How it all began

I don’t exactly remember when we found my father-in-law’s naval journals but I know it was about 6 years ago. Imagine my utter delight at finding journals written during World War I and beyond—up to 1929—in a box that we had not looked at before. In digging further into the treasures, I found photographs that even pre-dated the journals and continued on to the post-World War II period.

I put together a presentation on the journals and presented it to the Victoria branch of the Western Front Association in the spring of 2015. I then put the material away as I was busy writing a book on the history of professional hockey in Victoria.

I finished that book and sent it off to be edited and designed and found myself with time to work on these journals. I have scanned all the pages of the four books and spent considerable time transcribing the words so that they were easier to read. I also put together a spreadsheet of all the places named in the text as well as all the ships named.

I am now working on the book which will contain only the transcripts—the scans will be on this site—and some of the photographs. I intend to write a short introduction and a biography of Commodore John Crispo Inglis (“Dutchy”) Edwards but want his words to speak for themselves. I am very excited to be finally bringing this material to a wider audience.