Frederick Thornton Peters was born on 17th September 1889 to Frederick Peters, Premier of Prince Edward Island, off Nova Scotia, and Roberta Hamilton Susan (nee Gray). He was educated at St. Peter's School on Prince Edward Island, at a school in British Columbia and at Naval College in England.

Fritz, as he was known to all, entered the Royal Navy as a Midshipman in 1905 and began the First World War as a lieutenant. He retired in 1919 at the age of thirty as a commander, having won the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Service Cross during the war – the latter for action in the Battle of the Dogger Bank in the North Sea.

At the outbreak of WW2, in October 1939, Fritz re-volunteered for the Royal Navy and was made the commander of an anti-submarine flotilla.

In 1940 he was awarded a Bar to his DSC and was later appointed acting Captain for special services when he worked with British Naval Intelligence and also advised Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

British double agent Kim Philby noted his admiration for “Secret Intelligence Service instruction leader, Commander Peters" in his book My Silent War.

In late 1942, Operation Reservist, part of Operation Torch, the Allied landings in French North Africa, was an attempt to capture Oran Harbour, Algeria and prevent it from being sabotaged by its French garrison.

The two sloops HMS Walney and HMS Hartland were packed with British Commandos, soldiers of the 6th United States Armored Infantry Regiment and a small detachment of United States Marines.

On 8th November 1942, Captain Peters, commanding the Allied force from HMS Walney, advanced through the boom towards the jetty in the face of point-blank fire from shore batteries, as well as the sloop La Surprise, and the destroyer Epervier.

Blinded in one eye, he was the only survivor of the eleven officers and men on the bridge but 13 ratings survived when HMS Walney eventually sank, having reached the jetty disabled and ablaze.

Captain Peters and a handful of men managed to reach the shore, where they were taken prisoner.

Meanwhile, HMS Hartland came under fire from the French destroyer Typhon and blew up with the loss of half her crew.

The survivors joined those of Walney who were also taken prisoner as they reached the shore. For his part in the action,

Fritz was awarded for the Victoria Cross which was not gazetted until seven months after the action; therefore, the award was posthumous, with the Citation reading:

“ADMIRALTY. Whitehall, S.W.I. 18th May, 1943. The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the VICTORIA CROSS to: the late Acting Captain Frederick Thornton Peters, D.S.O., D.S.C., Royal Navy, for valour in taking H.M.S. Walney, in an enterprise of desperate hazard, into the harbour of Oran on the 8th November, 1942.

"Captain Peters led his force through the boom towards the jetty in the face of point-blank fire from shore batteries, a Destroyer and a Cruiser. Blinded in one eye, he alone of the seventeen Officers and Men on the bridge survived. The Walney reached the jetty disabled and ablaze, and went down with her colours flying.”

However, with more commendable despatch, the US Army awarded him with their Distinguished Service Cross – part of the citation, issued in Allied Force Headquarters General Orders No. 19 on 23rd November 1942, stating, in part, that: “Captain Peters distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism against an armed enemy during the attack on that post.

"He remained on the bridge in command of his ship in spite of the fact that the protective armor thereon had been blown away by enemy shell fire and was thereby exposed personally to the withering cross fire from shore defenses. He then with utter disregard of his own personal safety went to the quarter-deck and assisted in securing the aft mooring lines so that the troops on board could disembark.” 

The survivors were released on 10th November 1942 when the French garrison surrendered. In the meantime, however, the French had systematically destroyed the harbour facilities at Oran – exactly what Operation Reservist had been devised to prevent.

On 13th November 1942, when he was returning to the UK in a Sunderland flying boat, Fritz was killed when the aircraft crash-landed in thick fog at the entrance to the Royal Navy's Devonport Dockyard, near Plymouth.

Despite heroic efforts by the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Wynton Thorpe, RAAF, who held on to him for ninety minutes in the water, he was dead when the rescue launch reached them.

Curiously however, Frederick Peters has no known grave and is, therefore, commemorated on the CWGC Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

A plaque to Frederick can be found in Victoria Cross Park, Calgary. This park uses a series of plaques to commemorate the 16 Canadian recipients of the Victoria Cross during Second World War. Mount Peters, near Nelson in British Columbia, was named in his honour in 1946.

A display of photos and panels on his life is on the main floor of the Daniel J. MacDonald Building in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

His name, along with the names of his three brothers who served in the First World War, is on memorial plaques in the St. Peter's Anglican Church in Charlottetown. 

Published in 2012, an award-winning biography by Fritz's great-nephew Sam McBride, is based on family letters and titled 'The Bravest Canadian – Fritz Peters VC: The Making of a Hero of Two World Wars'.