29 Sept 2014: Halifax & @SEA:

Yesterday, we were in Halifax and I decided to visit the Maritime Museum for the TITANIC story and the Halifax disaster. Well I got stuck there for 3 hours!!! Was mesmerized, reading all the stories and actually seeing real items that were on the ship, amazing and so sad. Best spent $9 , so glad I went to see it. Now for another history lesson!

Halifax was the nearest mayor port from the sinking ship. She hit the ice burg on the 14 April 1912 at 10.35pm in calm and clear weather and sank on the 15 April at 2.20am.Halifax the last resting place for her victims.2200 people were on board and only 705 survived, most victims wore lifejackets but died from exposure.

The engineers none of whom survived kept the lights working almost to the end. Got a few pictures I took and that I will post ,one is a little pair of leather shoes, a policeman who had to burn the clothes of the victims to stop  souvenir hunters from taking goods, did not have the heart to burn them so he kept them in his desk until he retired.

A little wooden cabinetry, was one of the only intact pieces to have survived the sinking, it was found by ships that recovered bodies. A beautiful mahogany deckchair was also recovered by a cable ship, amazing to think was on the Titanic, and the only intact Titanic deck chair in the world. After this tragedy, marine law changed so that lifeboats are big enough to accommodate all on board a ship.

Then it was time to found out about the Halifax disaster that happened on the 6 Dec 1917 in the Halifax harbour. Two Ships collided, the Mont Blanc and the Norwegian ship the Imo, the Mont Blanc  had barrels of the highly explosive  Benzoyl, a type of gasoline, and both ships were found responsible for the collision.

The Mont Blanc blew up and the explosion ripped the ship apart, the Imo struck the Mont Blanc at 8.45 and blew up at 9.05.One gun barrel landed 5.5km away, part of the anchor weighing 517kg was found over 3km away.7 ships were destroyed,1630 buildings, which included 750 homes,3 schools,4 churches ,factories and 12 000 buildings were damaged.

The blast was felt 483km away!! It was the largest man made explosion before the atomic age. So many stories and miracles of some that survived the tragedy. No wonder they thought it was the end of the world, the exhibits amazing and moving. As I was leaving they had a whole orchestra playing music in the foyer of the building, which was special, no video or photos aloud, so that was the end of that!!

Was very hot outside and I was overdressed for the occasion!! Thank goodness i had packed some sandals in my backpack for just in case and could make a shoe swop!! Also got to get to the Crystal Glass Factory which had lovely crystal maar daar net met die oe geshop!! Beautiful pieces, glasses and vases, galore. Voel soos kind, mag net kyk en nie vat nie!! Maybe one day. Then it was time to try the free wi-fi and thank goodness it was working, last week it did not work all day ,don’t know if the storm last week has anything to do with it.

Vandag is ons op die diep see, met geen land in sig nie.Buite is dit vrek koud en die wind waai.Skip alweer aan die rol en net wit perde op die see.More is ons in Charlottetown en gaan glo 14 grade wees, so lyk my hierso begin die weer draai!! Was darem vanoggend weer in die gym en wil net nou n lekker koppie tee en ietsi gaan eet!!

Die ander dokter se vrou het ook in Boston opgeklim en haar gister ontmoet,oulike vrou,hulle  van Siri Lanka,praat gebroke engels maar ons kon mekaar darem verstaan.Nog jonk, 3 jaar terug getroud en is Biochemikus werk nie op die oomblik nie maar se sy wil graag.Nou ja tot volgende keer,More is dit Charlottetown.