John & Ritha's Tenth Tutorial

<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <CENTER> <FONT FACE="Courier New">WARTIME ERA APPRENTICES<P> BY<P> JOHN MASON</CENTER> <P><BLOCKQUOTE>Early in World War II as the Royal Canadian Navy expanded rapidly, it became apparent that there would be insufficient Engine Room Artificers to maintain and operate the machinery of the many new ships. Not enough skilled machinists and fitters were enlisting who could be trained as ERA's.<P> Engineer Rear Admiral George Stephens, the Engineer-in-Chief, had joined the fledgling RCN in 1910 as an ERA. (We used to say that he had gone "from ERA to ERA"). Under his appreciation of the problem, a program of training was initiated.<P> The program began in late 1941 in Galt (now Cambridge) Ontario, and later in Calgary and Windsor in groups or "divisions" of about 45 trainees each. Nine divisions were trained in Galt, three in Calgary, and one in Windsor. I was a member of Division #7 which started in Galt in February, 1943. Divisions 5 and 6 were there at the same time and we were all rated Stokers II/c. We trained in a number of locations in Galt, and were assigned to rotating shifts, including the dreaded "graveyard." All of us were billeted in private homes in the town, and we will never forget the warm hospitality shown to us by the people of Galt. It wasn't really like being in the Navy, although we had parade training and route marches before compulsory church on Saturday mornings. But there were no duty watches and we had every weekend off from Saturday noon until Monday morning. What a rude awakening when we reached Halifax, where we were assigned to old "A" block where the snow sifted in through the windows and the toilets froze! <P> I will outline the training of my division, which was similar for each of the others.<P> We spent seven months in Galt undergoing machine shop training, acquiring fitting bench skills, and being taught welding, electricity, marine engineering and mathematics. Next we were sent to Westdale Technical School in Hamilton for 10 weeks of internal combustion engine training. We arrived in Halifax on December 13, 1943, and the next part of our training took place in the Mechanical Training Establishment, were we spent a further seven months undergoing more machine shop and fitting shop training, as well as moulding shop, sheet metal shop and marine engineering. There were written examinations and a trade test requiring machining and hand fitting of a strange object called "nut, block, gib and cotter," for which we were allowed 60 hours.<P> Then we went off to sea for six months as Stokers I/c to obtain our Auxiliary Watchkeeping Certificates, and doing all the good things that Stokers do, including boiler and bilge cleaning. We fired boilers in the boiler rooms, and served as oilers and auxiliary machinery watchkeepers in the engine room.<P> Finally the great day came when we had served the requisite six months at sea and had been awarded our Auxiliary Watchkeeping Certificates. We were then rated Acting Engine Room Artificers 4/c - it was like being elevated to the peerage! No more swabbing decks and cleaning heads, and we even had our own messman. Many of us were drafted to other ships at this time, as the ship's complement of ERA's was exceeded.<P> By the end of the war, many had obtained Boiler Room Watchkeeping Certificates and were confirmed as ERA 4/c. A few had obtained their Engine Room Watchkeeping Certificates and wore Chief's buttons.<P> The early trainees had been enlisted in the RCN (Permanent Force), and went to sea as ERA's 5/c, but the majority were enlisted into the RCNVR (Hostilities Only) and went to sea as Stokers I/c, which seems a waste of all the training we had received. Most were discharged at war's end.<P> I estimate that of almost 600 who were trained under this program, about 50 stayed in the post-war RCN. Most of these became Chief ERA's and about a dozen and a half were commissioned. Some of us are currently members of the Chiefs and Petty Officers Association, including Heustis, Holenchuk, Hunter (Gorde), Lavallee, Martin, Maze, Meagher, Seibel and Soberg and myself.<P> During the war, products of the ERA Apprentice scheme could be found in nearly every ship. The program undoubtedly filled a need; otherwise the new ships could not have been adequately manned, although we did not begin to appear in the fleet until early 1943.<P> We have an ERA Apprentice Association which holds a reunion every two years. The 13<SUP>th</SUP> was held here in Victoria in October of 1997, and we are looking forward to the next one in Red Deer, Alberta in September of 1999. Typically about 140 ex-Art Apps from all over North America will attend, together with spouses or partners for a total of about 220. The camaraderie which came out of this intensive training and the pride in our contribution to the wartime navy have held us together for many years.</FONT> </BLOCKQUOTE> To see a picture of <A HREF="artapic.htm">some ERA Apprentices</A><BR> To return to <A HREF="index.html">our Home Page</A><BR> To see more WEAV <A HREF="http://www.questtech.bc.ca/quest/novice/tutorials.htm"> tutorials</A>. </BODY> </HTML>