George Douglas Stanley Bate and the Lost Ship, the Galiano George Douglas Stanley Bate Born: March 13, 1895, Nanaimo BC Died: October 30, 1918, lost at sea Doug's family (group sheet) My Great-Uncle Doug enlisted in the navy on April 18, 1918, at age 23, during WW1. He served as Ship's Cook, 3rd Class., Esquimalt BC, (Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve). His ship, the auxiliary patrol vessel, "Galiano", was lost at sea will all hands aboard on Oct. 30, 1918. It had foundered in heavy seas off the Queen Charlotte Islands, and sailed into oblivion. There are many pictures of Doug in my grandmother's photo album. He is so full of life that he almost leaps from the pages. He appears happy-go-lucky, surrounded by friends, and often clowning for the camera. Although I never had the chance to meet him, he has captured my imagination, and inspired me to investigate and record his fate, and that of his shipmates on the Galiano. Before the War, Doug learned candy making as a trade in Nanaimo. He worked at job making candy in New Westminster. He was also an amateur actor, and was director of the New Westminster Dramatic Society. After Doug's death, his mother (Edna Bate) received: Memorial Cross, May 8, 1920 Victory medal, British War Medal (Nov. 1923) Memorial Plaque and Scroll (Nov. 1923) The Dept. of National Defence was unable to locate his mother to issue a Memorial Register in 1932. The men of the Galiano are commemorated by the VICTORIA MEMORIAL Situated in Ross Bay Cemetery in the City of Victoria on Vancouver Island, the Victoria Memorial takes the form of a square block of granite erected in front of the Cross of Sacrifice in the War Graves Plot. The memorial bears the names of 39 officers and men who were lost or buried at sea in the Pacific Ocean, 36 of whom were from the HMCS Galiano which went down on 30 October 1918. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has a wonderful website where it is possible to look up personal and service details and places of commemoration for the 1.7 million members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First or Second World Wars. The following is the entry for Doug Bate: George D S Bate Ship's Cook VR/6117 H.M.C.S. "Galiano.", Royal Naval Canadian Vol. Reserve who died on Wednesday, 30th October 1918. Doug's name, and that of several other Galiano crew are also listed on the Honour Roll, Nanaimo Cenotaph, located near St. Paul's Anglican Church. Crew of the Galiano Extracted from the Book of Remembrance Aird, James, A.B. (Able Seaman) Aitken, Peter, A.B. (Able Seaman) Bate, George Douglas, Sh. Cook 3 (Ship's Cook 3rd Class) Bentley, William James, L.S. (Leading Seaman) Dobbyn, Matthew, Sto. 1 (Stoker 1st Class) Ebbs, Wilfred Arthur, A.B. (Able Seaman) Edmonds, Peter Whitton, E.R.A. 4 (Engine Room Artificer) Gilbert, Joseph, Bos'n (Boatswain) Greenshieds, Frank, C. Art E. (Chief Artificer Engineer) Hanbury, Charles Lambert, E.R.A.2 (Engine Room Artificer) Hume, Arthur Edward, Sto 1 (Stoker 1st Class) Jewkes, Arthur Lawson, A.B. (Able Seaman) Jones, Alan Owen, A.B. (Able Seaman) Kancen, Thomas Freer, L. Sto (Leading Stoker) King, William Jones, A.B. (Able Seaman) MacLean, Neil, L.S. (Leading Seaman) McGuffin, Hudson, Ord (Ordinary Seaman) McLeod, Roderick, Boy Mercer, Harald, E.R.A. 4 (Engine Room Artificer) Munro, Alexander Eric Paul, L.S. (Leading Seaman) Musty, George Henry, Sto 1 (Stoker 1st Class) Neary, Michael John, WTO (Wireless Telegraphy Operator), Victoria BC Newton, Roy Ernest, Boy Ordano, Austin Rodolphe, A.B. (Able Seaman) Peters, Frederick George, Boy Poere, Edward Christopher, L.S. (Leading Seaman) Pope, Robert Mayes, Lieut (Lieutenant) Commander Price, Noel George, L. Sto (Leading Stoker) Reeves, Alfred James, Sh. Cook 1. (Ship's Cook 1st Class), Victoria BC Stafford, William John, A.B. (Able Seaman) Stirrup, Harold, Sto 2 (Stoker 2nd Class) Tabone, Michael, V.P.O. (Victualling Petty Officer) Theriault, William Garfield, Sto 2 (Stoker 2nd Class) Vinnicombe, James, C.P.O. (Chief Petty Officer) Wallace, William, Boy Watson, Philip Alexander, E.R.A. 2 (Engine Room Artificer) Whitworth, Frederick, L.Sto (Leading Stoker) Williamson, George, V.P.O. (Victualling Petty Officer) Young, John, Sto 1 (Stoker 1st Class) Doug Bate and friend Arthur E. Hume on board the Galiano See a news clipping about Doug and Arthur Galiano Articles from the Nanaimo Free Press: October 30, 1918 Feared Steamer "Galiano" Has Gone Down Victoria, Oct. 30 -- Naval authorities today received word regarding the Dominion government steamer, Galiano, which gives rise to apprehension for her safety. The Galiano is in the lighthouse service enroute from Triangle Island to Ikeda, Queen Charlotte Islands. Last night a message calling for help was picked up from Galiano by government wireless. The message said that the vessel was taking water into her hold very rapidly. No further word has been received from her. The Galiano had a crew of thirty men. October 31, 1918 Vessels Have Gone to Galiano's Rescue Victoria Oct. 30 -- A number of vessels are hurrying to the waters in the vicinity of Cape St. James, Queen Charlotte Islands to search for the Canadian Naval Patrol steamer Galiano, which at 3 a.m. today sent out S.O.S. signals reporting her holds were full of water and she needed help. Little hope is entertained that she escaped foundering. The whaling steamer Grey left Ikeda at 8 p.m., the U.S. tug Tatoosh, which was at Swanson Bay, where she had towed the Barge Acapulco, is also on her