Download or read book Death Ship of Halifax Harbour written by Steven Edwin Laffoley and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "On an uncomfortably muggy morning in early autumn, I found myself standing at the far end of a wide, battered wharf in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia, looking for a man in knee-high, white rubber boots answering to the name of Captain Red Beard..I'd come in search of a death ship, or at least the historical whispers of a death ship -- an elegant old steamer that limped into Halifax harbour during the early hours of April 9, 1866, with more than a thousand Irish and German emigrants squeezed into its cramped, creaking holds. And I'd come in search of what travelled with them and, in fact, inside many of them: Asiatic cholera. And, finally, I'd come in search of the intertwining tales of those lives inexorably changed by history's worst cholera epidemic, which killed tens of thousands from Mecca to Manhattan to McNab's Island in the mouth of Halifax harbour." So begins another strange and surprising adventure of writer Steven Laffoley as he explores historic McNab's Island in search of Halifax during its time of cholera. As he investigates the rich history of the island and searches for clues to the many dark, cholera-ship tales, Steven confronts the nature of fear and the fear of nature, including fetid marshes, abandoned buildings, a berry-mad bear, a love-starved beaver, a gaggle of naked maidens, and two drunken revolutionaries just looking for some fun. Death Ship of Halifax Harbour is a fascinating and engaging tale of fate, fear and hope.
Download or read book The Great Halifax Explosion written by John U. Bacon and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER The "riveting" (National Post) tick-tock account of the largest manmade explosion in history prior to the atomic bomb, and the equally astonishing tales of survival and heroism that emerged from the ashes “Enthralling. ... Gripping. ... A captivating and emotionally investing journey.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette After steaming out of New York City on December 1, 1917, laden with a staggering three thousand tons of TNT and other explosives, the munitions ship Mont-Blanc fought its way up the Atlantic coast, through waters prowled by enemy U-boats. As it approached the lively port city of Halifax, Mont-Blanc's deadly cargo erupted with the force of 2.9 kilotons of TNT—the most powerful explosion ever visited on a human population, save for HIroshima and Nagasaki. Mont-Blanc was vaporized in one fifteenth of a second; a shockwave leveled the surrounding city. Next came a thirty-five-foot tsunami. Most astounding of all, however, were the incredible tales of survival and heroism that soon emerged from the rubble. This is the unforgettable story told in John U. Bacon's The Great Halifax Explosion: a ticktock account of fateful decisions that led to doom, the human faces of the blast's 11,000 casualties, and the equally moving individual stories of those who lived and selflessly threw themselves into urgent rescue work that saved thousands. The shocking scale of the disaster stunned the world, dominating global headlines even amid the calamity of the First World War. Hours after the blast, Boston sent trains and ships filled with doctors, medicine, and money. The explosion would revolutionize pediatric medicine; transform U.S.-Canadian relations; and provide physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who studied the Halifax explosion closely when developing the atomic bomb, with history's only real-world case study demonstrating the lethal power of a weapon of mass destruction. Mesmerizing and inspiring, Bacon's deeply-researched narrative brings to life the tragedy, bravery, and surprising afterlife of one of the most dramatic events of modern times.
Download or read book Dead in Halifax written by Craig Ferguson and published by Formac Publishing Company. This book was released on 2022-11-01 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stories from the lives of the notable and the notorious who ended up in Halifax’s five historic downtown cemeteries An amazing array of people have lived – and died – in Halifax since the arrival of English settlers in 1749. In this book author Craig Ferguson recounts the life stories of fascinating characters as well as ordinary people with extraordinary experiences who are buried in downtown Halifax’s historic cemeteries. The book features more than 50 individuals and their adventures — from scoundrels to heroes, children to generals, fire chiefs to pilots, and everything in between. There’s new light cast on the lives of better known Nova Scotians too, including Robert Stanfield, Joseph Howe and Viola Desmond. Harsh realities emerge regarding the city’s past, as Craig Ferguson explores the segregation of African Nova Scotians even after death in a section of the Camp Hill cemetery. This book will engage and inform anyone with an interest in Halifax’s colourful past.
