Name/Title
HMCS Oriole, at SailEntry/Object ID
2017.07.01Description
Painting
This brightly-painted seascape depicts the two-masted HMCS Oriole sailing in a choppy sea with multiple figures on board, likely on a naval training session. There are forests and snow-covered mountains behind the boat. The front sail is marked NAVY KC-480 and there is a Canadian flag mid-sail at the stern. The location is likely Victoria/Esquimalt with the Canadian Rockies or the U.S. Olympic Mountains in the background.Artwork Details
Medium
Watercolour on paperSubject Place
Region
Pacific NorthwestContinent
North AmericaContext
Oriole was originally launched as Oriole IV on June 4, 1921 as the personal yacht of George Horace Gooderham (1868-1942), an accomplished Canadian businessman (Gooderham and Worts distillery), politician, and also vice-commodore, later commodore, of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) in Toronto in the mid-late 1880s. The sailing ketch, Oriole, served as the RCYC's flagship from 1924 to 1928.
During World War II Oriole was chartered by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) as a training vessel, and moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia and officially commissioned HMCS Oriole on June 19, 1952. In 1954, the navy moved her to CFB Esquimalt to serve as a training vessel to the Naval Officer Training Centre. She remained on Canada's West Coast until 2017 when she sailed south to the Panama Canal, then north back to Halifax, where she joined the navy's Atlantic Fleet in 2018. Oriole remains as the RCN's sail training vessel based at CFB Halifax.Made/Created
Artist Information
Artist
William (Bill) Lorne Brian Hawker (1925-2013). Former UCBC Member ArtistRole
PainterDate made
2009Time Period
21st CenturyNotes
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Born in Portland, Oregon, William (Bill) Lorne Brian Hawker was a talented amateur Canadian artist and an educator, later living and working out of Victoria, B.C. He obtained his BA in education from the University of British Columbia and his Master in Public Administration from the University of Victoria. Hawker worked as a teacher, principal and school superintendent and his career took him to Paris and Germany where he served with Canadian Department of National Defense schools. He taught throughout the province of B.C. and was a superintendent of schools in Northern B.C. and Maple Ridge.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
SignatureLocation
Signed lower right in white : HAWKER 09Dimensions
Dimension Description
Visible imageHeight
30.5 cmWidth
36.8 cm
