Like the builders of the Avro Arrow, the pioneers of hydrofoils are celebrated in this book for their world-class accomplishments.When Alexander Graham Bell was experimenting with flying machines, he developed hydrofoils as a means of getting airborne from water. In 1919, on the Bras d'Or lakes in Cape Breton, Bell and his collaborator Casey Baldwin broke a world speed record when their prototype HD-4 skimmed across the waves at 61.5 knots.Fifty years later, the Canadian navy set a record for the fastest speed of any warship with their hydrofoil craft, HMCS Bras d'Or.In Fastest in the World, John Boileau tells the story of the naval architects and engineers, excited by the prospect of developing high-speed submarine chasers, who built this world-class vessel.This book examines how, just when Canada was on the brink of taking a unique role in anti-submarine warfare, the government withdrew support for the Bras d'Or. The orphaned vessel is now on view at the Maritime Museum of Quebec at l'Islet near Quebec City.

Fastest in the World: The Saga of Canada's Revolutionary Hydrofoils (Formac Illustrated History)

History

BOILEAU, JOHN

Americas

Formac Publishing Ltd.

The untold chapter of reluctant enemies caught up in a continental war When the US declared war on Great Britain in 1812, the Canadian colonies found themselves committed to armed conflict with their American neighbours. While Upper and Lower Canada became the main battlegrounds, Nova Scotia was reluctant to disrupt its lucrative trade with New England and immediately established a truce so that commerce could continue to flow freely. In this book author John Boileau explores many aspects of the involvement of Nova Scotia in the War of 1812. He recounts many of the famous privateering and naval escapades up and down the coast, including the most famous prize, USS Chesapeake, which was captured by the Royal Navy and brought into Halifax Harbour. Halifax was also the site of the military prison where, over the course of the war, 10,000 men endured overcrowded and unhealthy living conditions. In May 2005 a ceremony will take place in Halifax to memorialize the 200 American prisoners who died in Melville Island prison. During the war many escaped slaves found passage to Nova Scotia. This book reveals that instead of peace and prosperity the refugees found prejudice, hardship and smallpox. This book sets out the history of a war whose spoils helped to establish Dalhousie College (now Dalhousie University) and the Cambridge Military Library (Halifax).

Half-Hearted Enemies: Nova Scotia, New England and the War of 1812

An illustrated biography of a Canadian who sparked a world transportation revolution In North America, the name Cunard is synonymous with shipping. This book traces the entrepreneurial rise of Samuel Cunard who, for decades, ruled a shipping empire on the North Atlantic. By the time Cunard died in 1865, he had witnessed the emergence of steamships, developed trade links with China and helped establish the Quebec and Halifax Steam Navigation Company. He was a director of the Bank of British North America and bought huge tracts of land in PEI. He won the transatlantic mail service contract between Britain and North America, and built several of the most luxurious steamships of the day. His ships helped Britain in the Crimean War and he became Sir Samuel Cunard for his support of the war effort. The Cunard line which he founded was long a major force in the development of international travel. This book combines the Cunard story with 150+ colour and black and white visuals covering Cunard's life and the subsequent history of his company. A fascinating and readable account of the brilliance and determination of one man who played an innovative role in world transportation history.

Samuel Cunard: Nova Scotia's Master of the North Atlantic (Formac Illustrated History)

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Formac

Between 15,000 and 20,000 underage youths, some as young as ten, signed up to fight in Canada's armed forces in the First World War. They served in the trenches alongside their elders, and fought in all the major battles: Ypres, the Somme, Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge, and the rest. Many were injured or suffered psychological wounds. Many died. This is the first book to tell their story. Some boys joined up to escape unhappy homes and workplaces. Others went with their parents' blessing, carrying letters from fathers and mothers asking the recruiters to take their eager sons. The romantic notion of a short, victorious campaign was wiped out the second these boys arrived on the Western Front. The authors, who narrate the fighting with both military professionalism and humanity, portray many boys who, in the heat of battle, made a seamless transition from follower to leader to hero. Authors Dan Black and John Boileau combed the archives and collections to bring these stories to life. Passages from letters the boy soldiers wrote home reveal the range of emotions and experiences they underwent, from the humorous to the unspeakably horrible. Their parents' letters touch us with their concern, love, uncertainty, and often, grief. Meticulously researched and abundantly illustrated with photographs, paintings, and a collection of specially commissioned maps, Old Enough to Fight is Canadian military and social history at its most fascinating.

Old Enough to Fight: Canada's Boy Soldiers in the First World War

Black, Dan

Lorimer

Between 15,000 and 20,000 underage youths, some as young as ten, signed up to fight in Canada's armed forces in the First World War. They served in the trenches alongside their elders, and fought in all the major battles: Ypres, the Somme, Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge, and the rest. Many were injured or suffered psychological wounds. Many died. This is the first book to tell their story.Some boys joined up to escape unhappy homes and workplaces. Others went with their parents' blessing, carrying letters from fathers and mothers asking the recruiters to take their eager sons. The romantic notion of a short, victorious campaign was wiped out the second these boys arrived on the Western Front. The authors, who narrate the fighting with both military professionalism and humanity, portray many boys who, in the heat of battle, made a seamless transition from follower to leader to hero.Authors Dan Black and John Boileau combed the archives and collections to bring these stories to life. Passages from letters the boy soldiers wrote home reveal the range of emotions and experiences they underwent, from the humorous to the unspeakably horrible. Their parents' letters touch us with their concern, love, uncertainty, and often, grief. Meticulously researched and abundantly illustrated with photographs, paintings, and a collection of specially commissioned maps, Old Enough to Fight is Canadian military and social history at its most fascinating.

