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HMCS Montréal deck
First time on a naval ship!Even though this was Sunday, we had three lectures this morning. The first was by
Cheryl Kinney, a doctor and specialist in Jane Austen. She explored the mystery about Jane Austen’s final, unsuccessfully treated ailment, usually thought to be
Huntington’s disease.
Sarah Emsley, a local writer on Jane Austen, proposed that Anne Elliott in Persuasion had more ambition than usually credited to her, because she was masked by her adherence to social norms. By popular demand and dressed in the correct admiral’s uniform,
Patrick Stokes repeated his knowledgeable study of the navy in the 1800s, concluding with his hilarious mockery of our times by imagining how the
Battle of Trafalgar would have been fought under modern health and safety regulations.
Because of a tight schedule today, lunch was a buffet in the same room as our meetings. (Fittingly named the Admiral’s Room) We had salad, cold veggies, hot veggies, rice, salmon, pork dumplings, shrimp dumplings, fruit, and squares. The shortbread with caramel on top was particularly delicious.
Arriving at the naval docks, our id was checked against a list of our names. A few naval personnel showed us off the bus and onto the frigate HMCS Montreal. An officer gave a briefing, including
evacuation procedures, which consisted of doing what we were told in the event of an emergency. Our names were read out to divide us into pre-determined groups, each with our own escort/guide. Blaine, a Senior Chief Petty Officer, led us below to the third deck below.
To the uninitiated, i.e., me, it seemed like a submarine. The long narrow halls were interrupted by water-tight doors, and there were no portholes (only, and one only, in the captain’s cabin). The ops room was near enough to the Star Ship Enterprise, although no way as large. Everything on the ship ran by electronics. We were all impressed with the lock box system: there were two keys for each piece of dangerous equipment, and if someone was repairing it, the crew member took one key and the other key was locked into its lockbox, thus no one could start up the equipment. Blaine and his large crew serviced all the electronics and radar, including the tall masts for communications gear, which was climbed regularly for inspections and to make repairs, even at night and in storms.
On a lighter note, the mess of the Chief and Petty Officers was tight with
Patrick Stokes
Great conference organizer big easy chairs squished together near a big screen TV. They ate their meals and had snacks there; the ships are no-alcohol. The shifts were five hours on and off, and seven hours off and on, an odd arrangement for their 24-hour day. Where there were plain walls, murals had been added with street views of Montreal, and the corridors had Montreal street names. Blaine had worked in HMCS Calgary, which had similar decorations related to Calgary.
We were just about to rise above the water on our tour, when an officer told Blaine that the bus was waiting and that there was no time remaining on the tour. We were prepared to beg a little more time, but Blaine was in the military and ended the tour immediately. This was my first exposure to the navy, and I felt quite proud and impressed with their pride.
Our bus moved the equivalent of one block to another gate, and our id was checked again, only visually this time. We entered the Naval Museum, formerly the
Admiralty House, that
Charles Austen and his wife would have visited. The guide spoke lovingly of the care and curation of the House as an
historic monument and as a building that is still used, for example, for exams for promotion to the officer rank, and for dinners and receptions. To my satisfaction, there was a great collection of the naval lists (published annually) that governed British officers’ promotion by seniority, often mentioned in
Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe novels (army’s version). One was open for viewing, and I was surprised at the very tiny type and that it was typed at all, since I had imagined it was hand-written. A display of about eight cocked hats took us back to more decorative uniforms; the accompanying hat boxes looked to me at first as strange covers for a pair of shoes stored heel to heel. Silver bowls and table accessories from the nineteenth century abounded. The twentieth century was more soberly recognized in photos, documents and personal letters, mainly from WWI.
Our naval afternoon concluded with excellent gin and tonics, or other drinks, on the lower level (modern utilitarian décor) in the current equivalent to the Admiralty House, with fine service but no navy types around. Their appetizers were outstanding: bacon-wrapped scallops, tiny spring rolls, grilled scampi, chicken skewers, beef skewers and stuffed mushrooms.
Deirdre and I
Navy List 1806 for Battle of Trafalgar
How people in Austen's time followed wars and others arrived late at a poetry reading in the Public Gardens. This was arranged by a few Haligonians to celebrate poetry. The participation of some Jane Austen fans turned it into an optional part of the conference. Deirdre had researched enough to know that “
The Lady of the Lake”, by Walter Scott was ‘read’ in Persuasion. She had printed a portion from the internet and talked me into helping her present it. She gave an introduction; I read the section describing the heroine, Ellen; Deirdre read the section describing Ellen’s love, Malcolm; and, I finished with the final section that put the two together in the court of King James V of Scotland. The reading went surprisingly well considering my only practice was reading it in the elevator and as we walked on the path to the gazebo, where people were gathered. A few other readers read without even this preparation. The audience participated and listened with good humour, as the setting sun twinkled through the leaves.
For a short while we sat with Marie, who had been writing her travel notes near the entrance of the park. When the security man drove by in an ATV to warn that
Public Gardens
Calm oasis in the city centre the park was closing, we moved to the porch of the hotel. I went to the room and made tea in my thermos for Deirdre and me, and after a while Peter joined our companionably relaxed group.
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Isabel Gibson
non-member comment
Personalized frigates and extemporaneous readings
It seems funny but also sort of charming, that these frigates named for Canadian cities would have murals depicting said city. It must break up the otherwise monotonous decor (I'm assuming, based on the only Navy ship I've toured). And your day - with the tour bookended by lectures and a satirical performance in the AM, and poetry reading in the PM -- seems like a fascinatingly diverse day. And your food, as well. I notice you didn't send your absent friends any shortbread with caramel . . .