It is hard to imagine that a naval anti-aircraft shell can travel over rooftops in a small seaside community before landing about one mile inland. The residents of Roberts Creek had this experience on Sept. 9, 1958, in peacetime.
One resident said that the whine of the shells was terrifying, reminding her of wartime shelling in Britain. A Beach Avenue resident who was outside gardening said afterward that “a shell whistled so close over my head that I ran for shelter.”
As well, other shells landed in the sea near the beach. A seiner skipper also reported that his vessel was narrowly missed by the shells.
At the time, three Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) destroyer escorts were engaged in gunnery exercises in the area. This included HMCS Skeena, Athabaskan and Cayuga. The RCN said it was “absolutely impossible for shells from a gunnery exercise to have landed at Roberts Creek,” because they were well out of range. The logs of the three vessels were being checked.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) talked to witnesses and stated that they were "quite satisfied shells had landed – one in the bush and two in the sea.” The appearance of the RCMP contradicting the RCN played out in a Vancouver Sun article titled “Mounties, Navy in Cold War.”
While still denying that the incident had happened, the RCN paid for broken windows at the Roberts Creek Centennial Clubhouse. Their letter with the payment ($3) stated that “exceptional atmospheric conditions” could have increased the pressure effects of concussion, breaking the windows. This was reported in the Coast News.
Meanwhile, there was a classic editorial cartoon by Len Norris in the Vancouver Sun. It is set in the RCN Esquimalt Officers' Mess where there are plaques on the wall commemorating the great battles of history – “Battle of Trafalgar,” “Battle of the Atlantic,” etc. The cartoon shows a sailor hanging a new plaque for the “Battle of Roberts Creek.”
Finally, an RCN spokesman said that it was “quite possible” that navy shells landed near the fishing boat, but continued to deny that any of them landed near Roberts Creek.
The residents certainly knew better, and in a verse published in the Oct. 2, 1958 Coast News, J. Monrufet mocked the “official version” by suggesting the shells must have been fired by Russians, gremlins or Martians. “The Navy you say? Oh no! That’s not so. It wasn’t the Navy, cause they told us so.”
Judy Thompson is a volunteer librarian at the Maritime Museum of B.C. in Victoria. She thanks Mike Pearson for providing the impetus for the article and Mike Clement for helping with the research.
