THE BIG BANG

                                                 A Terrible Accident

      Not be confused with the popular Big Band Theory of TV fame; this big   bang took place during WW I in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  This huge explosion happened in 1917 when the harbor was teeming with war ships transporting troops, supplies and munitions to Europe.

     The Narrows, appropriately named, is at the head of the harbor.  The French ship Mont Blanc was on her way out of the harbor carrying munitions ---400,000 pounds of TNT destined for Europe. The Belgian ship, Imo, had been diverted to Halifax and was sailing into the harbor.

     The Imo maneuvered a bit off course to go around a tug boat, then found herself directly in the path of the Mount Blanc. Horrified, both ships immediately went into reverse which swung their bows into each other causing a spark that set the Mont Blanc on fire.

     Aware of their cargo, the Mont Blanc  lifeboats were immediately lowered into the water and the Mont Blanc crew headed for Dartmouth on the opposite shore.  People gathered on shore to watch the burning ship drift toward Halifax.

     Those in the life boats kept shouting to the people on shore to go back over the hill, but the spectators did not understand French.  Once on shore a quick thinking sailor grabbed a baby out of its mother’s arms and ran up the hill. Of course everyone chased him, but that simple act saved many lives.

     In just twenty minutes the ship exploded with a vengeance destroying the entire north end of Nova Scotia.  It was the largest man made explosion before Hiroshima.  The Halifax explosion instantly killed 1800-2000 people and injured another 9000.

      A wire sent to stop a troop train heading to Nova Scotia instead made it to Boston. Only two hours after the explosion a medical relief train was ready to leave Boston.  A massive international relief effort followed to rapidly rebuild the city.

     In gratitude for the help Boston rendered during that awful time, Nova Scotia still, decades later, sends a large spruce tree for public display to Boston every holiday season.

THE BIG BANG

                                       A Horror Never Forgotten

           While riding in Nova Scotia from one town to the next our guide explained about Nova Scotia’s Big Bang during WW II. A similar thing happened in Bergen, Norway in 1944.

Halifax’s good harbor was teeming with warships transporting troops, supplies, and munitions to Europe in 1917. The French ship Mont Blanc had been refitted inside with wood to enable her to carry munitions. On that day among her munitions was 400,000 pounds of TNT.

The captain was cautious, strictly enforcing a no smoking policy among his crew. The men were not even allowed to carry a book of matches. He did not want any possibility of a spark.

  The Belgian ship, Imo, unable to keep up with her convoy was diverted to Halifax to join another. Each evening a submarine net was dropped across the harbor entrance and since the Imo did not make it into the harbor before the net was dropped she was forced to remain outside the night of December 5. 

 On the next fateful morning the Mont Blanc was heading out of the harbor as the Imo was sailing into the harbor. In the Narrows, appropriately named, at the head of the harbor, the Imo maneuvered a bit off track to go around a tug boat, then found herself in the path of the Mont Blanc. Horrified, both ships immediately went into reverse, which swung their bows into each other. That spark set the Mont Blanc on fire.

Since the Mont Blanc crew was aware of their cargo, the lifeboats were lowered immeiately. The crew hurriedly headed the life boats toward Dartmouth on the opposite shore as they watched the ship drift toward Halifax.

A fellow crossing the bridge on his way home from a night shift saw the fire. He immediately turned around and telegraphed an incoming train full of troops to stop and not continue on to Halifax as something big was happening in the harbor. Fortunately the train got the wire and by stopping probably saved hundreds of lives.

The crew in the lifeboats was shouting to the people on shore to go back and head over the hill. But the crew was French and no one understood what they were saying. Once on shore one quick thinking sailor grabbed a baby out of the arms of a mother as he ran up the hill. Needless to say everyone chased him, and that single act saved many lives.

Many people in the city were standing at their windows watching the burning ship. Just twenty minutes after the ignition, the ship exploded into the largest man made explosion ever made before Hiroshima. Windows were blown out of buildings for miles. The barrel of one of the ships cannon was hurled three miles away, and a half-ton anchor shank landed two miles in the opposite direction.

Between 1800-2000 people were killed instantly. Another 9000 people were injured. Because of the chaos that followed it was difficult to get an accurate count as the injured were quickly removed to a hospital out of town. The whole north end of Nova Scotia was destroyed.

The wire sent to the troop train continued on to Boston, and within two hours after the explosion a medical relief train was ready to roll. Supplies and building materials followed. Tents were set up on the Common to house the many who found themselves homeless. A massive international relief effort took place and the city was rapidly rebuilt.