Download or read book The Cowkeeper s Wish written by Tracy Kasaboski and published by Douglas & McIntyre. This book was released on 2018-09-15 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1840s, a young cowkeeper and his wife arrive in London, England, having walked from coastal Wales with their cattle. They hope to escape poverty, but instead they plunge deeper into it, and the family, ensconced in one of London’s “black holes,” remains mired there for generations. The Cowkeeper’s Wish follows the couple’s descendants in and out of slum housing, bleak workhouses and insane asylums, through tragic deaths, marital strife and war. Nearly a hundred years later, their great-granddaughter finds herself in an altogether different London, in southern Ontario. In The Cowkeeper’s Wish, Kristen den Hartog and Tracy Kasaboski trace their ancestors’ path to Canada, using a single family’s saga to give meaningful context to a fascinating period in history—Victorian and then Edwardian England, the First World War and the Depression. Beginning with little more than enthusiasm, a collection of yellowed photographs and a family tree, the sisters scoured archives and old newspapers, tracked down streets, pubs and factories that no longer exist, and searched out secrets buried in crumbling ledgers, building on the fragments that remained of family tales. While this family story is distinct, it is also typical, and so all the more worth telling. As a working-class chronicle stitched into history, The Cowkeeper’s Wish offers a vibrant, absorbing look at the past that will captivate genealogy enthusiasts and readers of history alike.
Download or read book Death in the Peaceable Kingdom written by Dimitry Anastakis and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2015-05-28 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Death in the Peaceable Kingdom is an intelligent, innovative response to the incorrect assumption that Canadian history is dry and uninspiring. Using the "hooks" of murder, execution, assassination, and suicide, Dimitry Anastakis introduces readers to the full scope of post-Confederation Canadian history. Beginning with the assassination of Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Anastakis recounts the deaths of famous Canadians such as Louis Riel, Tom Thomson, and Pierre Laporte. He also introduces lesser-known events such as the execution of shell-shocked deserter Pte. Harold Carter during the First World War and the suicide of suspected communist Herbert Norman in Cairo during the Cold War. The book concludes with recent Canadian deaths including the suicides of Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons as a result of cyberbullying. Complementing the chapters are short vignettes—"Murderous Moments" and "Tragic Tales"—that point to broader themes and issues. The book also contains a number of "Active History" exercises such as activities, assignments, and primary document analyses. A timeline, 24 images, and further reading suggestions are included.
Download or read book Blizzard of Glass written by Sally M. Walker and published by Henry Holt and Company (BYR). This book was released on 2011-11-22 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On December 6, 1917, two ships collided in Halifax Harbour. One ship was loaded top to bottom with munitions and one held relief supplies, both intended for wartorn Europe. The resulting blast flattened two towns, Halifax and Dartmouth, and killed nearly 2,000 people. As if that wasn't devastating enough, a blizzard hit the next day, dumping more than a foot of snow on the area and paralyzing much-needed relief efforts. Fascinating, edge-of-your-seat storytelling based on original source material conveys this harrowing account of tragedy and recovery. This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum.
Download or read book Curse of the Narrows written by Laura M. Mac Donald and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2009-05-26 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1917, the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was crowded with ships leaving for war-torn Europe. On December 6th, two of them-the Mont Blanc and the Imo-collided in the Narrows, a hard-to-navigate stretch of the harbor. Ablaze, and with explosions on her deck filling the sky, the Mont Blanc grounded against the city's docks. As thousands rushed to their windows and into the streets to watch, she exploded with such force that the 3,121 tons of her iron hull vaporized in a cloud that shot up more than 2,000 feet; the explosion was so unusual that Robert Oppenheimer would study its effects to predict the devastation of an atomic bomb. The blast caused a giant wave that swept over parts of the city, followed by a slick, black rain that fell for ten minutes. Much of the city was flattened, and not one in 12,000 buildings within a 16-mile radius left undamaged. More than 1,600 Haligonians were killed and 6,000 injured; and within twenty-four hours, a blizzard had isolated Halifax from the world. Set vividly against the background of World War I, Curse of the Narrows is the first major account of the world's largest pre-atomic explosion, the epic relief mission from Boston, and the riveting trial of the Mont Blanc's captain and pilot. Laura M. Mac Donald is as adept at describing the dynamics of a chain reaction explosion as she is at chronicling unforgettable human dramas of miraculous survival, unfathomable loss, and the medical breakthroughs in pediatrics and eye surgery that followed the disaster . Using primary sources--many of which haven't been read in decades and--with a wonderful feel for narrative history, Mac Donald chronicles one of the most compelling and dramatic events of the 20th century.
Download or read book Aftershock written by Janet Maybee and published by Nimbus+ORM. This book was released on 2015-10-16 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the greatest maritime disasters in history is reexamined in light of new evidence in this revealing chronicle of the 1917 Halifax explosion. On December 6, 1917, harbor pilot Francis Mackey was guiding the SS Mont Blanc, a French munitions ship, into Bedford Basin to join a convoy across the Atlantic when it was rammed by the Belgian Relief vessel SS Imo. The resulting massive explosion destroyed Halifax's north end and left at least two thousand people dead, including pilot William Hayes aboard Imo. The tragedy left the country in shock—and looking for someone to blame. Federal government and naval officials found in Pilot Mackey a convenient target for public anger. Charged with manslaughter, he was imprisoned, villainized in the press, and denied his pilot's license even after the charges were dropped. A century later he is still unfairly linked to the tragedy. Through interviews with Mackey's relatives, transcripts, letters, and newly exposed government documents, author Janet Maybee explores the circumstances leading up to the Halifax Explosion, the question of culpability, and the unjust, deliberate persecution that followed for Mackey and his family.
