The Sounding Vessel Pogo (YFL-104) is a historic auxiliary craft built for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) that holds a distinguished place in Arctic exploration history. Launched in July 1954 by Marine Industries Ltd., the 36-foot vessel was constructed entirely of all-welded aluminum—a weight-saving design first for the Canadian Navy that allowed her to be carried on davits aboard the mother ship, the icebreaker HMCS Labrador. Named after a popular comic strip character of the era, the Pogo was specifically designed as a shallow-draft trailblazer to venture independently into uncharted waters, navigating past hazardous ice floes and treacherous rocky shorelines to conduct critical hydrographic surveys.
During her four major Arctic deployments between 1954 and 1958, Pogo became the first RCN vessel to enter several uncharted sectors of the Canadian Arctic, map regions like the Prince of Wales Strait, and help establish safe shipping lanes essential for constructing the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line during the Cold War. After the HMCS Labrador was transferred out of naval service, Pogo began a long second career under designations like QMC-104 and eventually YFL-104, serving as a harbor launch, diving platform, and training tender for naval reserve units until she was retired in 1995. Following a period in storage at the Canadian War Museum, she was transferred to the Navy League of Canada in 2005, where dedicated volunteers restored her to active service to train Sea Cadets and preserve her legacy as a pioneer of the North.