Volume Two will be published in July 2023.
This book is available locally from Munro’s Books, Bolen Books, Ivy’s Bookshop, Russell Books, Tanner’s Books and at the Craigdarroch Castle Gift Shop. It is also online at Amazon.
Check it out here.
This book is a sequel to Dutchy’s Diaries, Life as a Canadian Naval Officer, In His Own Words, 1916-1929 that was published in 2020. Once I published that book, the logical question was “what’s next?” I knew there were binders full of material about later duties and set about investigating precisely what we had. I found special editions of books, binders of clippings about Dutchy’s time in the navy, and hundreds of photographs illustrating a complete story of a long naval career. As he rose through the ranks, his staff collected newspaper clippings for him and compiled them into scrapbooks that proved invaluable in documenting events, even if the name of the publication did not always appear. I scanned everything to have working copies and then shipped all the source material to its new home at Library and Archives Canada. I was thrilled that they considered this material to be of national significance. Thus, Dutchy joined his father and brother in the LAC files. The partial journals that gave insight into the day-to-day operation were fun to read. Typewritten notes combined with the Night Order book outlined the journey of HMCS Prince Henry from the Caribbean to Alaska and the stops in between, including a starlet-filled reception at the Beverley Hills Hotel. As in the first book, I corrected minor spelling errors in the two journal sections but did not change anything else. My principle in this regard was minimum intervention to bring Dutchy’s voice to a new audience. His sense of humour shines through these segments and puts a human face on a naval career. In the 1930s, there was not much going on in the naval world, so Dutchy and Dot were able to compete in tennis tournaments at a high level. This brings a whole different aspect to his life story and reinforces the athletic activities that were mentioned frequently in his early journals.
Check it out here.
Dutchy’s Diaries
While sorting through family treasures, we came across these amazing journals, written between 1916 and 1929, which told the first-person story of years of naval service. That they survived the myriad of moves that a naval family makes is a minor miracle. Doubly amazing is the fact that we also found photographs that enhance the text. Now, over a century later, the story of naval service in the early twentieth century can be told—in the words of the journal writer, Commodore John Crispo Inglis Edwards. “Dutchy’s Diaries: Life as a Canadian Naval Officer, in His Own Words: 1916-1929” was soft launched on February 18, 2020, at the Wardroom at CFB Esquimalt. It is available from Bolen Books and Munro’s locally and from the author and is also available on Amazon.
Check out details and the story behind the book, including scans of the original journal pages at https://dutchysdiaries.ca/
The History of Professional Hockey in Victoria B.C.
I have been a fan of professional hockey in Victoria since the 1950s. When it was announced that the Victoria Salmon Kings were being disbanded, I was very upset. It seemed to me that I had been down this road before when the Victoria Maple Leafs left town for Phoenix. At about the same time, I learned of the death of Bill Shvetz who had played defence for the Victoria Maple Leafs. It seemed to me that time was of the essence.
While there have been books written on hockey in BC and the old Western Hockey League, nobody has documented this issue from a strictly Victoria perspective. For this reason, I channelled my disappointment into a positive project. I wrote a detailed history of professional hockey in Victoria, BC. Although I was obviously not born when the Patricks’ team won the Stanley Cup, I have been aware of this for many years. I saw the 1950s era Victoria Cougars as a child and held season tickets for the Maple Leafs and Salmon Kings, so felt I had the expertise to document this overlooked history.
This book is a tribute to the many men who skated on Victoria ice, regardless of the era, as they all were important to the story. A copy of the book is now housed in the D.K. “Doc” Seaman Hockey Resource Centre,” the home of the National Hockey League’s Hall of Fame artifact and archival collection.
Check out the entire story at https://professionalhockeyinvictoria.ca/
It is available from Bolen Books and Munro’s locally and from the author. It is also available on Amazon.
Upcoming books:
The Heritage Detective, Volume Two. To be published in June 2023. This is the second volume of a compilation of articles I have written over the last 40 years, with additional information to bring the story up to date. Also included are houses that I found interesting and wanted to discover their history.
A Lifetime as a Volunteer and Activist. To be published in 2025. This is a memoir of my long life, focusing on my volunteer activities and activism.