In gratitude for the help Boston rendered during that awful time, Nova Scotia still, decades later, sends a large spruce tree to Boston every holiday season for public display.

SOME NOVA SCOTIA TRIVIA

                                                     Fun Tid Bits

A journey through the Canadian Maritimes is rich in cultural diversity, charm, and absolutely gorgeous natural beauty. The historic and picturesque province has many historic villages, a rugged coastline with winding roads, and dense forests. Nova Scotia with its northeastern chunk of land known as Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island (PEI) make up Canada’s Maritime provinces. Samuel de Champlain discovered Nova Scotia in 1604. Nova Scotia is Latin for New Scotland. The native people were Mi’kmaq, but commonly called Micmac today, and the two terms are interchangeable.

Yarmouth, a city of 7800, is located on the southern coast of the island where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Bay of Fundy. The city was established in 1761 because of its proximity to New England ports. The Acadian coast runs 70 miles up the west coast from Yarmouth to Digby.

 

St. Mary’s Church is thought to have the tallest wooden church spire in North America. Built in 1903-05, the gray shingled church cost $54,000 to build. Forty ton of rock at the base of the 185-foot tall steeple helps to stabilize it from swaying when strong winds blow in over St. Mary’s Bay. The original steeple was 212 feet high but a 1914 fire destroyed the top 27 or so feet., and that part of the steeple was never replaced.

No one really knows where the altar was intended to go because nearly a century ago some well intentioned soul, simply took it off the dock, went through customs while a customs agent looked the other way, and delivered the altar to the church.

The organ in the church was originally ordered for the university, but when it arrived it was too big for the intended space, so St. Mary’s and St. Anne’s simply switched organs. The church paid the university one dollar for the 990 pipe organ.

Bagpipes and kilts are a common sight in the Maritimes. Each island has its own tartan.

Peggy’s Cove, a quaint fishing village west and a wee bit south of Halifax, with a population of about 60, was established in 1811 when Nova Scotia issued a land grant of 800 acres to six families. Imagine the havoc brought to this picturesque little village when hundreds of media people descended on it after the crash of Swiss Air flight 101 in 1998.

The 1868 wooden lighthouse with a beacon marked the entrance to St. Margaret’s Bay. The present 50 foot high concrete octagon lighthouse replaced the wooden one in 1914. The lighthouse was automated in 1958. During the summer months the local post office occupies space in the base of the lighthouse.

The only restaurant in town did an excellent job getting people in and out. Every picture I've seen about the Maritimes has had a picture of Peggy’s Cove---it is well photographed!

You may want to read post on 10/10: The Order Gd Cheer

THE TITANIC SINKING

                                     Titanic Connection to Nova Scotia

            I somehow always thought about the sinking of the Titanic as being very far away, but it actually sank northeast of Nova Scotia, Canada.      

            The site of the sinking had already become a debris field when the cable laying ship, Mackay Bennett, under contract to the White Star Lines, arrived on the scene. Survivors had already been picked up by the Olympia and taken to New York.

            The ship arrived with a couple hundred body bags and gallons of embalming fluid. Bodies were picked up and numbered in sequence. Some were identified, but many were not. There was much controversy regarding whether to bring the bodies ashore or to bury them at sea.

            It is said that the recovery of a little boy was the determining factor for the crew of the Mackay Bennett to decide that the bodies would be taken ashore in Halifax. The bodies were taken to the ice rink where they were placed on the ice to be kept cool. A total of 212 bodies were recovered.

Body number 4 was a little boy about two years old who became known as “orphan boy”. It is documented that a young mother, named Alma Paulson, was on her way to meet her husband in Chicago, as he had become successful enough to send for her. She and her four small children were berthed in the lower part of the ship. Alma ignored the first warning bells because she thought it was a drill or not serious.

As time went on she heard a commotion in the passageway and when checking she could see water covering the passageway. She then took her children up on deck only to learn that all the lifeboats were already in the water. She gathered her children around her and to keep them calm while she played her harmonica. She and all the children drowned. Her body was identified, and it was thought that “orphan boy” was her small son, so he was buried in the grave at her feet. However, recent DNA testing has proved that the boy was not related to her, so he is again “orphan boy”

            A special burial service was held at St. John’s Church in Halifax. The Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish cemeteries all accommodated the bodies of their faith. I’m not sure how that determination was made for the unidentified bodies.

            On my visit to the Protestant cemetery I learned that the White Star Line put the same size stone on every grave regardless of the class of passage. The stones, set with a slight curve, simulate the shape of a ship. Some families of identified passengers have erected a more elaborate headstone for their loved one, but none was ostentatious. It was a sobering visit.

