conscience sailing phantomlike from
port to port!

What actually happened at last was
that I began to get tangible bits and
pieces of information about the elu-
sive craft from a couple of other
Mounties stationed on the coast before
I finally succeeded in running her to
water.

One of these was Constable Don
Dreaper, a husky young fellow sta-
tioned at Ucluelet, and the other was
Constable Peter Humphrey, at Ze-
ballos. In the case of “Pete”
Humphrey, I got first-hand informa-
tion at last, for he had actually
served on the P.M.L. 16, and spoke
with an affectionate kind of nostalgia
about her. Peter, who—whether he
likes it or not—looks exactly what
every teenage girl in Canada hopes
and dreams a Mountie should look
like, took me to his dapper little home
at Zeballos. And while proudly show-
ing off a wonderful infant, and his
merry-eyed little wife, gave me the
names of the present P.M.L.’s crew,
and some record of the ship herself.

DRUNK CASES

I asked him what sort of crime
he had to cope with now that he
was stationed ashore in this “Gold”
town, and he told me it was mostly
a case of heavy drinking or petty
thieving. Those same offences figure
pretty largely in the records of the
P.M.L. 16 herself. And the records
reflect the precision and accuracy
that governs everything else in this
well-found vessel.

Skipper of the P.M.L. 16 is Ser-
geant Fred Brooksbank, who is a
Master Mariner as well as a master
Mountie. He is a physically power-
ful man, well over six feet in height

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Page Fifty-two

and broad in the correct proportion.
He has a friendlyy smile, and a bold,
vigorous approach to things which
must make him an intensely efficient
officer of the R.C.M.P. as well as a
respected captain of his ship. (Later I
met Fred Brooksbank’s father, a quiet-
mannered elderly gentleman just back
from an extensive tour of his native
England. There was a filial solicitude
and a consideration about the strap-
ping big son’s attitude to his father
that spoke volumes for his under-
standing of the human problems with
which he must deal as skipper of
P.M.L. 16.)

Serving under Fred Brooksbank
are Engineer Tom Gurney, Radio-
Operator Withers, and Bill McVie,
the ship’s cook. Individually they are
experts at their respective jobs; collec-
tively they make a vivid crew with a
remarkable team spirit.

HAS OWN PAIL

And their floating home is as com-
fortable, as well as efficient, as a ship
of the size could hope to be. She
began her career in World War II
as an army craft, with an impressive-
sounding name—the “Brigadier Suth-
erland Brown.” No sooner was the
war ended than she was bought by the
British Columbia Police and rebult
by them for her special service—with
a small “jail” on board, and even a
miniature courtroom (possibly the
smallest court of law in the world:
about four feet by four feet.)

Renamed the P.M.L. 16—a name
which despite its catalogue quality
has acquired a drama and even a
bit of glamour of its own—the virtu-
ally new 50-foot vessel began a strenu-
ous tour of duty. And on duty the
P.M.L. is a world unto itself.

For communication with the out-
side world, often so vitally needed,
there is both radio and a radio tele-
phone. And as far as the speedy an-
swering of police calls is concerned,
the patrol launch has a Vivian en-
gine developing up to 160 horsepower
and delivering a speed of 10 knots.
(She usually cruises at about eight
knots, which saves wear and tear, and
therefore public funds.)

And as if to prove the theory that
a comfortable man is an efficient one,
the four men aboard her are blessed
with a remarkable measure of crea-
ture comfort. They have a hot and
cold shower, a refrigerator, central
heating, and a trim, compact arrange-

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