbia, Officer of the Day handstamp, November 26, 1960

HMCS Terra Nova

HMCS Terra Nova (DDE 259) was a Restigouche-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and late the Canadian Forces from 1959 to 1997.

HMCS Terra Nova, Regulating Office, November 25, 1960

HMCS Restigouche

HMCS Restigouche (DDE 257) was a Restigouche-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from 1958-1994.

HMCS Restigouche, Commanding Officer handstamp, February 11, 1961

HMCS Chaudiere

HMCS Chaudiere (DDE 235) was a Restigouche-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from 1959-1974.

HMCS Chaudiere, Message Center handstamp, November 24, 1960

b) Souvenir Mail From British Ports

HMCS Bonaventure

HMCS Bonaventure (CVL-22) was a Majestic-class aircraft carrier. She served in the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Forces Maritime Command from 1957 to 1970.