Honouring the Royal Canadian Navy’s Legacy at 70 Metres
The HMCS Canada Expedition 2025
This December, a Canadian team of technical divers will descend to 70 metres in the Florida Straits to digitally document HMCS Canada—our country’s first purpose-built warship. The expedition coincides with the 115th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy, which the mission proudly honours. Built in 1904 as CGS Canada for the Department of Marine and Fisheries, this armed vessel served both as a fisheries patrol ship and a training platform for naval recruits, even before the RCN was formally established in 1910. Transferred to the Navy in 1915, she became the RCN’s second flagship, escorting wartime convoys and surviving the Halifax Explosion. After the war, she was sold and later converted into the passenger liner Queen of Nassau, which sank in 1926. The wreck now lies upright and remarkably well-preserved in challenging waters marked by strong currents and limited visibility—out of range of recreational divers. The HMCS Canada Expedition 2025 will produce the first high-resolution 3D photogrammetric model of the wreck, in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who will also provide archaeological and ecological analysis. The expedition has been recognized as a Flag Expedition of both the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and The Explorers Club, with financial support from Navigatr Group Inc., the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the Jackman Foundation, Shearwater Research and White’s Drywear. With strong currents and limited visibility often beginning below 30 metres, our team of technical divers will be hot dropped into the water while the dive vessel is still moving, enabling a more accurate drift descent onto the wreck of HMCS Canada.
All results will be made freely available to museums, scientific institutions, universities, schools, media, and the public—honouring the service and sacrifice of those who have served in the Royal Canadian Navy. For more information, visit https:// www.hmcscanadaexpedition.org/ —Joseph Frey, CD, FRCGS
Originally published in Members News, Royal Canadian Military Institute, September-October 2025