Yesterday there was a tragedy on the St. Lawrence River at Cornwall, Ontario. While towing a large barge to the north span of the international bridge a tug boat and a landing craft capsized and sank in the river. Fortunately there was no loss of life and only the skipper of the landing craft received […]
White Ensign Flying -Reviews
White Ensign Flying has been reviewed in several national and international magazines and journals. Below is a list of the various professional reviews to be published. REVIEWS The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord -Canadian Nautical Research Society -“Ships lend themselves to biographical studies as readily as people. Roger Litwiller’s White Ensign Flying, a scholarly but highly readable […]
Warships of the Bay of Quinte -Reviews
Warships Of The Bay Of Quinte Dundurn Press April 2011 This is the story of six of Canadas Warships HMCS NAPANEE, HMCS BELLEVILLE, HMCS HALLOWELL, HMCS TRENTONIAN, HMCS QUINTE (I), and the HMCS QUINTE (II). These histories give a unique account of the small ships that have been the backbone of the Canadian Navy during […]
10 Foot Model of RCN WWII Corvette TRENTONIAN
Yesterday I was fortunate to spend the day with Bill Cullen and his wife Sandra at their home outside Gananoque, Ontario. Bill is truly a Master Model Shipwright.Bill has built a scale model of the Royal Canadian Navy corvette, HMCS TRENTONIAN. The model is incredible, at 1/20 scale it measures an impressive 10 feet and […]
Can We Be Patriotic
I was approached by a lady, following I lecture I gave in Belleville, Ontario, recently. The comment she gave, surprised me, “You have the ability to inspire patriotism.” My first thought on hearing her say this was WOW! Since them, I have been trying to understand why she might feel this way. I have gone […]
Just Tell The Story -The Best Advice I Ever Received
White Ensign Flying started as a research project to tell the history of HMCS TRENTONIAN to the cadets of the Navy League Corps named for the ship, NLCC Trentonian in Trenton. I was very disappointed by the lack of published material on this WWII corvette. So I started to dig, beginning with the local archives […]
Finding the Perfect Place to Write
My most recent book, White Ensign Flying -The Story of HMCS TRENTONIAN has taken me on a twelve year journey of research, exploration and personal growth. When I started this project I was a single father with my three children living with me full time. This limited the amount of time I could spend on […]
The Canadian Flag, Our Families History and Tradition
Today we celebrate the anniversary of Canada’s national flag. Our national symbol is a Canadian icon that we take foregranted. Flying high on so many flagpoles, tattered and unnoticed. But for many of us Canadians it holds a truly special place in our hearts. I always enjoyed when our flag was flown from a proper […]
Writing History -Get it right or else!
I learned a valuable lesson from an anonymous veteran about writing history. While preparing to write White Ensign Flying I decided it would be in my best interest to have some writing credentials when the time came to approach a publisher. One of the resources I pursued was to write an article for the local […]
White Ensign Flying -My Inspiration
I often wondered what inspired an author to write a book. What gave the author the drive to dedicate so many hours of research, investigation and ultimately telling the story. For me, White Ensign Flying became a story that I had to tell and quickly became a labour of passion. It has taken me over […]