Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve : On May 4th 1910, Canada's Navy was created by a parliamentary statute. Cognizant of the Canada's maritime vulnerability, and lacking sufficient vessels to patrol coastal waters and protect trade routes, the Naval Service of Canada commissioned two training vessels-the Apollo-class light cruiser Rainbow (destined for Esquimalt) and the Diadem-class protected cruiser Niobe from the British Royal Navy. After a long journey around Cape Horn in South America, Rainbow, the first ship commissioned, steamed into Esquimalt, British Columbia on November 7th 1910, where she was fêted with a gala reception. Niobe was sent to Halifax to protect the east coast.
Rainbow was operated by nucleus crews from Britain's Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Reserve who instructed Canadian recruits. Captained by Commander Walter Hose, she patrolled the waters of the west coast between 1914 and 1917, extending as far south as Panama. During the years she was stationed at Esquimalt, Rainbow was also used as a training ship for members of the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve (RNCVR). (In July 1914 Rainbow gained some notoriety when she was instructed to escort the Japanese steamer Komagata Maru, the vessel that had transported 400 Indian Sikh passengers to Vancouver, out of Canadian waters.) She was retired from service in 1917.
The RNCVR began in 1913 when a group of individuals from Victoria, British Columbia formed an unofficial naval reserve company. With the support of Sir Richard McBride (the Premier of British Columbia) and Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (the Governor General), Prime Minister Robert Borden authorized the creation of the official Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve in May 1914. The volunteer unit in Victoria became the No. 1 Half Company of the RNCVR, and its members went to war in HMCS Rainbow. The RNCVR was disbanded at the end of the First World War. In January 1923 the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) was established, but, due to the strength of the regular Navy, the Half Company at Esquimalt was not re-established. In the Second World War the naval reserve returned to Victoria, and HMCS Malahat (Esquimalt) served as a recruiting and training centre or both RCNVR and the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS).
