Life Through the Lens: Titanic

Friday, October 8, 2010

Titanic

The city of Hallifax, Nova Scotia & the Titanic disaster are linked, probably more closely than many Nova Scotians would like. It was trans-Atlantic cable laying boats that were sent to recover bodies of Titanic victims from the North Atlantic. The survivors went to New York City. The dead went to Halifax.

328 bodies were recovered from the water, with 209 being returned to Halifax. 119 badly damaged, or deteriorated bodies were buried at sea. Of the 209 brought to Halifax, 150 are buried there - 19 in Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetary, 10 in Baron de Hirsch Jewish Cemetery, and 121 in Fairview Lawn Cemetary. 44 of these souls remain unidentified. (The rest that were identified were shipped out to their families')

There are Titanic artifacts that you can see at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, a museum well worth its cost of admission. These include one of a handful of surviving deck chairs (that's it below) & a tiny pair of shoes that belonged to the "unknown child," who was recovered by rescue crews a few days after the Titanic sinking and was unidentifiable.

Seeing the artifacts & headstones (almost all identical & provided by the White Star Line) was really interesting & made the disaster seem very real, despite the almost 100 years that have passed since.