Monthly Archives: January 2024

Book Launch

What:            Launch event and party for The Wind From All Directions, by Ron Thompson, to be released by military publisher Double Dagger Books

When:           Thursday March 14, evening.

Location:       The Pilot Tavern (Yonge & Cumberland, in Yorkville) in Toronto.

 The Wind From All Directions is set in 1792, during the encounter in Nootka Sound between the RN’s Lieutenant George Vancouver and the Spanish commodore Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. Quadra and Vancouver were sent to the Pacific northwest to resolve the Nootka Crisis, a territorial dispute that had brought their two countries to the brink of war.

OTD – 29 January 1944

28 January 1944     Steward Dirk Van Ooyen, V-8608, and ERA 5th Class Douglas Charles Varney, V-40240, of HMCS STAR were reported missing, presumed killed, when HMCS MAHONE, a Bangor class minesweeper, operating as local escort out of Sydney, Nova Scotia, was rammed by the merchant ship SS Fort Townshend, which was operating from New York to St. John’s, off Louisburg. One man was killed and several others injured. MAHONE underwent four months of repairs in Halifax and returned to service in July.

SS FORT TOWNSHEND, 3,489 Gross Tons, Furness-Withy Red Cross Line
HMCS MAHONE, J159, Bangor Class