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.
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