The Matchcover Storyteller

I suspect that “FFE 317” might be an easy way to identify your ship  —  if her name was HMCS Cap de la Madeleine.

She was a River-class frigate that saw service in World War II and again in the Cold War of the 1950s and 60s.

Let’s start with the class; there were 151 River-class frigates built between 1941 and 1944, originally in the UK and named for rivers there.  In Canada they were named for cities and towns.  Originally called “twin-screw corvettes”, the name “frigate” was suggested by a Royal Canadian navy vice-admiral.  It stuck.   As many as 60 were built in Canada; their size meant they had to be constructed on the west coast or in yards on the St. Lawrence River, not in the Great lakes or upriver past the Lachine locks..  The design was to have the endurance qualities of other anti-submarine classes in service, but had to be cheap and quick to build like the famous corvettes of the day.   Overall, the class saw WW II service in 7 Allied navies and then 16 more in the Cold War..

HMCS Cap de la Madeleine was built in Quebec City, launching in late 1944.   She saw service for about one year before her first decommissioning.  In WW II, it was convoy escort; there appears to be little dramatic storytelling for her service so late in the war after Allied navies and air forces had so battered the German U-Boat fleet.  In 1945, she was being” tropicalized” for service in the South Pacific when Japan surrendered and that was cancelled.   Cap de la Madeleine was decommissioned in December 1945.

She was sold, but then re-aquired and re-commissioned in 1954 as a Prestonian-class frigate.  She served without  unusual distinction on the east coast until she was decommissioned again in 1965 and scrapped in Italy the following year.

These 20-strike, front strike matchcovers were produced by Strike-Rite in London, Ontario.  The FFE 317 designation marks these Cold-war covers, as her WW II pennant number was K663, nominally a corvette pennant.

The set pictured here represent 5 of the 7 known covers for HMCS Cap del la Madeleine.   The other two are more traditional with a RCN logo fronting the matchbook.