72nd Regiment, Seaforth Highlanders of Canada engaged in Aid to Civil Powers for the Coal Miners' Strike on Vancouver Island, Nanaimo,1913 - 1914. Seaforths posing on the bow of the S.S. Princess Patricia on their voyage from Vancouver to Vancouver Island during the miner's strike, 1913-14. The 72nd Regiment initially landed in Union Bat and took a train to Cumberland to take up positions. Bernard Lunn is in the lower left corner. From "The Seaforths & the Strikers": "At 2:15 p.m. on Thursday, 14th August, 1913, instructions were received from the D.O.C., M.D. No. 11 for the 72nd Regiment to proceed to Cumberland, V.I. on Strike Duty ... The Regiment paraded as ordered and left Vancouver by S.S. "Princess Patricia" at midnight. The Regiment had a rather mixed reception in marching through the streets, a good deal of hostility being shown by a section of the crowd, but it may be noted that there was no sign of this on the return. A guard of 1 Sergeant and 5 Men was left at Headquarters, and 20 Officers and 167 other ranks embarked. Including the detachments leaving Vancouver on the two following days and other details, 256 men in all were on duty, but the greatest strength actually mobilised at any one time was about 230. The whole force proceeding to Cumberland was under the command of Major J. S. Tait, 72nd Regt. and the Adjutant was Capt. W. Rae 72nd Regt. The machine gun of the 72 nd Regt. was taken along, but no blankets or equipment of any kind except the men's Kit Bags and 12,000 rounds of ammunition of which 20 rounds per man was issued prior to embarkation. A similar supply was carried by the 6th Regt. The S.S. "Patricia" not being fitted with sleeping accommodation, all ranks had to sleep in the saloons and passage-ways, the Officers being given the dining saloon. Union Bay was reached about 5 a.m. on the 15th and after some delay a train was procured to carry the force to Cumberland, which was reached about 7 a.m. Arms were piled on the football ground and sentries posted, and then enquiries were made as to suitable billeting accommodation." S.S. Princess Patricia (1): In 1902 the ex-Queen Alexandra (1) was purchased in 1910 from J. Williamson's Turbine Steamers Ltd. She was renamed the S.S. Princess Patricia after the Governor-General's daughter, Princess Patricia. The ship was laid up in 1932 and scrapped in 1937. On 11 May 1912, the Canadian Pacific Railway's (CPR) Princess Patricia made its inaugural trip between Nanaimo and Vancouver in two hours. The Princess fleet was an eponym for the coastal vessels of the CPR in the first half of the 20th Century. The names of these small ocean liners began with the title "Princess." The CPR princesses were a coastal counterpart to CPR's "Empress" fleet of passenger liners which sailed on trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic routes. During the Miner's Strike of 1912-14, the Princess Patricia ferried troops and supplies from Vancouver to the various ports on Vancouver Island. The Vancouver Island Coal Strike began on 16 Sept. 1912 when miners at Cumberland declared a "holiday" to protest the firing of Oscar Mottishaw. Canadian Collieries locked them out and hired Chinese and strike breakers. The issues were safety (gas explosions had killed hundreds) and union recognition. Other employers followed the pattern in resisting any union. By spring 1913, 3,500 miners from Vancouver Island were off work with the United Mine Workers of America providing leadership and strike pay. In the summer of 1912, the Vancouver and Nanaimo Coal Co., settled with its employees, but not before rioting, arsons and "shoot-outs" had broken out in all the coal towns. Peace was restored when the BC government sent in 1,000 militiamen. The withdrawal of strike pay in the summer of 1914 and the beginning of WW I ended the confrontation. By then the mines were running at almost pre-strike capacity using newly hired labour.