Stone naval frigate in central Edmonton trains next generation of sailors

It’s all hands on deck this weekend as Alberta sailors prepare for their annual awards ceremony and the launch of their fall recruitment drive at HMCS Nonsuch.

It’s a job they’ve been doing in landlocked Edmonton since 1923.

“During WWII, centres like Edmonton alone recruited more than 3,500 sailors to go to sea to serve on the East Coast,” said Lt.-Cmdr. Frank van Staalduinen.

Originally located in the old Hudson’s Bay stables in the river valley — now known as the Ortona Armouries — the HMCS Nonsuch has been at 11807 Kingsway Avenue since 1975.

From the outside it looks like a two-storey warehouse, but inside the 10 navy staffers treat it like a ship right down to the lingo they use.

The kitchen is called the galley, the commander hangs out on the second deck’s captain’s cabin and to mark the passing hours they ring the ship’s bell.

It’s all part of bring the landlocked training to life for approximately 60 prairie recruits.

Here they conduct leadership training, computer simulations and sea survival skills in the indoor dive tank.

“But to get into the nuts and bolts of it we do have to send our sailors either to Halifax or Esquimalt to get their full training at the fleet schools,” van Staalduinen said.

That includes bosun Ordinary Seaman Samuel Majid.

“What I enjoy most about the navy is meeting lots of new people and the traveling,” Majid said.

Majid, a fourth-year University of Alberta student, trains alongside other HMCS Nonsuch reservists in the evenings and on weekends.

“We have teachers, lawyers, policemen,” said van Staalduinen, a clinical perfusionist at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, who’s been with the navy for 30 years.

“It started out as just a summer job, but it’s grown to be much more than that,” he said. “It’s a chance to give back to our nation.”

You can see more from HMCS Nonsuch on Our Edmonton Saturday at 10 a.m. and Sunday and Monday at 11 a.m. on CBC TV.

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