CGS ''Petrel'' was a Canadian

patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and they ...

used primarily for fisheries protection on the upper

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

from 1892 to 1904. In 1904, ''Petrel'' was sent to the East Coast of Canada for fisheries protection duties there. In 1912, ''Petrel'' was fitted for

minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of removing explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that purpos ...

and in 1914, was taken over by the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

for use as an

examination vessel An examination vessel is a vessel used to inspect ships and boats entering a port during wartime. An examination vessel would typically be responsible for examining and verifying all merchant ships and small craft entering or departing a port. T ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Following the war, ''Petrel'' was discarded.

Description

''Petrel'' was the third vessel in her class, her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

s being and . ''Petrel'' was slightly larger than her sister ships, being long with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

and a draught of . The vessel had a tonnage of . The vessel was powered by a

compound steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) cylinder, then having given up heat ...

driving one

screw A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...

creating (

nominal Nominal may refer to: Linguistics and grammar * Nominal (linguistics), one of the parts of speech * Nominal, the adjectival form of "noun", as in "nominal agreement" (= "noun agreement") * Nominal sentence, a sentence without a finite verb * Nou ...

). This gave the vessel a maximum speed of . The ship was armed with one

QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval gun The QF 12-pounder 12-cwt gun (Quick-Firing) (abbreviated as Q.F. 12-pdr. 2-cwt. was a common, versatile calibre naval gun introduced in 1894 and used until the middle of the 20th century.

and three machine guns.

Service history

In 1888, a treaty to combat

illegal fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is an issue around the world. Fishing industry observers believe IUU occurs in most fisheries, and accounts for up to 30% of total catches in some important fisheries. Illegal fishing takes pl ...

in Canadian waters between Canada and the United States was rejected by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. Prime Minister Sir

Charles Tupper Sir Charles Tupper, 1st Baronet (July 2, 1821 – October 30, 1915) was a Canadian Father of Confederation who served as the sixth prime minister of Canada from May 1 to July 8, 1896. As the premier of Nova Scotia from 1864 to 1867, he led ...

then sought British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

aid in patrolling Canadian fisheries, but his request was rejected. The Canadian government then ordered the construction of three new armed patrol vessels. ''Petrel'' was constructed by

Polson Iron Works Limited The Polson Iron Works was an Ontario-based firm which built large steam engines, as well as ships, barges and dredges. Founded by William Polson (Canadian shipbuilder), William Polson (1834–1901) and son Franklin Bates Polson, the firm was i ...

at their shipyard in

Owen Sound Owen Sound (2021 Canadian Census, 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat, seat of government of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi River, Pottawatomi and Sydenham River ...

, Ontario. The vessel entered service in 1892 patrolling the

. ''Petrel'' was given directives to target

by Americans in Canadian waters. On 8 May 1894, the Canadian vessel intercepted a large group of American fishing vessels, arresting 50 fisherman and impounding their boats. In 1902, ''Petrel'' seized 998 nets from poachers. However, the ship was being outpaced by the American fishing vessels that it sought to catch. That year, a newer, faster vessel was requested. On 12 August 1903, ''Petrel'' fired upon an American fishing vessel, ''Silver Spray'', that appeared to be fishing in Canadian waters, off Long Point, in

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

. ''Silver Spray'' returned to

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...

having been hit twenty times, but had escaped from the Canadian vessel. ''Petrel'' remained on the Great Lakes until 1904, when the ship proved to be too slow to catch up with American fishing vessels. Replaced by , ''Petrel'' was then sent to the East Coast of Canada where fishing

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

s were still being used. The ship remained in this service until 1912, when ''Petrel'' was fitted for

. At the onset of the First World War, ''Petrel'' was among the vessels forced into patrol duty by the

and was used to patrol the

Grand Manan Grand Manan is a Canadian island in the Bay of Fundy, part of the province of New Brunswick. Grand Manan is also the name of an incorporated village, which includes the main island and numerous nearby islands; White Head Island, small islands n ...

Channel. Following the arrival of the

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s and on the East Coast in 1916, ''Petrel'' was used to train

hydrophone A hydrophone () is a microphone designed for underwater use, for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones contains a piezoelectric transducer that generates an electric potential when subjected to a pressure change, such as a ...

operators on Bras D'Or Lake. After the war's end in 1918, ''Petrel'' was discarded.

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Petrel Canadian Government Ship Fishery protection vessels 1892 ships Ships built in Ontario