Historic Halifax

The ocean meets the land here in Nova Scotia as in few other places in the world. The people here have always made their living by the sea. Some go to sea to harvest fish or the best lobster in the world. Others run the boats providing transportation of goods, services or people. Halifax is unique because it sticks way out into the Atlantic Ocean. Standing here, I am closer to Ireland than at any other point in North America.

The geology here is amazing too. Before the Wisconsin Ice Age these rough boulders were part of Morocco and Wales. Every part of the coastline here looks like the most beautiful seascape you have ever seen. The views are breathtaking. The seafood is delicious. At Peggy’s Cove Glenda had the best lobster roll she ever tasted.

Halifax is changing rapidly, though. Its population has been stable throughout this century. Now, however, the city is absorbing about 2000 new residents every month. This rapid rise in population is placing a bit of a strain on the health care system and the schools here.

Despite the many assets Halifax offers its residents, two tragedies connected with this place stand out. The 700 survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912 were brought here. So were the victims. They are buried in the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, which we visited today.

The day after the sinking, three ships were sent out to recover human remains. Each ship carried its crew, a coroner and a clergyman. Only the first ship found any remains, and partial bodies or those too badly mutilated were given burial at sea. The one mortuary in town arranged for cold rooms to be set up so that bodies might be preserved. For weeks other human remains washed ashore on Prince Edward Island or on Cap-aux-Meules. They were also brought to Halifax. Some corpses had to stay here for eight years until they could be shipped back to their homes. There is still a Titanic Foundation that uses DNA and other advanced technology to identify some of the remains.

Some interesting things I learned about the Titanic on our excursion make it even more troubling and devastating. Because the wealthy folks wanted to be able to promenade around the deck the White Star Company decided to remove over 2/3 of the lifeboats. They originally had 46 lifeboats which could've held everyone on the ship, but they reduced it to 12 so that the wealthy and the famous could stroll around the deck and show off their finery. Another thing that added to the tragedy is that the White Star Line management insisted that he sail through what is called Iceberg Alley, the shortest route. The captain agreed, provided he could go through the treacherous route in daylight and at reduced speed. They were delayed by about 12 hours leaving on the cruise, but the company insisted that he continue on at night through Iceberg Alley to save time. They also ordered him to increase his speed by three knots over the normal cruising speed of the ship. He did this under protest and we know the final result.

The very basic monuments you see in Halifax in the cemetery were paid for by the shipping company who did not want to spend a lot of money on each of the headstones. Only people who had some money were able to put up a better headstone for their family. If the body was found, but no name given to the body that's when you just see the date of death.

The bandsmen had uniforms with 10 brass buttons. The White Star Company provided the uniforms, but the cost of the expensive engraved buttons was gradually deducted from each musician’s monthly pay. One member of the ship’s band was killed in the sinking of the Titanic. The shipping company sent a bill to his father for the 10 buttons that he had not paid for when he drowned. An Irish newspaperman published this news, and the story hit the front pages of newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic. The company backed down on charging the musician’s father for the brass buttons, but the damage had been done. Already discredited, the stock of the White Star Line plummeted, and soon the Cunard Company bought its rival company for Pennie’s on the dollar.

Five years later on December 6, 1917, a munitions ship, tied to 200 other munitions ships was leaving the harbor. It had a slight collision with another vessel and caught fire. Unable to extinguish the blaze, the captain and crew abandoned ship and left the burning hulk to drift. Word spread that a ship was burning in the harbor and many folks went to the dockside to see it. Security measures prevented publication of the contents of any of the warships involved in World War I so no one realized the danger. When these munitions ships reached Pier #6 they exploded with a force greater than that of either of the atomic bombs ending World War II. The explosion instantly vaporized over 2000 people and flattened more than half of the city. It set up a tsunami that traveled out of the mouth of St. Margaret’s Bay and into the Atlantic Ocean. Another 10,000 people in the city instantly died, and only the bowl-shaped topography of the city prevented all of Halifax from being destroyed. Hills surrounding the harbor deflected the blast upward rather than outward. Otherwise, the entire city would have been flattened.

Today there is no sign of these tragedies. Fairview Lawn Cemetery is a beautiful and quiet place to meditate. The site of the explosion is filled with container ship docks, a shipbuilding facility, and a Canadian Navy base. Halifax is a thriving, forward-looking, multicultural city. The city is booming and is looking forward to good things to come.En savoir plus