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105 ROYAL CANADIAN SEA CADET CORPS LONSDALE
– By Major Bob Irvine, CD –
#105 – Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Lonsdale has the distinction of being the only sea cadet corps to establish anywhere on the North Shore. Prior to its formation, boys wanting to join sea cadets would have to travel across Burrard Inlet to HMCS DISCOVERY in Vancouver’s Stanley Park and sign up with RCSCC Captain Vancouver.

The newly created North and West Vancouver Branch of the Navy League of Canada made it their number one priority to start a sea cadet corps and on September 10th 1943*, little more than a year after the Branch received its warrant, #105 RCSCC Lonsdale was formally “commissioned” by Commander C.M. Cree, RCN, Chief of Staff with Pacific Command in Vancouver, BC.

Six officers and 90 cadets attended the first uniformed parade in October, 1943. Phenomenal growth would follow. Within months, enrolment at Lonsdale would surpass 300 cadets and the corps would obtain “cruiser” rating.

The corps kept a very busy schedule in its first year participating in numerous community events. One particular highlight from its first year was the presentation of a ship’s bell to RCSCC Lonsdale by the North Vancouver Kinsmen Club. The same bell continues to be used by the cadets to this day! We must not forget that World War II was underway at the time the corps started which had a significant impact on cadet retention.

During the 1943/44 training year, 54 cadets left to serve with the Royal Canadian Navy, the largest number of cadets from any corps in BC. A further 22 cadets joined the Merchant Navy and 6 joined the Canadian Army.  By the end of the training year in June of 1944, corps strength had settled down to the 220 cadets on parade for annual inspection. Classes had been held for Non-Commissioned Officers and probationary examinations were successfully completed with 120 cadets passing. Twelve Petty Officers and fourteen Leading Seamen could then be appointed. That summer 85 cadets and 10 officers were selected to attend a two week training camp at Whytecliff Park in West Vancouver where cadets learned basic boat-work, knots and everything else a sea cadet needed to know in order to advance within the program.

When training resumed in September 1944, the ship’s company was down slightly to 13 officers and 203 cadets, 30 of whom comprised the new drum and trumpet band. The corps also managed to acquire 3 cutters to give the cadets practical experience in sailing, boat handling and general care.

Following the end of World War II, Lonsdale experienced a considerable decrease in numbers although 100 cadets was still a respectable number. The corps would also have to relocate from its original ‘Stone Frigate’ in the KP Hall at 4th St. & Chesterfield to the 6th Field Company’s Drill Hall on Forbes Avenue which meant having to change its parade nights from Friday to Thursday. The Navy League would then negotiate the use of a former 6th Field Company dining hall located adjacent to the Drill Hall as a new facility for the sea cadets. Despite the disruption which followed the moves, the cadets continued to train hard while maintaining high visibility within the community. In 1951, all of the hard work paid off when 105 RCSCC Lonsdale won the coveted Dominion Proficiency Trophy as the best sea cadet corps in Canada!

The year 1956 would bring about more change for Lonsdale. For one thing, the girl cadets who were parading as a separate division within the corps received independent status when they became the No. 7 Navy League Wrenette Corps. Lonsdale had 60 cadets at the time, but that number included both male and female members. Although the girls would continue parading with the boys for a few more years, the fact that they had become a separate entity highlighted the need for the corps to get out and do some recruiting. Until then, word of mouth was all that was needed to fill the ranks.
Over the years, Lonsdale has been the recipient of many accolades. The corps’ showpiece, a drum and trumpet band, won numerous awards including first place for marching bands in the 1956 P.N.E. parade. A truly great honour was bestowed when in August 1958, the City of Seattle Seafair Committee specifically requested the RCSCC Lonsdale band and guard to open the festivities and lead the 2 hour Seattle Seafair Parade past an estimated crowd of 40,000.

The cadets were given full VIP treatment by our neighbours to the south. To top off the 1958 training year, 105 RCSCC Lonsdale won the R.J. Bicknell Trophy as the outstanding Sea Cadet Corps in British Columbia.    If ever there was a time when Lonsdale and the local Branch of the Navy League of Canada would have their mettle tested, it was in the mid 1960’s.

The decade started out on a high note when the Straits Towing Company, then the largest towboat company in BC, donated a 74-foot surplus tugboat to RCSCC Lonsdale to be used by the cadets as a training vessel.  And then in 1964 the unthinkable happened. The Navy Hut burned to the ground taking with it much of the corps memorabilia. Photographs, scrap books, training aids and trophies were all lost in the fire, as were uniforms and band instruments. Lonsdale would salvage what it could from the fire. After switching its parade night to Monday, the corps spent the next two years sharing space in the Drill Hall with the 6th Field Squadron Royal Canadian Engineers, the army cadets, air cadets, Wrenettes and Navy League Cadets.

Just before Remembrance Day in 1966, the cadets could at last occupy the newly completed and current Navy League Building. It was without a doubt a bittersweet time in corps history. The excitement of moving into a brand new and much larger ‘Stone Frigate’ tempered by the reality of having lost so much in the fire and having to cope with a further decline in corps strength. Just as the decade of the 60’s started on a high note, so it would go out on a high note when one of Lonsdale’s own, Petty Officer Second Class W. (Bill) Hudson was recognized for saving the lives of 2 cadets while at HMCS Quadra, the Sea Cadet Summer Training Centre on Vancouver Island.  And that brings us to the 1970s, a decade filled with challenges for the cadet program right across the country.

By 1972 sea cadet enrollment was already dropping across Canada and officers were in short supply. Corps carrying less than 30 cadets on the nominal roll were being monitored closely by headquarters as to their viability. Lonsdale was one of those corps being watched but managed a brief respite when in 1975, rules were changed in Ottawa allowing girls to join sea cadets. The Wrenette Corps was disbanded and the girls transferred into RCSCC Lonsdale which brought the numbers up and took some of the pressure off.  Enrollment continued to wane and in 1983 cadet headquarters put 105 RCSCC Lonsdale on probation giving it a year to get back up to the minimum required 20 cadets. Despite the best efforts of the officers, cadets and local Branch of the Navy League of Canada, the once mighty Lonsdale held its last parade in December of 1984 and was disbanded March 20th, 1985.
With Lonsdale closed down, the Navy League cadet corps carried on training and a scaled down Branch continued to work hard to support their junior corps and maintain the building. A persistent Branch President, Captain Ed Monteiro, and some dedicated individuals from RCSCC Captain Vancouver acted on a plan to revive Lonsdale.

A small group of sea cadets from North Vancouver began meeting on a weekly basis at the Navy League Building as the Lonsdale Division of RCSCC Captain Vancouver under Divisional Officer Lt (N) Mike Bottoms. On February 15th, 1995, 105 RCSCC Lonsdale was formally re-activated, the corps number and name never having been struck-off the register by the Navy League of Canada. With a good core group of cadets and under solid leadership, Lonsdale would soon re-establish itself as a corps to be reckoned with. In less than 10 years its strength would surpass 50 cadets.

April 26th, 2004 meeting of North Vancouver City Council. No. 105 Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Lonsdale was awarded the Freedom of the City of North Vancouver. A ceremony involving the entire corps took place outside City Hall on June 19th where Mayor Barbara Sharp presented a commemorative plaque to Lonsdale’s Commanding Officer, Lt(N) Christine Strumpel.