John Boileau and Dan Black tell the stories of some of the 30,000 underage youths -- some as young as fourteen -- who joined the Canadian Armed Forces in the Second World War. This is the companion volume to the authors'' popular 2013 book Old Enough to Fight about boy soldiers in the First World War. Like their predecessors a generation before, these boys managed to enlist despite their youth. Most went on to face action overseas in what would become the deadliest military conflict in human history.They enlisted for a myriad of personal reasons -- ranging from the appeal of earning regular pay after the unemployment and poverty of the Depression to the desire to avenge the death of a brother or father killed overseas. Canada's boy soldiers, sailors and airmen saw themselves contributing to the war effort in a visible, meaningful way, even when that meant taking on very adult risks and dangers of combat.Meticulously researched and extensively illustrated with photographs, personal documents and specially commissioned maps, Too Young to Die provides a touching and fascinating perspective on the Canadian experience in the Second World War.Among the individuals whose stories are told: Ken Ewing, at age sixteen taken prisoner at Hong Kong and then a teenager in a Japanese prisoner of war campRalph Frayne, so determined to fight that he enlisted in the army, navy and Merchant Navy all before the age of seventeenRobert Boulanger, at age eighteen the youngest Canadian to die on the Dieppe beaches

Too Young to Die: Canada's Boy Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen in the Second World War

Children's Books

From the early Mi'kmaw political systems to the beginnings of representative government and responsible government, The Peaceful Revolution chronicles the brawls, battles, petitions, and protests on the long road to the parliamentary democracy Canadians enjoy today. With impeccable research and a strong sense of narrative, Boileau brings to life the vital struggle that created the foundation for our society.

The Peaceful Revolution: 250 Years of Democracy in Nova Scotia

Nimbus Pub Ltd

On May 4, 1910, the Liberal government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier passed the Naval Service Act, which created the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). Ever since, the RCN and the city of Halifax-a strategic Canadian port on the Atlantic-have been partners. During the Second World War's Battle of the Atlantic, Halifax was a major centre of operations for the RCN, which was tasked with the crucial missions of escorting merchant ships and hunting German U-Boats not far off Halifax's coast. But the relationship with the city of Halifax was not without turmoil: at the conclusion of the war the pent-up frustrations of sailors boiled over into the V-E Day riots. Part of the popular Images of Our Past series, Halifax and the RCN marks the centennial of the Royal Canadian Navy's founding in 1910. Author John Boileau's superbly researched narrative is supplemented with over 150 historical photos of the sailors, ships, and shore establishments that defined the RCN. An accessible and lively photographic history, Halifax and the RCN is a worthy tribute to the Royal Canadian Navy and its home port.

Halifax and the Royal Canadian Navy (Images of Our Past)

Nimbus Publishing

The story of Titanic’s tragic sinking on April 15, 1912, has been told countless times in films and books, inscribing it into popular culture as perhaps the best-known disaster of all-time. When Titanic went down off the coast of Newfoundland, the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was the base from which recovery operations were mounted. Eventually, 337 bodies were recovered, the majority of them by ships dispatched from Halifax. Of this total, 128 were buried at sea and 209 were delivered to Halifax—150 of those buried in three Halifax cemeteries. They remain there to this day, the largest number of Titanic graves in the world, cared for in perpetuity by the city and visited by thousands of people each year.
On the one-hundredth anniversary of Titanic’s sinking, author John Boileau examines the relationship between the city and the unprecedented tragedy. This illustrated history includes over 100 historical photographs of the people and places involved in Halifax’s sombre recovery effort.

Halifax and Titanic (Images of Our Past)

Nimbus Publishing (CN)

In 1899 a thousand Canadian soldiers went to war--in South Africa.They were fighting white farmers who defied the mighty British empire by setting up their own, independent state.This South African or Boer War of 1899-1902 marked the first time Canadian troops went abroad to fight alongside Britain.Like other conflicts, the Boer War was controversial in Canada. Sir Wilfrid Laurier's liberal government, reluctantly responded to sentiment in much of English Canada and eventually sent nearly 8,400 Canadians to serve in South Africa. More than 200 died there.Canada's Soldiers in South Africa recounts fascinating stories about the experiences of young Canadians fighting in this little-known conflict.

Canada's Soldiers in South Africa: Tales from the Boer War, 1899-1902 (Amazing Stories)

Africa

Amazing Stories

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by BOILEAU, JOHN. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by BOILEAU, JOHN

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by BOILEAU, JOHN. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Fastest in the World: The Saga of Canada's Revolutionary Hydrofoils (Formac Illustrated History)

Half-Hearted Enemies: Nova Scotia, New England and the War of 1812

Samuel Cunard: Nova Scotia's Master of the North Atlantic (Formac Illustrated History)

Old Enough to Fight: Canada's Boy Soldiers in the First World War

Old Enough to Fight: Canada's Boy Soldiers in the First World War

Too Young to Die: Canada's Boy Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen in the Second World War

The Peaceful Revolution: 250 Years of Democracy in Nova Scotia

Halifax and the Royal Canadian Navy (Images of Our Past)

Halifax and Titanic (Images of Our Past)

Canada's Soldiers in South Africa: Tales from the Boer War, 1899-1902 (Amazing Stories)