One of the must-do’s that we heard we must do was to spend time at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. We knew they’d have boats and ships for us to see, but then we heard that they had an exhibit on the downing of the Titanic in 1912 with items that hadn’t been seen anywhere. A couple of days before we went, Barney said he remembered Halifax being mentioned in WWII movies about convoys going to Europe. Sounds interesting. Wonder what we’ll learn?
Entrance (or Entree)
We first met Bob at the reception area. Small world: Bob spends his winters in Stuart, Florida, where our middle son, Brian, and his family live. From his descriptions, we knew exactly where he lived! He and Barney got to talk boats for a while—such fun for them!
We also knew that the museum would have information on the Halifax Explosion that we first heard about at the Alexander Graham Bell museum, and we knew nothing about that event.
Danielle gave a 20-minute talk on the Halifax Explosion that was so interesting and informative. When we actually walked through the exhibit, we understood what we were seeing.
The first large room was full of small boats that had sailed in the Bay. After this area we saw displays about the transition to steam ships that revolutionized the movement of people and products from North American to Europe. The 3rd area was the exhibit on the Titanic.
The final area of the museum was about the Halifax explosion, but really that event is only a small part of Halifax’s involvement in the world wars. This bigger picture was so interesting to us that I’ll include some pictures that we took at our last area to explore in Halifax—the Citadel.
boats in and around the Maritime Provinces
But let’s go in order. I asked Barney to take these pictures because boating, especially sailing, is his passion. He said these few pictures would give you an idea of what we saw.
Morse Dinghy
I think Barney wanted to carry this out to the water and climb in.
great for a lake or bay
lifeboat
Both ends look exactly the same because it could land on the beach with either end. The rescuers wouldn’t have to turn it around for a safe landing.
used on an island just off of Nova Scotia
goose boat
This little boat was used in early spring around the ice flows to hunt geese and other waterfowl.
Both spring hunting and the use of “sneak boats” like this were made illegal by the Migratory Bird Act in 1917. A law that wasn’t always obeyed.
This type of boat was often used on Nova Scotia’s north shore in the strait that we crossed when we went from Prince Edward Island to Nova Scotia. The hull shape, construction techniques, and the type of propulsion varied according to the skill of the builder.
This actual boat was built by “a sporting Presbyterian minister” around 1890.
inside of the goose boat
age of steam and the changes it brought
The Cunard Line changed life on the oceans.
Samuel Cunard from Nova Scotia used his initial experiences in steam as a launching pad for worldwide successes.
Other local firms carved out niches with specialized ships and regional services such as West Indies trade.
These ships were powered by 4 pistons that worked independently and a wheel on each side to move the water.
the Royal William
See the humps on both sides in the middle of the ship? These are to cover the paddle wheels in the previous picture.
So why did I include this ship since it seemed like it failed its purpose? The owners wanted to improve communications between Quebec and Nova Scotia by using steam navigation. However, Royal William failed to thrive on the St. Lawrence run, so the owners looked for buyers for it in Europe.
To get the ship to Europe, it made the passage from Nova Scotia to England in 25 days, almost entirely under steam. This trip showed the world—-and Cunard—that engine-powered transoceanic navigation was a practical and viable way to travel. Good for the Royal William!
the CunardLine
Samuel Cunard was born in Halifax in 1787 and lived most of his live here.
Cunard used his entrepreneurial talent in selling timber overseas, trading local goods for the tropical produce of the West Indies, undertaking whaling voyages, developing coal mines, and building and operating ships.
Combining his insight with regularity of scheduled sailing sips with steam-engine technology resulted in the first successful transoceanic steamship line.
life onboard
Technological advances made ocean travel safer and more routine and, therefore, a more common and pleasant experience for travelers who could play games on the decks.
Luxurious accommodations even included a fireplace in the cabin class lounge on the Queen Mary around 1936.
a fireplace and games on deck
the wireless room kept the ship connected to land
the Titanic – 1912
For Downton Abbey fans, the sinking of the Titanic is what affected the family in episode 1.
scale is 0.06 inch = 1 foot
On leaving Southampton on April 10, her size and tonnage made her, for a short time, the largest ship in the world.
The first distress calls from the Titanic were heard in a listening post 700 nautical miles away from Nova Scotia, the nearest major port.
Officials first thought that survivors would come to Halifax and so sent special trains and had immigration officials prepared for the unexpected arrivals. Instead survivors were sent to New York, and the dead came to Halifax.
where everyone slept
Everyone had his or her place on the ship.
