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A Royal Canadian Navy Historical Project
They made the Ultimate Sacrifice
VINNICOMBE, James, CPO, Bos'n, VR5725, RNCVR, MPK - 30 Oct 1918, HMCS GALIANO - Son of James and Elizabeth Adelaide Vinicombe, of Bermondsey, London, England. Husband of Mary Ellen Vinicombe, of Victoria, BC.
James Vinnicombe enlisted on 10 Dec 1917. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal
On 29 Oct 1918 the GALIANO was sent with supplies to the light house at Triangle Island off Cape Scott at the northwestern tip of Vancouver Island. A number of her regular crew were unable to make the trip due to illness as the 1918 flu pandemic had reached her base at Esquimalt. She set out towards the Queen Charlotte Islands from Triangle Island at 5 pm on Oct 29th. When she made her only distress call at 3 am the next morning, she was estimated to be within visual range of the light at Cape St. James 95 miles from Triangle Island. She was never heard from again and went down with the loss of all hands.
Ships served in:
Chief Petty Officer James Vinicombe
Chief Petty Officer James Vinnicombe, HMCS GALIANO's boatswain, was among those who perished when the ship sank in an October 1918 storm. A handwritten caption identifies Vinicombe as "the bos'un". As boatswain (a word spelled in a wide variety of ways including "bosun"), he was responsible for GALIANO's rigging, cables, anchors, and deck crew. The 53-year-old Vinicombe, likely photographed aboard the GALIANO, was one of 40 lost when the ship sank off the British Columbia coast. Like the majority of the crew, he was a resident of British Columbia, although he had been born in London, England.
Source: Canada War Museum Credit: VRP992.84.57 CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum
First World War Casualty Index - RCN
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For Posterity's Sake 
