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• Naval Air

Blazon

Azure, a unicorn's head erased argent, armed and crine, or langued gules, gorged with a plain collar of gold on which a plate edged or and charged with a maple leaf gules.
(Glossary of Heraldic Terms)

Significance

Fort Frances was named for a fur trading post of the same name on Rainy River in northwestern Ontario. The fort was given its name by Sir George Simpson, governor of the Northern Department of the Hudson’s Bay Company in honour of his wife, Lady Frances Ramsay Simpson. As there is a recorded armorial bearings for Lady Frances’ branch of the Ramsay family, Clarenceux King of Arms in London approved use that the device. The device chosen was the unicorn’s head, with a collar bearing a Canadian maple leaf.

Remarks

Fort Frances was an Algerine class minesweeper. She was commissioned in October 1944, and wore pennant J396 until she was paid off in August 1945. She was recommissioned in 1958 as a civilian-manned oceanographic research vessel. She wore pennant 170 until sold in 1974.

Colours

White and royal blue

Battle Honours

Battle Honours Atlantic, 1945.

References

Badges Of The Canadian Navy by Arbuckle, J. Graeme. Halifax: Nimbus Publishing, 1987.