When the Titanic launched her maiden voyage out of Southampton, England a century ago, she was bound for New York City.
But once tragedy struck the doomed liner, Halifax became the place where some of the victims’ bodies ended up.
One hundred fifty people were buried at three city cemeteries. Decades later, Nova Scotians still remember Canada’s deep and abiding connection to the Titanic.
Residents still head to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic to check out displays, like a reconditioned deck chair, that was salvaged from the ship. Even replicas carry much significance.
Back in 1912, two Halifax ships were first to begin searching for Titanic passengers, and newly-released diaries are shedding new insight into the grisly efforts.
In one entry, a recovery worker describes a 12-hour shift of picking up bodies – mostly men, some women and babies. Many bodies were buried at sea, and they had been torn to bits by the shipwreck and ocean condition. “By 1912, Nova Scotia was already stepped in disasters, with thousands of shipwrecks offshore. And that experience proved to be extremely valuable when the Titanic went down.”
Historian Dan Conlin says officials were prepared for disaster. “They came up with a state of the art, really advanced system to deal with the casualties of mass death. The systematic numbering of bodies, identification of personal effects, description. The use of photography – which was still a new thing in 1912. And that influenced the way a lot of other disasters were handled.”
Get daily National news
“Titanic reinforced the identity of Halifax and our notion that we’re really good at handling marine disasters. So it built into a sense of something that we did really well, which is responding to marine tragedies.”
There are new tributes to those buried in Nova Scotia’s capital, like a photo arrangement of the Halifax grave markers. “(It’s) an artistic way of representing all 150 victims who are buried in three cemeteries here in Halifax, together again, as if they were on the ship,” says Jenny Nodelman of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.
“One of those who is buried here, whose name is Ernest Price…he was actually a 17-year-old barman aboard Titanic. So, what the photographer felt was, that this was an ordinary person aboard the ship and represents quite a lot of the other victims, and probably their stories too.”
Despite the memorials, identifying many of the victims has proven impossible – notably, the so-called “unknown child.”
The fair-haired boy’s remains were exhumed in 2001. Although incorrectly identified twice before, DNA testing finally concluded in 2011 suggests the toddler is most likely 19-month-old Sidney Leslie Goodwin from England.
It’s more evidence that even though the victims rest in Halifax, their stories live on.
Follow Ross on Twitter: @rlordglobal
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.