This commemorative volume produced on the occasion of the centennial of the Canadian Navy, 1910-2010, records a special kind of dual citizenship: Canadians exercising the profession of the sea in their nation’s service, while also living out the demands of their civilian occupations in their home communities. The perspectives of the part-time citizen-sailors who have made up Canada’s Naval Reserve over the past century provide an interesting, valuable, and timely alternative history of the Canadian Navy.

Most of the contributors to this volume have served in Canada’s Naval Reserve, and all are respected authorities in their fields. Whether read on its own, or as the intended companion to The Naval Service of Canada, 1910-2010: The Centennial Story, readers will find much to delight and inform in this lavish combination of text, photos, and illustrations of the people, ships, and aircraft that have formed a proud national institution.

Richard H. Gimblett is command historian of the Canadian Navy and past president of the Canadian Nautical Research Society. A former serving officer, he is a contributor to volume 1 of the official history of the Royal Canadian Navy (1867-1939), and edited and contributed to The Naval Service of Canada, 1910-2010: The Centennial Story. He lives in Ottawa.

Richard H. Gimblett's profile page

Michael L. Hadley is an award-winning writer, scholar, yachtsman, retired naval officer, international traveller, and lecturer. He is the author and editor of several books on naval and maritime history, including Spindrift: A Canadian Book of the Sea (co-edited with Anita Hadley) and Citizen Sailors: Chronicles of Canada’s Naval Reserve, 1910–2010 (co-edited with Richard H. Gimlett), and his work has won such prestigious awards as the John Lyman Prize of the North American Society for Oceanic History and the Keith Matthews Award of the Canadian Nautical Research Society. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Michael L. Hadley's profile page

This is a highly recommended volume.

Esprit de Corps

Doctors Gimblett and Hadley have done an admirable job in putting together this book, a worthy companion to the Centennial Story, and a book that should be on everyone's list that has an interest Canada's history and her navy.

Canadian Military Journal

This beautiful hard-cover book is filled with interesting photos and intriguing stories. The perspectives from Canada's Naval Reserve over the past century add an important dimension to the history of the Canadian Navy.

Frontline Defence

For any one associated with the Canadian Navy Reserve, This book will provide a wonderful over view.

Robert Williamson

From my vantage point, after thirty years in the naval reserve and another twenty as a naval historian, I found there were vignettes of information and connected themes that were an eye-opener.

Starshell, National Magazine of the Naval Officers Association of Canada