The Private Photo Collection of Ian Tate

Over the last 8 months I've really narrowed the focus of my business to include three main services. Photography, Design and Research. I have some clients who require an overlap of those services. Roger Sarty, one of Canada's most prolific Naval historians, had recently hired me to track down the private image collection of Sub Lieutenant Ian Tate. Today we traveled to Port Hope, Ontario and were greeted by his son Davidson. Tate was an amateur photographer and one of only two officers to survive the sinking of HMCS Valleyfield, the only Canadian frigate lost during the war. The images that he captured are, according to Roger Sarty, the best he has ever seen outlining the Battle in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, where German U-Boats wreaked havoc on allied shipping for a good deal of 1942. The collection was printed in a series of 4 scrapbooks which also contain detailed dates and captions. These photos allowed Roger to gain a more concrete understanding of the times and places. It was great fun to watch him fly through the photos with the excitement of kid in a candy shop. He highlighted the shots he needed and with the help of Davidson, I took down the captions and scanned the original photos. I had a brilliant scanned shot of the convoy that I wanted to put up but it has never been published and so instead I'm putting up the photo of Tate aboard 0-0064, October 2, 1942. He is escorting the Gaspe-Rimoski convoy. With over 100 photos in our collection for the book, today was a brilliant day. Because of the connection, Sarty's soon to be released book on the St. Lawrence will feature never before seen photos of one of the closest war ever came to Canadian soil during the Second World War.