Halifax
Saturday, 14th May. Halifax/ End of 2nd leg of our journey
As the closest city to the sinking of the Titanic, recovered victims were transported to - and many were buried - in Halifax. The story, and items from the doomed vessel, are displayed in the museum's collection: but we did not visit this museum!! . Peggy's Cove lighthouse is nearby, and this immaculate little lighthouse is one of Canada's favourite, watching out stoically over the Atlantic's waves.
December 1917 saw one of the greatest disasters in Canadian history, when the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship carrying munitions, collided with the Belgian Relief vessel SS Imo in "The Narrows" between upper Halifax Harbour and Bedford Basin. The resulting explosion, the Halifax Explosion, devastated the Richmond District of Halifax, killing approximately 2,000 people and injuring nearly 9,000 others. The blast was the largest artificial explosion before the development of nuclear weapons.
We left the ship at 8.15 for a 5 hour tour of Halifax. Just 13 of us on a small coach, with a non stop commentary by guide Carol. We drove for 30 minutes out to an idyllic seascape at Peggy´s Cove. Then onto the City park which had been battered by Hurricane One in 2003. This was followed by a visit to the cemetery which contained around 150 graves of the Titanic victims who had drowned in 1912 some way off Halifax; very moving but surely somewhat ghoulish, After this a visit to the historic buildings along the quayside before reaching Fort George on the Citadel just before 1pm so that we could see the changing of the guard of the 78th regiment - who became the Seaforth Highlanders in 1881. The "Scottish Soldiers" we saw were all students earning money from a part time job
.Click on any thumbnail photo and get a larger photo
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Back to the ship for lunch. Then a swim and met 2 newly arrived passengers, Rosemary and Jamie from Canada, whilst in the jacuzzi. Then got chatting to Anne, the Merry Widow, from Harrogate, on Deck 8 verandah. After Oscar´s briefing, Neill and Linda, from the Fort Lauderdale to Guayaquil 2019 Explorer cruise, accosted us,even remembering our names!!: they had been friends with Adrian and Kevin. Dined in Hot Rocks
Map for our 3rd leg: Halifax to Southampton
On to Louisberg