Long referred to as the ‘demon’ rum it has nevertheless been used for hundreds of years to discourage the ravages of cold, wet, lack of sleep and depression along with most other maladies faced by serving men. Rum rose to prominence because it did not ‘turn’ or ‘go off’ as beer and wine did. Our Facebook entry regarding the location of the rum stores aboard HMCS Ojibwa jogged the memory of Jim ‘Lucky’ Gordon – and helps us understand the nickname ‘Lucky’.

It has been tradition, for centuries, to baptize children using the ship’s bell as the baptismal font. The child’s name was usually engraved somewhere on the bell, usually inside the mouth. Canadian submarines have maintained that tradition.

During the baptismal ceremony, the bell is inverted in its box and filled with water used for the blessing. On completion of the baptism, the water is ceremoniously poured over the side. That ritual is marked by piping the still and the carry on with a bos’n’s call.

To the average person, the chain dangling from the top looks like just any ordinary chain, but you will notice that every second link is enclosed in a rubber ball. A normal chain used for a chain block arrangement is extremely noisy, but by having a rubber “ball” at every second link, it makes the chain block totally quiet, therefore allowing you to carry on with the shifting of torpedoes even in a “quiet” state. 

                                                                                  Gilles Poirier

One of the assigned tasks aboard HMCS Ojibwa was that of Messman. Unlike her siblings, Onondaga and Okanagan, there was no dedicated cafeteria-like space on Ojibwa. Submariners ate in their Mess where they also slept or spent their spare time. To complicate things further, the galley was located in a very small space just aft of the Control Room removed from the Mess areas of the boat. To accommodate the restricted space of the galley, each Mess area had a sink where the dishes could be washed before returning the plates to the galley and the utensils to a drawer near the sink. The only dishes washed in the Galley were those used to produce the meals.

One time while snorting in rough weather continually drawing full vacuums and then immediately breaking the vacuum when the swell went by, I was suffering from a cold with bad nasal congestion. I had a hard time clearing my ears, something I normally did naturally like most everyone else even in our sleep. I woke up suddenly one time in pain with tremendous pressure, "or was it vacuum", on my ears. I didn't know whether to suck or blow. So I gripped my nose and gave it my best blow.