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HMCS Glendyne

Particulars of Canadian War Vessels Building & Projected by Naval Service Headquarters (D. N. C. Dept.) 1943 - 1945: Glendyne [C.N.891] built in 1945 by Russel Bros., Owen Sound, Ontario. One of the workhorse Glen Class tugs that helped large Royal Canadian Navy ships enter and leave Halifax. GLENDYNE was sunk in 1957 while berthing the aircraft carrier HMCS MAGNIFICENT. She was girted, that is pulled over by the carrier's mooring lines. The tug's cook was trapped inside and drowned. A seaman later died in hospital. A naval inquiry blamed communication problems between the carrier and tugs. GLENDYNE was refloated a few days later and returned to serve the navy until the 1979 when she was retired and later sunk as a diver training site in Eastern Passage, Bedford Basin, Halifax Harbour. GLENDYNE was previously sunk in 1957 during a berthing accident but raised and contined to serve the navy until she retired in 1979. After retirement she was deliberately sunk as a training site for Navy Divers at Eastern Passage. Her wheelhouse was saved and installed on the wharf of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic where it provides a ticket booth for BLUENOSE II when she is in port.

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Glendyne history by Edison Horton.
H.M.C.S. GLENDYNE (Tug)

Navy Pennant Numbers: War Time- W 68 28 April, 1945 to 1946. Post War- YTM 503 1946 to 1978.

Builder: Russel Bros., Owen Sound, Ontario. R.C.N. Order Number: CN 891. Laid down on 06 November, 1944. Launched on 20 March, 1945. Endurance and full power trials on April 26, 1945. Commissioned on 28 April, 1945. Length 80' 6" x beam 20' 7" x draught 9' 8". Steel Hull, Short house. Power: 1 Enterprise diesel, 6 cylinders (12" x 15"), 400 hp @ 400 rpm. Speed: 10.5 kts.

The GLENDYNE was a tender to Naval Base H.M.C.S. Stadacona, Halifax, N.S. Proposed Disposition in 1945. Radio Call Sign: "CGJP" 'CATALOG B" Some Navy Skippers: Lt. James William Howey. Lt. John Greenfield Brown (5.3.45) (2.4.45) Lt. Randel Domenie (29.1.46) James Charlsey Bennett (16.2.57)

On Saturday, 16 February, 1957, she was capsized and sunk while assisting in the docking of the aircraft carrier H.M.C.S. MAGNIFICENT in Halifax Harbour, this occured when the tug got in the "irons" position with the tow line to the carrier. Two crew members, a deckhand and the cook were drowned in the accident. The GLENDYNE was raised on Tuesday, 19 February, 1957, refitted and continued to serve the Navy until the 1970's. The hull was deliberately sunk in Bedford Basin for underwater training by naval divers in 1979-01-01.

The wooden wheelhouse was saved and erected in the wharf of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, where it provides a ticket booth for the Bluenose 11.

February 2001. Ref: Particulars of Canadian War Vessels C.B. (Can) 0809 (July 1944) Conversation with Capt James Bennett, Don Bianco, Garth Rhyno, retired DND marine engineers. The Halifax Chrinicle-Hearld. Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

 


The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 15 Feb 1957, Fri Page 2. Two men lost in capsizing HALIFAX

(CP) The navy says one man is dead and another missing and presumed dead after the capsizing of the navy tug Glendyne in Halifax harbor today. Two of five survivors suffered shock and exposure. All seven men aboard the tug, which turned over after placing tow lines to help dock the aircraft carrier Magnificent, were civilians from Halifax area. An early report that the carrier and tug had collided apparently was incorrect.


Star-Phoenix Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada 15 Feb 1957, Fri Page 1 While Towing Magnificent Tug Topples, Sinks; 1 Dead, 1 Missing

HALIFAX (CP)-The navy says one man is dead and another missing and presumed dead following the capsizing of the 80-foot tug Glendyne in Halifax harbor today. Two of five survivors are in hospital suffering shock and exposure. Naval information officers said all seven men aboard the 97-ton navy tug, which turned over after placing tow lines to help dock the aircraft carrier Magnificent, were civilians from the Halifax area.