way and the G.T.P. tug Lorne has left Prince Rupert to take part in the search. The steamer Galiano left Triangle Island at 5 p.m. yesterday on her way to Ikeda. By 3 a.m. today she would have been in the vicinity of Cape St. James and was within the arc of the light thrown by the lighthouse there when her S.O.S. signals were sent out. The distance from Triangle to Cape St. James is 95 miles and the Galiano steams tem or twelve knots and would have had a following sea in the heavy south-west gale that was raging. It is surmised here by those who know the waters lying between Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlottes that a heavy sea came in over the after part of the Galiano, and possibly broke in the engine room door, flooding her holds. At the time the wireless message was sent out Operator Neary was using a powerful set of dynamos in the engine room. The vessel also has emergency wireless equipment of storage batteries on the deck which was probably out of commission at the time. The fact that no further messages have been received might indicate her aerial was carried away and that it was impossible to make repairs in such a heavy sea, or else that the engine room became so badly flooded that the dynamos were put out of commission. From the direction in which the Galiano was being driven by the gale if she escaped foundering she would bring up on the coast of the south-western extremity of Moresby Island. With her holds full of water in such a sea little hope is held out that she is safe. ....(list of crew).... When the Galiano left here for the west coast she did not carry her entire original complement, a number of men falling victims to the influenza epidemic. The P. Aitken referred to in the above dispatch is Peter Aitken of Nanaimo, son of Mrs. Robert Gillard and brother of Messrs. Thomas and John Aitken of this city. He was not a regular member of the Galiano's crew, but substituted on the trip for one of the crew who was stricken with influenza. The G.S. Bate referred to is Douglas G.S. Bate, grandson of Mark Bate, sr., and brother of Herb. Bate of this city, who formerly worked with Clarke the confectioner, and was a steward on the vessel. Little Hope of the Galiano Victoria, Oct. 31. -- The following official statement concerning the Galiano was given out by the naval authorities here at noon today. Whalers have searched on each side of, and ten miles to the southward of Cape St. James and have returned, having seen no sign. The Galiano left Triangle at 4:45 p.m. on the 29th, having 92 miles to run to Cape St. James. It is assumed that she proceeded at about six knots an hour in order to make Cape St. James by daylight. By 3:20 a.m., on the 30th, the set towards W.N.W. by experience of local navigators, would put the ship in the vicinity of outlying rocks off Cape St. James, and therefore it is considered probable that she struck and foundered in deep water. The possibility of the vessel foundering without striking is considered very remote by the commanding officer of the Malaspina, who is the most competent judge of the behaviour of these vessels. Whalers and the tug Tatoosh have renewed their search today, the Tatoosh running supposed course of the Galiano from Cape St. James 20 miles south east. November 1, 1918 The Galiano Loss Strikes Four of Nanaimo's Homes Four Men from Nanaimo and One from South Wellington, it is Feared Went Down Practically all hope for the safety of the Naval Patrol steamer Galiano and her complement of officers and men has been abandoned. One body, that of W. Ebb, one of the crew of the Canadian Naval Patrol steamer Galiano, has been found floating in the vicinity of Cape St. James by a trawler from Prince Rupert, which has been engaged in the search. The skylight of the Galiano has also been picked up. The body of Ebb was identified by marks on his clothing. Four Nanaimo men and one from South Wellington left port on board the ill-fated vessel. Frank Greenshields, who was chief engineer of the Galiano, was the brother-in-law of Mr. J.M. Greenshields, of this Townsite, and took the position of second engineer in the fall of 1913, succeeding Mr. Macfarlane, who brought the vessel out from Dublin the preceeding spring. John Young stoker, son of Isabel Young, Commercial street, brother of Mrs. George Morgan, Albert street, and Mrs. James Miller, Irwin street. Peter Aitken, able seaman, son of Mrs. Robert Gillard, 557 Kennedy st., and brother of Messrs. Thomas and James Aitken. Douglas S. Bate, steward, grandson of Mark Bate, senr., and brother of Herb. Bate. Matthew Dobbyn, stoker, son of Mrs. Elizabeth Dobbyn, South Wellington. November 2, 1918 Loss of the Galiano Has Been Confirmed The Naval Authorities Now Concede That This Patrol Vessel Has Been Lost With All Hands. The Department of Naval Service has officially announced that the auxilliary patrol steamer Galiano was lost with all hands on Wednesday, October 30th, off Cape St. James, in a southwest gale. More Galiano Stories and biographies of the Crew from Victoria's The Daily Colonist SS Galiano ashore at Royal Roads Lagoon, ca. 1916. B.C. Archives photo, call number B-03998. Galiano stats (courtesy Sandy McClearn, U.S. Naval Shipbuilding Museum) Displacement: 393 Dimensions: 162 X 27 X 13 feet Speed: 11 Crew: 33 Launched: 1913 Commissioned: 15/12/17 Do you have any information on the Galiano or her crew? If so, please contact me. Back to main page This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page Background by Windy