The crew traditionally lived in the bow of the ship with up to 54 people in a cabin. Its location was the least comfortable and the most dangerous in a collision. Officers, however, had their comfortable cabins near the bridge.
A ship’s up and down movement (pitching) in rough seas is worst in the bow where the crew sleeps.
First class passengers are in the center of the ship where movement is hardly felt and engine and propeller noise almost unheard.
Second class was also in the middle but more toward the end (stern) of the ship above the propeller shaft (noisy). They had a small portion of the deck available to them.
Third class single women were at the very rear of the ship right above the propellers where pitching was most severe. Third class single men had cabins near the front of the ship (bow).
crew and captain
Almost 1000 men and women worked on the Titanic in jobs ranging from wireless telegraph operators to window cleaners.
Most shoveled coal in the engine room or looked after passengers.
While the captain was experienced and was ready to retire, he had always been on ships half the size of Titanic so wasn’t equipped to handle, or evacuate, a ship of this size—even if it had had lifeboat space for everyone.
recovered artifacts
First class passengers passed through the carved wood archway shown by the red rectangle in the picture.
This piece was recovered by the cable ship Minia that was hired to search for survivors.
picture of the famous stairway
recovered deck chair
The deck chair was also recovered by the crew of the cable ship Minia. It is made of mahogany and other hardwoods and bears a carved, 5-pointed star, the emblem of the White Star Line.
a replica for us to try out—comfortable!
final resting place for so many
Three cemeteries are the final home for 150 bodies.
About 1/3 of the graves don’t have names to identify them.
official conclusion
It is hard to believe, but panic can take over so quickly.
While no blame was given to anyone, some important wide ranging safety recommendations came out of the investigation.
Recommendations included requiring lifeboats for everyone aboard and mandatory iceberg reporting. The recommendations became international standards in 1914.
Halifax as staging bay for convoys during both world wars
Halifax has been an important maritime military port for hundreds of years because the bay is so deep that the water never freezes. It can stay available all year long.
During Great Britain’s supremacy of the seas because if its navy, the 4 ports of Portsmouth and Gibraltar (on the right) and Halifax and Bermuda (on the left) created an area dominating the Atlantic—until the world wars when their supremacy was challenged by Germany.
Halifax harbor opened up to the Atlantic Ocean, but at its other end is “the narrows” that opens up to Bedford Basin. This area is large and isn’t affected by the storms in the Atlantic. Ships making up a convoy could stay here until the convoy was ready to go.
Bedford Basin, the narrows, Halifax harbor, and the Atlantic Ocean
This convoy is waiting in Bedford Basin so it can cross the Atlantic together.
These are the convoy routes: straight across or up and around. The vertical curved lines show the limits of air cover, so the curved routes were used most of the time.
During both world wars, Canadian warships escorted convoys of merchant ships—Britain’s lifeline of supplies and troops. German U-boats hunted and destroyed thousands of Allied vessels, sometimes slipping into the Gulf of St. Lawrence to torpedo ships and land spies.
Convoys from Halifax regularly broke through Germany’s attempted blockade and allowed a beleaguered Britain to survive.
Halifax Explosion
The pivotal event in the city’s history happened during WWI and shows what a lack of communication can produce. The British were in charge of the narrows, ship captains spoke different languages, the the Mont Blanc didn’t use its telegraph since it didn’t want to create a spark.
Halifax’s north end, Richmond District, was full of mills, factories, and wharves. The Acadia Sugar Refinery dominates the scene with its massive smokestack.
Every single building in the follow picture vanishes in an instant on December 6, 1917.
the Richmond district
Canada is at war, Ships gather at Halifax, the country’s main wartime port, to cross the Atlantic in convoy. The city is busy, crowded, and prosperous by the war. Factories and railways work 24 hours. Troops are everywhere. Schools are filled to overflowing.
December 1917
layout of the waterways
On Thursday, December 6, the munitions ship Mont Blanc was ready to join the convoy in Bedford Basin. It had arrived too late the night before and the submarine nets had already been put in place.
The Norwegian ship, Imo, left the Basin heading out to sea since it wasn’t part of the convoy. Imo wanted its right of way as the larger ship, but Mont Blanc couldn’t move the way Imo wanted it to since it was loaded so heavy.
