16" x 20" acrylic on stretched canvas, finished edges, ready to hang - 2006

Artist Notes: I love to sail! I started off as a boy of 11 years old in Sea Scouts in Bronte (now part of Oakville).  So whenever I get the chance I enjoy watching the yachts sailing out on Lake Ontario, Lake Erie or Lake Huron.  This seen is at Bronte Harbour, at the outer harbour breakwater, with a sailboat catching a stiff breeze as she has her genoa and mainsail set, heading out for an afternoon on the lake.

16" x 20" acrylic on stretched canvas, finished edges, ready to hang - 2002

Artist Notes: Canada's navy expanded rapidly during the Second World War, adding all sorts of ships and vessel types.  It grew from 3,000 men and 13 ships in 1939 to over 100,000 men and over 300 ships by 1945.  It ended the war as the third largest Allied navy in the world, after the US and UK.  The vessel pictured her is a motor torpedo boat, specifically one known as a Fairmile D.  Canadians crewed dozens of these in the Mediterranean and North Seas.  Canadians were instrumental in developing hit and run tactics for fast attack craft. The Canadians were known as the Pirates of the Adriatic - the sea between Croatia and Italy, where these little ships fought high-speed gun and torpedo battles against their Nazi counterparts.  They were made of wood and had little armour protection.  Aviation type fuel was highly flammable, and dozens were killed in the MTB flotillas.

16" x 20" acrylic on canvas board, unframed - 2009

Artist Notes: Canada and the United States may be buddy-buddy now, but that was not always the case.  Numerous times the US government eyed the Canada provinces hungrily.  The last invasions and battles by official US forces (there were others in 1838 and 1866) took place during the War of 1812-15.  The initially small British regular forces and Canadian militia (citizen soldiers) held back the larger but poorly trained and led Yankee forces.  By 1814 the Americans had replaced old tired leaders with young trained ones and things got serious. Fortunately Napoleon was defeated in Europe and a flood of British reinforcements arrived that year.  The British and Canadians seized more lands of their opponents but as Napoleon escaped and resumed the European wars, the British settled for peace, with both sides giving back any gains.

The naval war was largely one of a shipbuilding race, with first one side then the other having the upper hand. On Lake Erie the British naval commander was pushed into an early battle he wasn't ready for - he lost.

Prior to that battle, this ship - HMS Lady Prevost, and armed schooner of 14 guns - was engaged in this action on the lake against two smaller Yankee armed schooners.  The outcome was inconclusive.  Lady Prevost surrendered after being badly shot up in the Battle of Put In Bay in August of 1813.

16" x 20" acrylic on canvas sheet, unframed, unmatted - 1993

Artist Notes: Here we have three anti-aircraft gunners operating a 40mm gun aboard a Canadian warship in the Persian Gulf in 1990-91.  Canada joined the Coalition to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after he invaded Kuwait. Two-dozen countries participated and Iraqi military and naval forces were soon disabled.  But attacks on Allied warships in the gulf did take place.  These guns were ironically taken out of storage and quickly refurbished and fitted onto the Canadian warships sent to the war zone. They were last used in the 1960s aboard Canada's last aircraft carrier, HMCS BONAVENTURE.  They have a range of about 2 nautical miles and a rate of fire of 80 rounds per minute.   The gunners are seen in their anti-flash gear to protect their skin from flash burns.

16" x 20" acrylic on stretched canvas, framed - 2000

Artist Notes: This canvas shows a lovely old schooner, the Empire Sandy, sailing out past the Toronto Islands and Gibraltar Point.  The ship is a mainstay of the city's sail charter squadron and a treat to visit.  On this day the weather was overcast, and the annual Toronto International Airshow was cancelled, leaving little to admire save for the Empire Sandy.

8" x 12" acrylic on canvas board, unframed - 2002

Artist Notes: This ship is one of the warships built later in the Second World War. It is an Algerine-class ocean minesweeper, HMCS MIDDLESEX. She served largely as an escort to convoys between Canada and Britain and then also after the war for a number of years.  The Algerines were a vast improvement over the Bangor-class minesweepers, which were plentiful in the RCN during the war but which suffered from shortcomings, such as a shorter range, insufficient crew accommodations, and lighter armament. They were meant for coastal work, whereas the Algerines were meant to sail the oceans.

16" x 20" acrylic on canvas board, unframed - 1993

Artist Notes: The Canadian Navy of 1939 was small - 13 ships and barely 3,000 men.  It was to grow rapidly in the next five years.  But in the early years ships like these pre-war destroyers Skeena and Saguenay would be heavily relied upon to escort dozens of convoys carrying troops, food, raw materials, ammunition, fuel and more to help keep Britain from falling into the clutches of Hitler.  Skeena would end up being wrecked on the rocks of Iceland after a storm sent the ship inshore. Saguenay ended up as a training ship by 1944.  They were replaced by bigger and better destroyers in their convoy escort role.

16"x 20" acrylic on canvas sheet, framed - 1992

Artist Notes: This is an aerial view of the lead ship of the Halifax-class of patrol frigates in 1998.  It  is from an artist rendering and the actual ship was slightly different. The Cormorant helicopter shown was never bought for these ships after all.