Download or read book Ghosts of the Titanic written by Julie Lawson and published by Scholastic Canada. This book was released on 2011 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A teenage boy finds himself caught up in a century-old mystery -- aboard the Titanic! Kevin and his family are enroute to Halifax to check out a house they have mysteriously inherited from a man named Angus Seaton -- mysterious because none of them have any clue who he was or why they would be named in his will. While at the house, Kevin does his own investigating and discovers some old artifacts hidden behind a wall, including enigmatic photographs dating back to 1911, which show a young woman and her baby. This puzzling discovery leads to troubling dreams for Kevin -- haunting dreams and a voice that plagues him, a voice he cannot escape. Someone -- somehwere -- needs his help. One night he tries to answer the call, and finds himself in another reality, another time, in a flooded corridor... ... aboard the ship Titanic. In this ghostly new mystery by award--winning writer Julie Lawson, the terror, anxiety and reality of the sinking of the Titanic comes to life, as a teenage boy tries to right the wrongs of the past... and put some troubled souls to rest.
Download or read book The Foreign Burial of American War Dead written by Chris Dickon and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2011-09-29 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Normandy, Flanders Field and other overseas cemeteries of the American Battle Monument Commission (ABMC) are well known. However, lesser-known burial sites of American war dead exist all over the world--in Australia and across the Pacific Rim, in Canada and Mexico, Libya and Spain, most of Europe and as far north as the Russian Arctic. This is the history of American soldiers buried abroad since the American Revolution. It traces the evolution of American attitudes and practices about war dead and provides the names and locations of those still buried abroad in non-ABMC locations.
Download or read book Catastrophe written by T. Joseph Scanlon and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2020-11-27 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Catastrophe weaves together compelling stories and potent lessons learned from the calamitous Halifax explosion—the worst non-natural disaster in North America before 9/11. On December 6, 1917, the Canadian city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was shattered when volatile cargo on the SS Mont-Blanc freighter exploded in the bustling wartime harbour. More than nineteen hundred people were killed and nine thousand injured. Across more than two square kilometres some 1200 homes, factories, schools and churches were obliterated or heavily damaged. Written from a scholarly perspective but in a journalistic style accessible to the general reader, this book explores how the explosion influenced later emergency planning and disaster theory. Rich in firsthand accounts gathered in decades of research in Canada, the US, the UK, France and Norway, the book examines the disaster from all angles. It delivers an inspiring message: the women and men at “ground zero” responded speedily, courageously, and effectively, fighting fires, rescuing the injured, and sheltering the homeless. The book also shows that the generous assistance that later came from central Canada and the US also brought some unhelpful intrusions by outside authorities. Unable to imagine the horror of the initial crisis, they ignored or even vilified a number of the first responders. This book will be of particular interest to disaster researchers and emergency planners along with journalists, and scholars of history, Maritime studies, and Canadian studies.
Download or read book Wreck Diving Tales written by Allan Henneberry and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2008-04 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The number of ships that have met their ends off Nova Scotia's rugged coast is almost limitless. Their stories and histories are at once both interesting and tragic, and in some cases, mysterious. Collected here are the accounts of just a few of these events, footnotes in the long maritime history of the province. The tragedies of the past have become the playgrounds of divers, who visit these underwater time-capsules, not for any monetary gain, but rather in the development of a deep appreciation of maritime history. It is the history of those who came before, braved unimaginable hardship, laid the foundations of Canada, and defended its freedom. There is something about touching a shipwreck that makes history much more real and powerful. Wreck Diving Tales is a compelling read for divers, maritime history lovers, and armchair adventurers alike.
