The U-boat hunter

Story by Sharon Adams

As a boy growing up in Victoria, James Douglas Prentice knew he wanted a naval career, but his English-born father refused to let him join the newly formed Canadian Navy, so Chummy, as he was known, spent the next 22 years in the Royal Navy, which he joined as an officer cadet in 1912.

He rose steadily to lieutenant-commander, but when it became clear the Depression was going to stall his career at that rank, he took early retirement and returned to British Columbia. His second naval career, during the Second World War, was where he would make his mark.

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Choose our cover for the next
issue of Canada’s Ultimate Story!

2020 marks the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, from July to October 1940. The next issue of Canada’s Ultimate Story explores the furious air defence of the British Isles that pitted Spitfires against Messerschmitts, and the role of Canadians who flew and fought. Help us choose the next cover for “Canadians in the Battle of Britain.” On newsstands across Canada Aug. 3, 2020.

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The “Miracle of Dunkirk” came at high cost

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

British prime minister Winston Churchill called the 1940 evacuation of British and Allied troops from the French port at Dunkirk “a colossal military disaster.” He also called it “a miracle of deliverance.”

Somehow, defeat had turned to victory, of sorts.

Between May 27 and June 4, a ragtag fleet of 850 barges, ferries, fishing boats, lifeboats and pleasure craft, all summoned by the small-craft section of the British Ministry of Shipping, set sail from Ramsgate and made its way 40 kilometres across the English Channel.

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June 12, 1900

The battle ends between Canadian mounted troops and Boers at Diamond Hill in South Africa.

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