HMCS Fortune was a built for the Royal Canadian Navy. Named for Fortune Bay, located in Newfoundland, the vessel served in the Royal Canadian Navy for ten years before being sold for commercial purposes. Renamed MV Edgewater Fortune she saw service as a commercial yacht.
The Bay class were designed and ordered as replacements for the Second World War-era minesweepers that the Royal Canadian Navy operated at the time. Similar to the, they were constructed of wood planking and aluminum framing.[1] [2]
Displacing 390LT and 412LT at deep load, the minesweepers were 152feet long with a beam of 28feet and a draught of 8feet.[1] [2] They had a complement of 38 officers and ratings.[1] [3] The Bay-class minesweepers were powered by two GM 12-cylinder diesel engines driving two shafts creating 2400bhp. This gave the ships a maximum speed of 16kn.[2] The ships were armed with one Bofors 40 mm gun and were equipped with minesweeping gear.[1] [2] [4]
Initially named Belle Isle,[5] Fortune was laid down on 24 April 1952 by Victoria Machinery Depot at Victoria with the yard number 51 and launched on 14 April 1953.[6] [7] The minesweeper was commissioned on 3 November 1954 with the hull identification number 151.[6]
Fortune joined the Second Canadian Minesweeping Squadron after commissioning. In November 1955, the Second Canadian Minesweeping Squadron was among the Canadian units that took part in one of the largest naval exercises since the Second World War off the coast of California.[8]
After nine years of naval service, including acting as the flagship of the Second Canadian Minesweeping Squadron during the Cuban Missile Crisis,[9] Fortune was decommissioned on 28 February 1964.[4] Put up for auction in 1965 by the Crown Assets Corporation,[10] the ship was then sold into mercantile service. She was initially known as Greenpeace Two and used in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the Cannikin nuclear test in the Aleutians in November 1971.[6] [11] The vessel was then refitted as the charter yacht MV Edgewater Fortune[4] [12] and was used for short cruises along the coast of British Columbia. She was also occasionally used for fishing, and for school trips to learn about the wildlife on the coast and in the water. Subsequently, the ship was turned into a 4000ft2 floating home in Vancouver.[13]