Howes, Royce "Quite a Special Occasion"

The exceptionally poignant story of what a new-building convoy escort vessel meant to two Canadians. Set in a Quebec shipyard where an elderly couple are given a VIP tour of the yard and one ship in particular. As described by Howes, the ship was probably a corvette, one of a class “being turned out in numbers by several yards. They are especially designed for convoy work ... By their use the Admiralty hopes to relieve more powerful warships, such as destroyers, for missions of defense” (p. 86). The eldery couple’s son, it turns out, had served on a similar vessel, a vessel which had courageously taken on a German cruiser in February 1941. It had been sunk, and the elderly couple’s son lost, but its action had saved many of the vessels of the convoy.