Shipwrecks
Halifax Harbour is noted for many shipwrecks both in the inner and outer harbour. A few ships were sunk at the edge of the harbour approaches during World War II by German U-Boats but the vast majority were claimed by harbour accidents. Mapping of the harbour revealed about 45 shipwrecks in the harbour. Near the mouth of the harbour, over 50 magnetic anomalies have been discovered, most of which also represent shipwrecks with many others buried underneath the muddy sediments. All historic shipwrecks in Halifax Harbour are protected by Nova Scotia's Special Places Act which makes it illegal to remove artifacts without a permit. Noteworthy wrecks are listed chronologically (with sinking dates):
- Havana, April 26, 1906: Rammed by the steamer Strathcona, at night while anchored.
- Deliverance, June 15, 1917
- SS Mont-Blanc blown up in the Halifax Explosion, the world's largest man-made accidental explosion. Fragments remain.
- Good Hope, March 16, 1929
- Kaaparen, June 14, 1942: Collision while forming a convoy.
- Erg, July 6, 1943: 19 lives lost.
- Governor Cornwallis, December 22, 1944 by fire
- Clayoquot, December 24, 1944
- Barge in Bedford Basin as the result of the Magazine explosion of July 18, 1945.
- Athelviking: Torpedoed by German submarine U-1232 on January 14, 1945.
- SS British Freedom - sunk the same day as the Athelviking by U-1232.
- Gertrude de Costa, March 18, 1950
Read more about this topic: Halifax Harbour
Famous quotes containing the word shipwrecks:
“... overconfidence in one’s own ability is the root of much evil. Vanity, egoism, is the deadliest of all characteristics. This vanity, combined with extreme ignorance of conditions the knowledge of which is the very A B C of business and of life, produces more shipwrecks and heartaches than any other part of our mental make-up.”
—Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)