Lila Brownberg - one of only 18 “girl operators” in Canada

The breakout hit The Imitation Game shed some light on the mystifying world of WWII cryptoanalysis cracking the Nazi Enigma code; however, civilian wireless operators performed multiple roles including the tracking of submarines.

In December 1945 Chief of the General Staff, General Charles Foulkes, expressed the value of wireless intelligence in a confidential memorandum to the Canadian government entitled “A proposal for the Establishment of a National Intelligence Organization.” This laid the foundation for the Canadian Intelligence as it is known today.

One such civilian wireless operator was Lila Brownberg, a Saint John native born February 25^th, 1925.  Lila worked first at the Ottawa Monitoring Station, before moving to continue her work in Victoria, BC. She was one of only 18 “girl operators” in Canada.

The Ottawa Monitoring Station on Merivale Road

Lila’s charge while at the Ottawa Monitoring Station was monitoring the German Submarines in the Gulf of St Lawrence. In his book “Best-Kept Secret, Canadian Secret Intelligence in the Second World War” John Bryden relays what this job may have looked like:

“Everything depended on the quality of equipment, the personnel and speed. U-boat messages were notoriously brief - as little as twenty-two seconds. An operator might spend hours hunched over his radio set, his head clamped in padded earphones, ears numbed by an incessant hiss. Then suddenly the static would leap to life in staccato of Morse code. The man's hand would slam onto a buzzer and an assistant would jump to the teletype machine, banging the frequency numbers out on the keys. Within a couple of seconds, the person in Bermuda would begin his (D.F.) search."

Operators at work at the Ottawa Monitoring Station 

Following her position at the Ottawa Monitoring Station, Lila was offered a post aboard a merchant ship; however, her mother refused to allow her to go. Perhaps a blessing in disguise since this type of post was notoriously dangerous. Instead, she accepted a job monitoring Japanese Submarines off the coast of Vancouver Island. Operators who were selected for this position had to learn “Katakana” code, consisting of 76 characters.

Lila rode her bike from Ottawa to Victoria to continue her work as a civilian operator.

To learn more about Lila and the efforts of the Saint John Jewish community during the war, visit the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum.

See here for details on location and hours of operation.

Long Reach Skates

Those who have lived through an Atlantic Canadian winter will tell you that there's nothing you can do, but embrace it. The men and women of the late 1800s did just that, embracing skating as a popular pass time. In Saint John, the Victoria Skating Club was opened only to the wealthy  members, or those who could afford a day ticket to enjoy skating in comfort, safe from the elements. 

Victoria Skating Club on City Road in Saint John, photo courtesy of NBM

For the men and women who lived along New Brunswick's vast rivers, skating had an entirely different purpose. Skating was used in Atlantic Canada as a mode of winter transportation during the 1800s and 1900s. Men and women used the St. John and Kennebecasis River to travel distances as far as 130 km, taking about 7 hours to get from Saint John to Fredericton. (That's ~19 kmph, but with a good breeze and on good ice, skaters could often reach speeds up to 32 kmph.)

Exhibitor Tag May 1876, photo courtesy of NBM

It’s no surprise that Atlantic Canadians developed their own skate to travel around New Brunswick. James A. Whelpey developed the Long Reach Skate when he was 18 years old, and began manufacturing them in 1859 first in Greenwich, New Brunswick and later in New Hampshire.

Whelpley Skate Factory in Central Greenwich, Kings County, New Brunswick, photo courtesy of NBM 

He is credited with bringing skating into the mainstream of Canadian living. Long Reach Skates were unique in the sense that they were able to deftly handle the ripples in the ice created by wind and snow. Skates had to be long level and sharp to deal with the hard northern ice. The skates extended past the foot, up to 20 inches long, some thought this was the origin of the name of the skate, when in fact they were named after the Long Reach portion of the St. John River in Kings County.

"The skates used are called Long-Reach skates, from their great length." From Golden Days for Boys and Girls in 1893

The skates were equipped with leather straps to strap the skate to the wearer’s boot and a screw to add extra sturdiness to the heel. Depending on the style of the skate, they cost from 60 cents up to six dollars. It wasn’t all practicality though; Whelpley’s skates were also used in speed skating competition, helping National Amateur Speed-Skating Champion G.D. Philips win his title, skating 220 yards in 20.4 second. Long reach Speed-Skates were widely regarded as the best, they differed from traditional Long Reachers in material and length. Some had holes drilled into them to reduce weight. Today the sport of speed skating uses much more refined technologies, but James A. Whelpley can be credited with furthering the sport in Atlantic Canada. A pair of Long Reachers can be found on display at the John Fisher Memorial Museum in Kingston, NB.

Long Reach Speed Skates on display at the John Fisher Memorial Museum in the basement of the MacDonald Consolidated School in Kingston, NB. 

See website for details on hours of operation and location.