Missing is cook C. A. Reed. Dead is H. A. Card. In hospital are John Roy Sharpe and Second Engineer William A. Mosher of Halifax. Authorities report their condition as good. Capt. James C. Bennett, deckhand Leslie M. Grandy, and quart ermaster Alfred B. Drake required no hospital attention. They were rescued by other tugs helping dock the Maggie. The Glendyne, one of the navy's larger service tugs, is one of three of her class craft now in service.

There was confusion on the exact cause of the sinking but an early report that the carrier and tug had collided apparently was in correct. One waterfront worker said that when berthing large ships the tugs must always keep proper strain on its tow lines. If this Is not done, the tug can overturn. Six other tug picked up the survivors. The accident occurred opposite the navy's dockyard in Halifax's north end and almost under the Angus L. MacDonald Bridge connecting the city and Dartmouth.

The Magnificent arrived in port about 7:30 a.m. MST probably for the last time, after a rough and tumble trip across the Atlantic. Part of her starboard bow was battered in during the trip but her deck load of 49 Sabre jets escaped without a salt water drenching. About a dozen light floats had been washed overboard by high running seas that destroyed one motor cutter, damaged two others and a steel barge used for in-shore work.

The jets, 49 of them on the deck and 11 in below-deck hangars, were brought here from Glasgow, after service in Europe with the RCAF. They will be taken to an aircraft plant at nearby Eastern Passage. The Magnificent is scheduled to return to the Royal Navy and will be replaced by HMCS Bonaventure, now on trials out of Belfast


Nanaimo Daily News Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada 16 Feb 1957, Sat Page 3 Two Men Dead From Effort To Dock Warship By HUGH DUNLOP Canadian Press Staff Writer HALIFAX

(CP) - The navy one man is dead and another missing and presumed dead following the capsizing of the 80-foot tug Glendyne in Halifax harbor Friday. Two of five survivors are in hospital suffering shock and exposure. Naval information officers said all seven men aboard the 97-ton navy tug, which turned over after placing tow lines to help dock the aircraft carrier Magnificent, were civilians from the Halifax area.

Missing is cook C. A. Reed. Dead is H. A. Card. In hospital are John Roy Sharpe and Second Engineer William A. Mosher of Halifax. Authorities report their condition as good. There was confusion at the scene on the exact cause of the sinking but an early report that the carrier and tug had collided apparently was incorrect.


The Gazette Montreal, Quebec, Quebec, Canada 16 Feb 1957, Sat Page 1

A Canadian Navy diver looks at lifebelts from the tug Glendyne, which sank with the loss of two lives while towing the aircraft carrier Magnificent into Halifax harbor. He is preparing to go overboard to probe the harbor bottom for the sunken vessel.


Star-Phoenix Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada 16 Feb 1957, Sat Page 1 Two Seamen On "Maggie" Lose Lives

HALIFAX (CP) - Small boats searched for a body through the night near the jetty where the aircraft carrier Magnificent berthed Friday on returning to her base here. After battling storm-lashed seas without serious incident for 9,950 miles, the Magnificent was involved in a freak accident which took two lives and sank the naval tug Glendyne.

Dead are Seaman H. S. Card and Cook C. A. Reed, whose body has not yet been recovered. Five of the crew of the 80-foot tug were rescued. Capt. A. B. Fraser-Harris, skipper of the carrier, said the tug swung across the Magnificent's line of tow and was hauled over on it's side. "The Magnificent went into full ahead on both engines to take the weight off the line but the tug did not right," he said.

The Maggie went through three major storms on the tour of duty which took her to Egypt with soldiers and equipment for the United Nations Middle East police force and later to Glasgow to pick up 59 Sabre jet planes to be returned to Canada from NATO duty.


Nanaimo Daily News Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada 21 Feb 1957, Thu Page 8 GLENDYNE RAISED HALIFAX

CP - Naval and civilian divers and the grappling scow Foundation Scarboro brought the 95-ton naval tug Glendyne up 80 feet to the surface of Halifax harbor Tuesday. The unscathed tug was towed to the naval dockyard. Two of the Glendyne's civilian crew died Friday when she capsized at the end of a tow line attached to the aircraft carrier Magnificent.

 

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