Among many displays, there is an extensive memorial to the Titanic as well as the Halifax Explosion. Consequently, we have many pictures to share with you about this incredible museum. We struggled with how to do this blog post and finally decided that to keep the "flow" of the displays, all photos needed to be included in the blog, rather than put some in and the rest in an album link.After paying our admission fee and getting a map of the displays, we set off. Interesting display in the lobby area...
Pirate's Fate
Piracy was robbery at sea and was considered so serious that the penalty was not only death but also ritualistic execution. A special Admiralty Court tried and executed pirates. After they were hanged on the beach between high and low tides their bodies were tarred and hung in chains called a "gibbet" at the harbour entrance as a warning to other mariners.
This is a replica of the pirate Edward Jordan executed in Halifax in 1809. He was "gibbeted" at Black Rock in Point Pleasant Park. The same year, the Royal Navy also gibbeted four mutineers on McNabs Island. Any ship entering Halifax Harbour in 1809 was greeted by this gauntlet of rotting corpses swinging in the wind. Jordan's skull was later retrieved and given to the Nova Scotia Museum....
We started off in the Ship Chandlery, Wm. Robertson and Son Limited...
A fixture on the Halifax Waterfront since the 1840s the Robertson Ship Chandlery has been restored to the way it looked at the turn of the last century. Soak up the atmosphere of a bygone era or try your hand at making your own nautical wreath or rope mat....
The Small Craft Gallery serves as an ideal showcase for the ingenuity and skills of many Nova Scotian marine designers. From day sailors for family outings to open water racing craft to clever designs for duck hunters, we think you'll be impressed.
Goose Boat c. 1900
Big Island, Merigomish
In early spring this craft was used among the ice floes of Merigomish Harbour to hunt Brant geese and other waterfowl. Both spring hunting and the use of 'sneak boats' were made illegal by the Migratory Bird Act of 1917. However, many stories tell of their use into the 1950s.
This type of boat was often found along the Northumberland Strait on Nova Scotia's north shore. Hull shape, construction techniques and the type of propulsion varied according to the skill of the builder. Our research indicates this boat was built by "a sporting Presbyterian minister" around 1890...
The year was 1917 and Halifax, like the rest of the world, was fully embroiled in the First World War. Serving as the assembly and departure point for transatlantic convoys carrying supplies and soldiers to the war effort overseas, the small city was quickly evolving into a world class port and major base of naval operations.
Halifax was a hub of activity. Troops bound for battle swept in and out of the city, labourers flowed to and from work as the war created a significant industrial and residential boom, and children of all ages wandered to their schools for lessons. In a time of war and devastation, Halifax was thriving.
That all changed the morning of December 6, 1917. Approximately six minutes after 9:00 am, a dreadful mis-communication between two ships in the harbour resulted in an Explosion of cataclysmic proportions. 2,000 people were killed and 9,000 more were injured. The city was reduced to ruins and debris....
On the morning of December 6th, 1917, the steamship Mont-Blanc, inbound from the Atlantic with war material for France, passed the Halifax Naval Yard on its port side and entered The Narrows. The Norwegian ship Imo left its protected anchorage in Bedford Basin, outbound for New York to load food and clothing for the people of occupied Belgium. Passing the rail tracks and piers of Richmond Depot to starboard, Imo steamed into the same constricted channel In the homes, schools, and factories lining the sloping shores, residents started a new day in a busy wartime port...
For over two and a half centuries, the southwest entrance to The Narrows has been dominated by naval power, first British and later Canadian. From the 1750s onward, British military forces occupied that part of Mi'kma'ki that was to become the city of Halifax. The region was drawn into the orbit of a maritime empire that was rising to worldwide dominance. Halifax became an important node in circuits of trade and warfare that would define the modern world.
This reach of the harbour supported military operations in the Seven Years' War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812; it would do so again with the outbreak of global conflict in 1914. Through its naval connections, Halifax became enmeshed in patterns of human migration across and around the world's oceans, including the movement of freed and enslaved Africans. The descendants of these migrants--voluntary of coerced--settled throughout the colony of Nova Scotia, including the village of Africville at The Narrows' northwest end.
Middle - 1970's Sea Sparrow Missile, 11 miles...
Front - 1990's SM 2 Missile, +30 miles
Use during and after World War II, this torpedo could be launched from either submarines or surface vessels. The warhead carried nearly 363 kg (800 lbs) of explosives and the torpedo was propelled by a four-cylinder, radial engine fuelled by shale oil, turning counter-rotating propellers.
This torpedo does not have a warhead but is fitted with a "Blowing Head", which allows it to be recovered when used in practice firings. Portions of the hull have been cut away to reveal the buoyancy chamber, fuel tanks, engine, and other mechanical features....
Niobe was the firsts flagship of the Canadian Navy. She was built in 1898 as one of the Diadem Class cruisers built for Britain's Royal Navy. Theses cruisers were very large but expensive and quickly outdated. Niobe served in the Boer War and was presented to Canada in 1910. Her large size proved a challenge for Canada's infant navy.
Niobe spent much of her career in port to save costs and to allow repairs after she ran aground at Cape Sable in 1911. She went to war in 1914 intercepting German ships along the American coast for a year until she was converted to a depot ship at the Halifax Naval Yard. In 1917, the Halifax Explosion badly damaged Niobe and killed 23 of her crew. She continued as a depot ship until 1920 when she was sold for scrap....
This was the first ship commissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy, being one of two British cruises purchased in 1910. Already 19 years old, she was based at Esquimalt, British Columbia. During World War I, Rainbow patrolled the Pacific coast as far south as Panama. She became a depot ship in 1917 and was sold for scrap three years later. This "sailorbuilt" (homemade) model uses eyelets from boots for portholes....
One of the most poignant objects that evoke the solemn and the personal devastation of the sinking are the shoes of Titanic's Unknown Child and a mortuary bag which was used to identify and safeguard the personal effects of Titanic victims.
This pair of leather children's shoes is believed to be from Body No. 4, the "Unknown Child". This very young boy, recovered by the crew of Mackay-Bennett, was buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax. In 2007, as a result of extensive DNA testing, the child's shoes were identified as those of 19 month old Sidney Leslie Goodwin from England. The research was peer-reviewed and confirmed in April 2011. Mr. Goodwin was enroute to Niagara Falls for a job offer, the entire family, including Sidney were lost...
Just before the outbreak of World War I Mr. John Patterson of Dartmouth, NS served as junior engineer aboard the S.S. Foylemore of Liverpool, England. Fro a sketch of her main engine which he drew at the time, he built this working model during the 1960's.
The Foylemore's engine developed about 1,800 horsepower on steam supplied at 180 lbs. per square inch by two coal-fired boilers (not shown). With the shaft turning at 70 r.p.m. it gave the ship of nearly 4,000 tons a speed of 12 knots....
Wow, what an incredible tour! They certainly took pirating seriously back then! Of all the boats you took pictures of the one that intrigued me the most was the sneak boat. I love old waterfowl history and seeing what they used to use back in the day.
ReplyDeleteExcellent museum...we thoroughly enjoyed it!
DeleteAnother lovely tour. Boy you have seen a lot of stuff ... if it was not for blogging how would you remember it all! lol
ReplyDeleteYou've got that right! Just wish we we're so far behind...but although a lot of work, we're so glad we are documenting our travels in a blog! So fun to look back on all we have done and seen.
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