Frederick Thornton Peters

Frederic Thornton “Fritz” Peters was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, on 17 September 1889. His father, Frederick Peters, became premier of the province. The family later moved to British Columbia, where the Royal Navy’s ships at Esquimalt caught Fritz’s attention. He entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1905 and served as a midshipman before becoming an officer. His early service took him to sea and to the China Station. (veterans.gc.ca, navalandmilitarymuseum.org)

When the First World War began, Peters returned to naval service. On 24 January 1915, he was aboard the destroyer HMS Meteor during the Battle of Dogger Bank. A German shell struck the ship and damaged her machinery. Peters went into the boiler room despite the danger of further explosions and helped bring out two ratings. He was Mentioned in Despatches and appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. Two of his brothers, John and Gerald, died while serving on the Western Front in 1915 and 1916. (navalandmilitarymuseum.org, victoriacross.org.uk, veterans.gc.ca)

Peters continued to serve in destroyers and earned the Distinguished Service Cross in 1918 for his work against enemy submarines. Between the wars, he spent much of his time working in the Gold Coast in West Africa. When war returned in 1939, he rejoined the Royal Navy. His wartime service included command of anti-submarine vessels and work connected with British intelligence and sabotage training. In 1940, he received a Bar to his Distinguished Service Cross for his naval service since the outbreak of war. (navalandmilitarymuseum.org, veterans.gc.ca)

In November 1942, Peters commanded HMS Walney in an attempt to seize the harbour at Oran, Algeria, during the Allied landings in North Africa. On 8 November, Walney and HMS Hartland forced their way through the harbour defences under close fire from shore batteries and French warships. Peters kept Walney moving toward her assigned berth even as shells disabled and set her ablaze. He then helped secure her mooring lines so the troops aboard could try to disembark. Wounded in the shoulder and blinded in one eye, he was the only survivor among the seventeen officers and men on Walney’s bridge. He was captured and released after Allied forces took Oran. (veterans.gc.ca, veterans.gc.ca)

Peters did not live to receive the honours earned at Oran. On 13 November 1942, a Sunderland flying boat carrying him back toward Britain crashed in Plymouth Sound, killing him. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross and the United States Distinguished Service Cross. With no known grave, he is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. His career had carried him from the ships he watched as a boy in British Columbia to acts of courage in both world wars. (navalandmilitarymuseum.org, veterans.gc.ca, veterans.gc.ca)