The Imo’s bow struck Mont Blanc, tearing her hull and creating a shower of sparks. Fire broke out and spread quickly, Mont Blanc’s crews bailed and towed frantically for the Dartmouth shore on the other side of Halifax without putting the anchor in place. Mont Blanc drifted toward Halifax and came to rest, burning, at Pier 6. Then it blew at 8:45 a.m. Richmond district is devastated, and by 9:05 a.m. glass is shattered 62 miles away,
Mont Blanc’s load
This French ship had been loaded in New York by longshoremen wearing cloth covers on their boots so they wouldn’t create a spark. Her hold was filled with high explosives; on her open decks, barrels of benzol, a type of gasoline for airplanes, were stowed.
Too slow for the convoy leaving New York, Mont Blanc was ordered to Halifax where a slower convoy was being formed.
Imo, a Norwegian neutral ship, was carrying relief supplies for Belgium so didn’t need to be part of a convoy. It set off on its own.
She was in Halifax for examination and refueling and should have left the day before. But the coaling vessel finished too late to let her pass through the anti-submarine nets that were always closed after dark.
explosion!
With the explosion, fires broke out quickly as furnaces and stoves turned over in the wooden buildings. Soon whole streets were on fire. Hundreds died instantly, and hundreds more were consumed by the fires. Thousands were injured.
Halifax in flames
This was the largest man-responsible explosion until the atomic bombs at the end of WWII.
stories
James was alone, soaking wet, black as tar, and surrounded by thick, choking fog. His 2 brothers had been running with him toward the harbor to see the collision weren’t anywhere.
Ahead he saw a black, oily figure with something gleaming on this wrist—-his brother, Gordon, still had on his wristwatch guard. Eventually they learned that their mother had been taken to the hospital, their sister, Catherine, had been killed in their home, Allan’s body was found a few days later, and their father’s body was recovered in the Acadia Sugar Refinery where he worked.
“They are all gone.”
Barbara Orr was also running toward the wharf to see the burning ship when the explosion happened. She found herself thrown 1/4 mile away. Where she lived was only a wall of smoke and flame. Her parents and 5 brothers and sisters were all gone.
destruction
Halifax is wrecked.
Nothing familiar was left.
buildings destroyed
a hero
Trains were coming toward Richmond district and had to be stopped.
Vincent Coleman worked at the Richmond rail yards, only a few 100 feet from Pier 6 where Mont Blanc drifted ashore in flames. Warned of her explosive cargo, he returned to his telegraph key one more time to stop incoming trains.
Even though he was killed by the explosion, his message was heard at every station in the area, alerting the Canadian Government Railway of the imminent disaster. Relief trains were quickly sent with medical help and fire fighters from all over Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Coleman’s workplace was ground zero for the explosion. The Mont Blanc landed where this vessel is in the picture.
the railway yards after the explosion
Mont Blanc’s main cargo
explosion’s gasses forced enormous heat and pressure outward in all directions
Fragments from the size of a pebble to a the size of a car was mixed in with the rubble of the district’s homes and buildings.
early help
The city’s Fire Chief and 8 firemen reached Pier 6 as the explosion occurred; all but 1 died. After the explosion, those who weren’t hurt as badly helped others. Complete strangers performed deeds of heroism. Soldiers from the closest barracks took control, commandeering every available vehicle to remove the injured. This large number of disciplined men were invaluable in the early hours.
help quickly came, especially from Massachusetts
storeroom of supplies for those who had lost everything
the reckoning
so much lost and so many died
emergency help
By noon committees were organized to take charge of transportation, emergency shelter, finance, food, and the mortuary. The military was given emergency powers to control the area. Temporary hospitals and shelters were set up. Food was being delivered. And the mortuary was set up.
Mortuary was open 13 hours a day so people could try to identify their family members. Troops searching the area attached a note with each body with as much information as possible and included belongings found nearby to help with identification.
The next day a blizzard deposited 16 inches of snow on the ground because of the weather change created by the explosion.
Over 6000 people had lost their homes. Massachusetts funded temporary housing meant to last 5 years. Building was so fast that 1 apartment was built ever hour.
In September 1918, construction began on 328 permanent homes and many shops from stone blocks that were strong and fireproof. In just 6 months, the first 24 dwellings were ready with the reminder completed by mid-1921.
donations poured in
The Halifax Relief Commission took over the work and expenditures of relief funds.
What an event to live through.
lunch
By now we were famished, so walked a couple of blocks to The Triangle, an Irish pub, for lunch.
The Triangle in an old building in the middle of the new.
inside – If we could have come back later, we could have enjoyed their live music, but we don’t have the time.
