In Quebec City, 31,000 soldiers of the first contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force embarked for England on 31 steamships, escorted by Royal Navy warships. The first 538 soldiers to leave from Newfoundland and Labrador (still a British colony at that time) mustered at Pleasantville Camp before boarding the SS Florizel in St. John’s. All these men would be sent to the front after a few weeks of training in England.
