Halifax, Canada

Today we are docked in Halifax.  Our tour is not until this afternoon so we do not have to rush with breakfast.  This is the capital of Nova Scotia and a major port city.

We ate and then returned to the cabin to let our food settle before we swam.  We went up to the pool ar around 9:30am and the water was cold.  Really made you move faster.  The air temp is about 40F but sunny.  So we did our exercises and the water warmed as we went.  Tomorrow we will start later in the day.  That way you have the entire day for the water to warm up.

Then back to the cabin and an early lunch as our tour leaves at 12:25pm.  We were on the tour of Halifax and the Titanic experience.  There is a Maritime Museum of the Atlantic where they have some of the artifacts from the Titanic.  Then we drove out to Fairview Lawn Cemetery.  This cemetery contains 121 graves of the victims from the Titanic.

On April 14, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank.  On Monday April 15th the Carpathia arrived on the scene and rescued more than 700 survivors.  The Carpathia sailed to New York and the grim task of recovering the victims was given to four Canadian vessels.

On April 17th, the Halifax based Cable Steamer Mackay-Bennett set sail with a minister, an undertaker, and a cargo of ice, coffins and canvas bags.  She arrived to the site on April 20th and during the next five days, the crew recovered 306 bodies, 116 of them were buried at sea.

A second Cable Steamer, Minia, left on April 22nd, and after eight days of searching, recovered 17 bodies, two of which were buried at sea.

The majority of the bodies were unloaded in Halifax.  59 bodies were shipped out by train to their families.  The rest were buried in three Halifax cemeteries between May 3rd and June 12th.

It was interesting to visit the cemetery.  I will post pictures tomorrow.

Back on the ship, we rested and then got ready for dinner.  There is a repeaters party tonight but we will probably not go as of the 450 passengers, 420 are repeaters.  Will be crowded.  And tomorrow night we have a party for the Gold, Platinum and Titanium passengers.  We are Gold but will become Platinum on our next cruise.

So we will dress for dinner and have a cocktail at one of the lounges.  Tomorrow we are in Bar Harbor, Maine.  We get the hour we lost back tonight.