Canadian trawler drifter crew cowardice in 1918?

[John Gilinsky]

I did start a post on Canadian trawlers and drifters built 1917-1918 to Admiralty pattern but only one person responded. Since then I have found excellent information including the following,viz.:

First see this earlier post that will help to put into proper context the consideration in particular of cowardice that some or even many of the Canadian seamen or crew of the scores of Canadian built trawlers and drifters may have manifested on Canada's east coast during 1918, viz.:

 

This thread dealt with the attack by Austro-Hungarian naval and air forces on the Otranto barrage maintained by a fairly extensive fleet of small British and Italian armed trawlers and drifters in May 1917 in which 14 British trawlers were sunk.

The following is a letter entitled by the newspaper editor(s) "Some Reasons for a Spring House Cleaning in the Canadian Navy" that was published in the "Halifax [Nova Scotia] Herald" in February 1918 and is signed by 'Sub Rosa' -

"Who was the official or officials that were responsible for the six 'ships' that were built in Toronto last year...? Of what use does the naval department pretend these boats are for war purposes? They are built something like a trawler, equipped with compound engines that are almost obsolete in type...they can probably make about nine knots an hour in fine weather.

Does the naval department seriously pretend to patrol our coasts with these vessels as protection against German submarines, which we are told are now armed with 6-inch guns and can make 15 knots on the surface? If the money that was spent on these boats had been used in building tow or three fast destroyers, heavily armed, there might been some prospect of the Royal Canadian Navy bagging a few submarines. The boys are anxious and willing enough, but they can't deliver the goods unless they have the tools to do the work with.

There is also the question of the 'CD' boats [ that is Canadian Drifters which were in fact designed by the British Admiralty ]. Why is that so many 'skippers' and mates (experienced men most of them)

[ undoubtedly referring to former fishermen now crewing such CDs ] have refused to take these boats out to sea? Are these boats unseaworthy? Surely these men, who have spent their whole lives at sea, would not refuse to sail them and risk imprisonment unless they had good reason."

[ Source: Tennyson, B.D. and Sarty, Roger "Guardian of the Gulf: Sydney, Cape Breton, and the Atlantic Wars" Toronto: University of Toronto Press 2000 page 157 ]

From the timing, content and place of publication as well as the tone of the letter it is probable that "Sub Rosa" was a Canadian who might have been a close relative of one of these crew or even an actual crew member.

Apparently Captain Hose the Canadian naval commander felt compelled to confirm harsh sentences on deserters from these vessels to maintain discipline. [ Source: Tennyson/Sarty, page 158 ]

The Yankees came to the rescue(sort of!) in the late spring of 1918 when at first 6 110 foot long American built Sub-chasers (SC's)arrived at Halifax, N.S. and later US Naval aviation established itself in the fall of 1918 in Halifax and Sydney N.S.. [ Source: Tennyson/Sarty, page 159 ]

Questions:

1) Did the British trawler/drifter fleet ever have "PANICS" or instances of "cowardice" whether at sea or on shore (refusal to leave or to board or significantly high desertion rates)?

2) Does anyone know of any specific instances for the Canadian Eastern naval patrols during 1917 - 1918 of "PANICS" or intsances of "cowardice" whether at sea or on shore...?

3) What solutions might YOU have offered given the British Admiralty deliberate suppression of Canadian naval shipbuilidng and the focus on the CEF land forces throughout the war when the 1918 German submarine menace finally did materialize but only in a very limited manner by only a couple of subs harassing the Canadian eastern coast?