Download or read book Civilians in a World at War 1914 1918 written by Tammy M. Proctor and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2010-08-30 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World War I heralded a new global era of warfare, consolidating and expanding changes that had been building throughout the previous century, while also instituting new notions of war. The 1914-18 conflict witnessed the first aerial bombing of civilian populations, the first widespread concentration camps for the internment of enemy alien civilians, and an unprecedented use of civilian labor and resources for the war effort. Humanitarian relief programs for civilians became a common feature of modern society, while food became as significant as weaponry in the fight to win. Tammy M. Proctor argues that it was World War I—the first modern, global war—that witnessed the invention of both the modern “civilian” and the “home front,” where a totalizing war strategy pitted industrial nations and their citizenries against each other. Civilians in a World at War, 1914-1918, explores the different ways civilians work and function in a war situation, and broadens our understanding of the civilian to encompass munitions workers, nurses, laundresses, refugees, aid workers, and children who lived and worked in occupied zones, on home and battle fronts, and in the spaces in between. Comprehensive and global in scope, spanning the Eastern, Western, Italian, East African, and Mediterranean fronts, Proctor examines in lucid and evocative detail the role of experts in the war, the use of forced labor, and the experiences of children in the combatant countries. As in many wars, civilians on both sides of WWI were affected, and vast displacements of the populations shaped the contemporary world in countless ways, redrawing boundaries and creating or reviving lines of ethnic conflict. Exploring primary source materials and secondary studies of combatant and neutral nations, while synthesizing French, German, Dutch, and English language sources, Proctor transcends the artificial boundaries of national histories and the exclusive focus on soldiers. Instead she tells the fascinating and long-buried story of the civilian in the Great War, allowing voices from the period to speak for themselves.
Download or read book A Heart in Port written by Emily Givner and published by Thistledown Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fictional worlds that Emily Givner was intent on evoking are subtle, yet lucid, her characters often wrought with inherent contradictions, her narrators keen-eyed and pithy. In the title story of the collection, "A Heart In Port", a seemingly light hearted send up of heartbreak, a Canadian woman waits in vain for the return of her European lover, amid the comedic shards of those close to her. The narrator's caustic eye shifts between lives touched by illness and disappointment and the backdrop of life's sharp ironies. Irony is apparent as well in "In-Sook" when a visiting music professor adored by his Korean students finds himself in conversation with the glass eye of one. When the glass eye starts speaking to Professor Andresj, the voice leads him to certain infidelity with the one student who is capable of the encounter. This mode of the surreal also enlightens the Kafkaesque "The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Cockroach", a story which (quite apart from its quiet forewarning of Emily Givner's own death) is a juggling act of improbability, breakdown, sly rhetoric, fairytale and literary allusion, all sustained by the perceptions of a young girl, Clarissa. These stories are never quite what they present themselves as being. In some - "Canadian Mint and Private Eye" - a small apparent flaw in the story's internal logic creates a puzzle and a hint and, to solve that puzzle, the reader is led back to the story again to read it with new eyes. There is often something otherworldly afoot - too organic to be merely surreal, too witty to strain credulity. Always pealing the layers of intense relationships, Givner never lets questions of culture, race and politics escape her. In "Polonaise" the relationship between an older Polish musician and young Canadian Jewish woman is consummated under the cloud that anti-Semitism is alive and well in Poland.
Download or read book History of Halifax City written by Thomas B. Akins and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2019-11-22 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas B. Akins' 'History of Halifax City' is a meticulously researched and eloquently written account of the development and evolution of Halifax City throughout the centuries. Through a combination of primary sources, personal accounts, and historical records, Akins presents a detailed narrative that captures the essence of the city's cultural, social, and political life. His prose is both informative and engaging, providing readers with a rich tapestry of historical events and figures that have shaped Halifax City over time. Akins pays particular attention to the city's maritime heritage, its role in various conflicts, and its cultural contributions to the region. This book serves as a valuable resource for historians, scholars, and anyone interested in the history of Halifax City. Thomas B. Akins, an esteemed historian and academic, brings his expertise and passion for local history to this work. His deep connection to Halifax City is evident in his thorough research and insightful analysis throughout the book. Akins' dedication to preserving the city's history and heritage shines through in his writing, making 'History of Halifax City' a must-read for anyone wanting to delve into the rich past of this vibrant city.
Download or read book The Blind Mechanic written by Marilyn Davidson Elliot and published by Nimbus+ORM. This book was released on 2018-11-14 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A daughter’s inspiring biography of her father, who lost his sight in a massive maritime disaster—and went on to build a rewarding life and career. Eric Davidson was a beautiful, fair-haired toddler when the historic Halifax Explosion struck, devastating the Nova Scotia capital and killing almost two thousand people while seriously injuring thousands more. Eric lost both eyes—a tragedy that his mother never fully recovered from. Eric, however, was positive and energetic. He also developed a fascination with cars and how they worked—and he later decided, against all likelihood, to become a mechanic. Assisted by his brothers, who read to him from manuals, he worked hard, passed examinations, and carved out a decades-long career. This is the true story of his remarkable life and relentless determination, as told by his daughter.
Download or read book Disasters written by Dan Dramer and published by NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company. This book was released on 1995 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
