Tin Hats, Seaboots & Oilskins tells the story of the wartime naval career of one of Nova Scotia's favourite author/artists. Latham B. Jenson was born in Calgary in 1921. Preoccupied with the desire to go to sea, he became a sea cadet at HMS Undaunted in Calgary, and in 1938 joined the Royal Canadian Navy as an officer cadet, training with the Royal Navy in Britain until 1941. His wartime service began on HMS Renown in the South Atlantic searching for the Graf Spee and off Norway engaging the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. He lost all his possessions when Renown was damaged by shellfire. He continued in the Norwegian campaign in HMS Matabele, then went to HMS Hood, leaving that ship weeks before she was sunk with all hands in battle with the Bismarck. Returning to Canada in late 1941, he was appointed to HMCS Ottawa. A year later she was sunk with great loss of life in a battle with German submarines. Surviving this, he joined HMCS Niagara as executive officer on convoy protection in the northwest Atlantic. In later 1943 he briefly commanded HMCS Long Branch before going on in early 1944 to HMCS Algonquin as executive officer, taking part in attacks on German ships, including the Tirpitz, and being one of the first ships to open fire on the shore defences in the invasion of Normandy. Algonquin completed the war raiding German shipping and escorting Allied convoys to Murmansk. The book is illustrated with Jenson's luminous line drawings, as well as sketches and diagrams illustrating naval operations, uniforms and insignia. His book is a valuable picture not only of how ships fought the battles of the Atlantic, but of the life on board, where men had to live under difficult conditions for weeks or months on end, all seen through the eyes of an energetic and engaging young Canadian officer. |
The AuthorAfter the war and the stirring events described above, L. B. "Yogi" Jenson served on shore at the Naval College, Royal Roads, at HMCS Stadacona, at the NATO Defence College in Paris and in naval intelligence, and at sea on HMCS Cayuga, and later in command of HMCSs Crusader, Micmac and Fort Erie and of the 7th Escort Squadron. After retiring from the RCN, Commander Jenson settled in Nova Scotia and returned to his interest in pen and ink drawing, illustrating a number of much-loved books, including Vanishing Halifax, Nova Scotia Sketchbook, Fishermen of Nova Scotia and Saga of the Great Fishing Schooners. As vice president of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, he took part in a successful campaign to stop the demolition of historic waterfront buildings in Halifax and then prepared conceptual drawings for the developers of the restored waterfront. He was a member of the board of governors of the first Schooner Bluenose Foundation. He served for more than 22 years on the board of the Nova Scotia Museum and more recently as chairman of the advisory council of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. In this capacity he instigated the acquisition of HMCS Sackville, the last corvette remaining from the Second World War, and its restoration to its wartime configuration as a memorial to those who fought and won the Battle of the Atlantic. |