           

GRAND PRE, NOVA SCOTIA

                                            A True Historic Place
                                               

            At the Grand Pre National Historic Site we were joined by a young docent dressed in period costume. He told us, “In 1680 Pierre Melanson, his wife and five children escaped from Port Royal because it was always under French-English conflict and settled in Grand Pre, French meaning great meadow. He and others who joined him built a dyke system to hold back the tides in Minas Basin creating rich pastureland for grazing and fertile fields for crops.” He demonstrated how the dykes worked with a small model.

            Grand Pre soon outgrew Port Royal, and by the mid 18^th century was the largest Acadian community around the Bay of Fundy and the coastline of Nova Scotia. The Minas area became the breadbasket of the colony and the Acadians prospered. Today a lot of apples as well as corn are grown in the Annapolis valley.

            In 1713 part of Acadia became Nova Scotia with Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal) its capital. The Acadians chose to remain and live under British rule. An oath of allegiance to the British crown was a point of contention for the next forty years. Many did sign the oath in 1730 when promised that they would not have to bare arms against the French.

            But in 1744 when England and France were again at war everything changed. Attacks and counterattacks occurred. Halifax became the capital of the colony in 1749.  The majority of the people living in the British colony were Acadians, their numbers were growing, and they lived on the most fertile farmland.

In 1755 the boats and guns of the Acadians living in the Minas area were confiscated. The governor decided to expel the Acadians from Nova Scotia and disperse them in British colonies south from Massachusetts to Georgia. The men and boys of the area were ordered to the church and were told they were to be deported as soon as ships arrived to take them away. Families were split apart and before 1755 ended more than 6000 Acadians were carried away. Their villages were burned to the ground.  Thousands more followed until 1763 when the two countries were again at peace.

Evangeline

       Henry Wadsworth Longfellow told this tragic story in his poem Evangeline in 1847. Grand-Pre was forgotten for nearly a century until   Americans wanted to visit the birthplace of the poem’s heroine. Of the original village only the dykelands and a row of willows remain. A lovely bronze stature of Evangeline stands at the front of the walkway to the church that has been reconstructed at the Grand-Pre Historic Site. It is said in many circles that Evangeline is the most famous Acadian who never lived.

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLIGHTS

                                    Interesting City Sites

               

         Halifax, the 250-year-old provincial capital with a population of 300,000, is also the province’s largest city. The city has a long sea faring and military history. The deep ice-free natural harbor is the core of existence and the city’s most outstanding resource. The ten-mile long harbor is shaped like a spoon with the wide bowl at the end.

     The changing of the guard at the Citadel takes place on the hour, so we aimed to be there in time to see it. After a two-hour rest the guards are again on duty where they stand at attention for an hour. During that time they are allowed to take 15 paces a total of seven times to keep the circulation flowing in their legs. The Citadel, is a hilltop, star shaped, granite fortress that dominates the city. Overlooking the harbor it offers a strategic view of the bay and a magnificent view of the city.

            The present Citadel, completed in 1856, took 27 years to build and is the fourth built on the site. Its construction was at the urging of the Duke of Wellington with a cost of 242,000 pounds. In its day the Citadel represented the best of defensive military technology. However, a shot has never been fired.

            From 1749-1906 the Citadel was under British rule. In 1906 it was transferred to the Canadian Department of Defense, and in 1956 designated a National Historic Site. During the summer, college students dressed in period uniforms and kilts of the 78^th Highlanders, who originally manned the fort, demonstrate various military drills. The changing of the guard was as precise and professional as that of any military career man. I loved the kilts the college students were wearing. What a great way to learn one’s city’s history.

Prince Edward, father of Queen Victoria, commissioned the Old Town Clock  in 1803. The clock on each side is a different size, as the population in each direction, N,E,S,W, determined the clock size. Staring at this unusual four-sided clock all I could say was, “Amazing.”

           

            Point Pleasant Park is still leased from England for the sum of one shilling a year. Each year there is a ceremony when an official from Halifax gives the crown the one shilling. Then it is given back to Halifax because the price has never changed, but the shilling is no longer available, so that one is guarded carefully.

The Public Gardens (1865) cover 17 acres in the heart of the city. Early afternoon most of us elected to walk through the lovely Victorian gardens. Part way through the park we heard music. We stopped and listened to the concert being played in the quaint gazebo. Talk about perfect timing! It was a great surprise on a gorgeous day. The flowers in the park were lovely and it seemed everything was in bloom.