Escort Maintenance Ship HMCS CAPE SCOTT (ARE 101)

It was the summer of '69. Sorry, no six string bought at a "5 & Dime", but I was standing along the rail of the high masted Argentine sailing vessel ARA LIBERSTAD at HMC docks and saw an Annapolis class helicopter destroyer moored next to HMCS CAPE SCOTT (ARE 101). The oiler was built in North Vancouver at Burrard shipyards in 1944 for the Britain's Royal Navy and named HMS BEACHY HEAD. She saw wartime action near the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and when the Second World War ended, she was loaned to the Royal Dutch Navy in 1947. She was returned to the RN in 1949  and then sold three years later to the Royal Canadian Navy. The CAPE SCOTT served as a fleet replenishment oiler and alongside repair depot until she was decommissioned in 1975. She was sold for scrap and towed to Texas for dismantling in 1978. Meanwhile, her sisters ship, HMCS CAPE BRETON (ARE 100) was used as support and accommodations vessel at CFB Esquimalt until 1993. Later she was sunk as an artificial reef near Nanaimo, BC in 2001.

Photographer unknown from: http://www.forposterityssake.ca/Navy/HMCS_CAPE_SCOTT_101.htm