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Appendix C

This webpage reproduces an appendix in
Esquimalt Naval Base

by
Frederick V. Longstaff

The Victoria Book & Stationery Company, Ltd.
Victoria, B. C. 1941

The text is in the public domain.

This page has been carefully proofread
and I believe it to be free of errors.
If you find a mistake though,
please let me know!

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Appendix E

 p161  Appendix "D"

Hose, Rear-Admiral Walter, C. B. E., R. C. N. (Ret. to date 1st July, 1934). Admiral Hose is the son of the late Bishop of Singapore, being born at sea in the P. & O. steamship Surat in the Indian Ocean. He entered the Britannia in January, 1890, and in January, 1892, as a Cadet went out to join the armoured cruiser Imperieuse, flagship of the China Station; flying the flag of Admiral Sir Edmund Freemantle. Promoted to Midshipman on 15th March, 1892, he was, on change of flagships, transferred to the battle­ship Centurion in March, 1894, in which ship he was present during the Japanese operations against China, including the capture of Wei‑hai‑wei. In March, 1895, Midshipman Hose returned Home and was appointed to the masted third class cruiser Calypso in the old sailing training squadron. In September, 1895, he passed for acting Sub‑Lieut., and did the courses at Greenwich and Portsmouth, and in August, 1896, was appointed to the command of torpedo boat No. 44 for the naval manoeuvres. In the following September, Sub‑Lieut. Hose joined the armoured torpedo ram Polyphemus on the Mediterranean Station. In April, 1897, he joined the destroyer Dragon on the same Station, and was present off the Island of Crete during the Turko-Greek War. He was promoted to Lieut. in December, 1897, and on 3rd of March, 1898, was appointed to the second class cruiser Bonaventure for the China Station. She arrived at Hong Kong in May of the same year and reached Cavite, the day after Admiral Dewey had destroyed the Spanish Squadron. Onº November, 1899, he was appointed to the command of the gunboat Tweed on the West river in China. From 1900 to 1901, the cruiser Bonaventure was stationed in the Yangtse to protect British interests during the Boxer outbreak, and Lieut. Hose received the China medal for the operations. Returning Home in October, 1901, he served in the battle­ship Jupiter of the Channel Squadron for six months, then joined the second class cruiser Charybdis (built 1893) of the North American and West Indies Station as Lieut. in charge of the training of Newfoundland fishermen as R. N. R. seamen, and before the end of the commission had become her First Lieut. In 1904, the Charybdis was sent to the Republic of Venezuela to bring pressure to bear on the President, who had not paid  p162 his debts to British firms and had seized and imprisoned the crew of a British ship. Returning Home in the cruiser in April, 1905, he commissioned the gunboat Ringdove as Lieut.-in‑Command and proceeded to Newfoundland. He had a slow passage to Halifax of 13 days, coal ran short and the gunboat was towed for several days by the second class cruiser Scylla Commander F. A. R. Bowles. At the end of the fishery season in October, 1905, Ringdove returned Home. In October of the same year, Lieut. Hose was appointed to the command of the destroyer Kale, and in January, 1906, posted to the command of the gunboat Redbreast on the East Indies Station. She cruised in the Persian Gulf to prevent gun running from Muscat for the Afghans. She surveyed the pearl fishery beds in the Gulf and the young Captain received the thanks of the Indian Government. He then accompanied Sir Percy Cox, when visiting the Arab tribes at each place of call. On returning Home in 1908, he was appointed to the command of the torpedo gunboat Jason in the Home Fleet. Later in the year, he attended the War Staff Course at the R. N. College, Greenwich, and also a course at the Staff College, Camberley, on combined naval and military operations. He was promoted to the rank of Commander on 31st December, 1908, and in February, 1909, was appointed Second-in‑Command of the new cruiser Cochrane in the Home Fleet.

In June, 1911, Commander Hose was lent by the Admiralty to the Canadian Naval Service for the command of the Canadian Naval Training ship Rainbow, (built in 1891). In February, 1912, he retired from the Navy, to join the Royal Canadian Navy. On 1st January, 1916, he was given the rank of Acting Captain, and in April, 1917, was appointed to Headquarters at Ottawa and thus took up his first shore appointment after 25 years continuously afloat. In August, 1917, he was appointed Captain of Patrols on the Atlantic Coast, and on 19th March, 1918, he was promoted to Captain, R. C. N., and on 1st December, 1918, was posted to Headquarters of Ottawa, for demobilizing the Patrol Service. In March, 1920, he joined Headquarters as Naval Assistant to the Minister, Hon. C. C. Ballantyne, and in July, he was appointed Assistant Director of the Naval Service. In January, 1921, he at last reached the highest post, that of Director of the Naval Service. In August, 1923, he was appointed Commodore, First Class, and in the  p163 following October, he accompanied the Prime Minister, Hon. Mackenzie King, to London to the Imperial Conference, as Naval Adviser.

On 1st July, 1934, Commodore Hose was retired to pension with the rank of Rear-Admiral, R. C. N. (Retired), thus bringing his active service to a close. He is now living in England.​a


Thayer's Note:

a Admiral Hose died in 1965. See the excellent biographical sketch — better than the one you have read on this page because it spells out the significance of his career — at CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum.


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Page updated: 23 Jun 17