Day Ninety Four
The average temperature in Halifax for July 23 is twenty one degrees. Today the temperature is expected to be in the low thirties and the province is calling for a heat wave for the next few days. Sounds like a perfect day to spend at the Halifax Boardwalk.
Figuring it was going to be hot for the puppies, we set the air conditioning to twenty one and prepared their beds on the couch for a day of snoozing in the cool. We decided to make one more attempt at leaving the bedroom door open for Sophie, her favourite place to lounge is at the end of the bed, we stopped allowing it in our absence when she peed on it a few months back.
There are two bridges that cross over the Halifax Harbor between Dartmouth and Halifax. Both bridges come with a $1.25 toll to cross, As we are staying in Dartmouth we headed to the bridge closest to the Halifax Boardwalk.
I am finding it interesting to experience things that I have only seen in movies, or read about somewhere. In several movies over time, I have watched scenes where the main characters approach a toll booth, either in a hurry or in a deep discussion, when the driver lowers their window to tosses change into a basket, raising the toll arm. The last two days, I have played this scene from these movies, it’s the little experiences in life I guess.
We arrived at the boardwalk and found a parkade right beside pier, being Saturday, parking was free. The boardwalk is four kilometers long with all kinds of booths and stores selling food or tourist trinkets. The Maritime Museum Atlantic has two ships at the pier you can explore, the CSS Acadia that was built in 1912 and the last remaining WWII corvette the HMCS Sackville. We only visited the Sackville, but would visit the Acadia if we are back down there due to its long history.
The museum has done an amazing job in restoring the Sackville back to the way it looked during its days as an escort ship in WWII. Launched in 1941 the Sackville was a Single shaft, 2 fire tube Scotch boilers with a 4-cyl triple expansion steam engine, capable of cruising at 16 knots. It was well armed and had a crew of 85. The walk through allowed you to explore about 70% of the ship with museum staff moving about providing details of the ship as you went.
After exploring the ship, we continued down the boardwalk until shortly after twelve. We stopped in at a small restaurant located in one of the professional buildings along the boardwalk for some lunch, while we cooled off from the hot day in the air conditioned restaurant.
During our walk down the pier, I recognized an island in the harbor from a TV show that documented and explored abandoned locations. The island is George’s island and it’s history dating back to the mid 1700’s. I looked into finding passage to the island and found the Ambassador’s Gray Line taxi. We booked tickets for the 1:20 crossing and waited by the pier for its arrival. Once we landed on the island there were historical signs and clear walkways leading you to the fortress at the top of the hill. The island acted as a costal fortress and prison to the Acadians from 1755 to 1763.
In the early 1800’s, parts of the original fortress were removed for more modern cannons, and underground passages. By 1867 the island was pretty much decommissioned and a lighthouse was built on the western side facing the Halifax ports. During both world wars, the island was again manned by the military for anti-submarine and air defence. After the war the lighthouse keeper was the only person left on the island until 1972, it was then fully automated.
We returned to Halifax around 3:30 and figured we had time to visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. The biggest attraction I wanted, was to learn more about the Halifax explosion. Inside the museum they had massive detailed models of ships and the historical roles they played in the Atlantic. A complete section on treasure hunters, and Canada’s efforts to preserve the history of the wreckages, and of course, a large section on the explosion.
The explosion was caused when the SS Imo collided into the SS Mont-Blanc going at one knot. The collision damaged a few benzoyl barrels stored on the deck that were quickly ignited by sparks from the collision. A fire broke out and the ship was abandoned when the flames became out of control. The Mont-Blanc drifted towards the Halifax harbor where it exploded. The Mon-Blanc was incinerated into fragments tossing pieces of itself up to eight kilometers away, and killing over 1782 people. The tsunami caused by the explosion, threw the SS Imo across the harbor to the shores of Dartmouth instantly.
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