RMS Titanic & the Halifax Explosion

[Manky Monkey]

2.40 in the morning, April the 14th/15th, 1912. The SS Titanic, (steam ship, although it carried mail so was also referred to as RMS, Royal Mail Steamer), the largest man-made object on Earth at that time, strikes an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean & within 3 hours, sinks 3 miles to the sea bed with the loss of almost 1,500 lives. On it's maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, it was known as the Millionaire's Special as it carried some of the richest & most influential people of the age, but the crew & passengers came from all over the World.
A few days after the sinking, ships were sent out from Halifax, Nova Scotia, the nearest sea port, 700 miles away, to recover the bodies, floating in the sea, wearing their white life jackets, that had been reported by passing craft. Most had died of hypothermia after jumping into the icy waters wearing pyjamas or evening wear, leading the newspapers to report that they looked liked they'd simply fallen asleep. The salt water & cold aged the bodies -most were estimated to be 20 years or more older than they were later found to be.
To begin with, the recovery crews buried the most decomposed bodies at sea, stitched in canvas bags & weighted down with scrap metal. A public outcry stopped that practice though & the remainder of the 300 or so fatalities found were taken back to Halifax, where the local ice rink became a morgue for embalming & identification. The White Star Line paid for many to be transported home to relatives, while the rest were buried in 3 cemeteries, for different religions, in Halifax.
While I was on holiday in Canada recently I visited the Atlantic Museum in Halifax & the Fairview Lawn Cemetery. 100 years later it's still very moving & grimly fascinating. 

[Manky Monkey]

Ever heard the expression "Re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic", meaning appearing to do something while not actually fixing a problem?
This is one of those deckchairs. It has the company Star logo carved into the headrest. Recovered from the Atlantic after the sinking.

[Manky Monkey]

Part of a wall carving from the 1st class saloon. In sea faring tradition, many wooden pieces were carved by sailors into mementos or household objects for their families. The museum had several rolling pins, bread boards etc, made from wood from the Titanic.

[Manky Monkey]

A poster advertising the planned return voyage.

[Manky Monkey]

Some of the graves in Fairview Lawn Cemetery. I'd read a book on the sinking during my holiday. Felt odd to stand in front of the headstones & recognise the names & remember their stories.

[Manky Monkey]

.

[Manky Monkey]

.

[Manky Monkey]

A passenger from Southsea, England.

[Manky Monkey]

.

[Manky Monkey]

This unknown child has come to symbolise all the 53 children lost in the sinking, despite the famous "Women & children first" order.

[Manky Monkey]

A personal inscription from Bruce Ismay, President of the White Star line, for one of his staff.

[Manky Monkey]

The grave of Irishman Joseph Dawson. With the release of James Cameron's film, many fans believed this to be the resting place of fictional character Jack Dawson. It's still often covered in flowers, movie ticket stubs etc.

[Manky Monkey]

Strangely, Frederick Sawyer, a 3rd class passenger travelling from Southampton to Michigan, came from the village of Malshanger, about 5 miles from where I live.

[Manky Monkey]

.

[Manky Monkey]

Just 5 years later in 1917, at the height of the First World War, Halifax became the centre of another seafaring disaster.
Being a large port, jutting out into the Atlantic, it was a very important Naval centre with hundreds of ships passing through, collecting troops, refuelling & forming fleets to head out to sea.
Crews had spent several days loading a French munitions ship, the Mont Blanc, with high explosives. They had to wear special cloth slippers over their boots to prevent sparks as they packed the shells on board. The decks were filled with drums of oil & fuel. On the morning of December the 6th a passing Norwegian ship, the SS Imo, collided with it, starting a fire. Knowing what was on board, the Mont Blanc's crew desperately steered the ship away from the rest of the fleet moored in the harbour, beaching her in front of the Richmond District of Halifax. 20 minutes later a devastating explosion ripped the ship apart & set off a chain reaction among the other vessels in the harbour. Until the atomic bombs of the Second World War, it was the biggest man-made explosion in the World. It was said to have been heard 3,000 miles away in Liverpool, England. Over 2,000 people were killed with a vast swathe of the city flattened in the blast. All the water was blown out of the harbour, creating a tidal wave across the remains of the town.
A single ship survived the blast. This one.