As volunteer numbers grew, an Overseas Division was created in February 1916 to recruit Canadians for service with the Royal Navy. Recruiting for this division was divided into nine districts, headquartered in the provincial capitals except in British Columbia, where the headquarters was in Vancouver. By early 1917, roughly 1,200 men had been shipped to the United Kingdom. Though 5,000 men had been authorized, by the end of the war, only 1,700 volunteers were enrolled into the Overseas Division, a number that was limited after the East Coast Patrol along Canada's Atlantic Coast became the focal point of the Canadian naval reserve.