Halifax Nova Scotia

Halifax was one of the highlights of my recent Canadian adventure! Visiting the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic was my chief mission on the trip, and I enjoyed every minute of the museum.

The walk along the Halifax harbor was a real treat, and it took about 25 minutes to reach the museum. It is still a very busy working harbor and the water was dotted with seaworthy vessels of every description. The boardwalk very nicely developed along the ocean, with shops all along the way, as well as restaurants. I was intrigued by the rickshaw runners, who were handsome, young American men that jogged along with their passengers in tow! There was a live band playing mournful music opposite the museum.

Nova Scotia’s coastline has a very high number of shipwrecks and I found their stories fascinating. There were several ships whose stories were especially colorful or significant, and I’d love to share a bit of that history with you!

HMS Tribune (1797) – a victim of pride! The overconfident captain refused to take a pilot and was not familiar with the craggy coastline. She ran aground, and once more the captain hoped that high tide would refloat them. Only 14 survived of the 240 aboard, a victim of poor judgement and pride on the part of the captain!

Saladin (1844) – Mutiny! Piracy! A smuggler was on board who had escaped from a Peruvian prison. He was tempted by the wealth and pitted one half of the crew against the others and led a mutiny, butchering them and throwing them overboard. A day later, the smuggler and his son had not been forthcoming with the bounty, and they were killed. With no navigator left, they sailed off course and right onto the rocks of Nova Scotia, where they were rescued. Their stories were suspicious and they faced the last piracy trail held in Nova Scotia. Four were hanged and two acquitted.




Cobequid (1914) Salvage vs looting! The Cobequid sunk as a result of a misplaced buoy. A horde of looters stripped the ship of her finery, as it took a long time to sink and there was plenty of opportunity to do such. Rules were set in place afterwards to determine exactly what was looting and what was salvage.

SS Atlantic (1873) One of the grandest ships and the worst ocean disaster in history until the Titanic, with a loss of 562 lives. With a mix of “good coal” and “bad coal” the ships were propelled and the determination of coal was critical. The good coal was heavier and more expensive and this ship had too little good coal and tried to make it into the harbor at night on April 1, 1873 at 3:00 a.m. 562 of the 933 people lost their lives and were buried in mass graves.



Titanic (1912) Depsite ice warmings, Titanic steamed full speed into a massive field of icebergs. She struck one at 11:50 p.m. April 14 and sank two hours and forty minutes later. With 2200 people aboard, only 712 survivied to the rescued by the Carpathia. 328 bodies were found; 150 were buried in Halifax cemeteries. (Many were buried at sea or returned to relatives, but many people could not afford to send someone to claim the bodies.)

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mma/wrecks/tours/ for more details online for the shipwrecks
http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mma/AtoZ/HalExpl.html to visit the museum online!