HALIFAX BY THE SEA
Revel in all things nautical
“I stood on the deck and I saw the lights and I tell you, it was heaven,” a Polish immigrant recounted of her arrival in Halifax in 1950. “And I made a vow that this would be my country.”
Her words are inscribed with those of countless others in the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, at the Halifax Seaport. Canada’s Ellis Island, Pier 21 was the gateway for more than a million arriving immigrants between 1928 and 1971, and like Ellis Island in New York, is now a museum recounting the dreams and fears of newcomers landing in a world they knew little about.
For anyone (like me) with a love of things nautical, Halifax is indeed heaven. The sea and ships still define Halifax’s identity, and its rich marine history is kept alive with a plethora of museums, afloat and on land.
Pier 21 is a logical place to start a maritime-inspired tour. In autumn months, big cruise ships tie up daily, while inside the walls depict some of the historic vessels that arrived at the same berth: RMS Aquitania, RMS Franconia, SS Cristoforo Columbo (sister to the ill-fated Andrea Doria), SS Stockholm (the ship that holed and sank the Andrea Doria near Nantucket in 1956), SS Ile de France (which rescued many Andrea Doria passengers), the original Queen Mary and dozens of others from the golden transatlantic age. The image inside your Canadian passport is that of the M.S. Berlin arriving at Pier 21 with a manifest of new Canadians.
During my visit on a warm October day, the only modern-day transatlantic liner, Queen Mary 2, was tied up, dwarfing the structures around her. In a way, her passengers were retracing history, since the first Cunard transatlantic voyage docked in the city 178 years ago.
The storied company’s founder, Samuel Cunard, was born in Halifax in 1787 — with salt in veins, you might say — in a humble cottage a stone’s throw from the water. As a young man he was an investor in the Royal William, the first ship to cross the Atlantic using steam for most of the distance, in 1833. It took almost a month.
By the age of 50, a millionaire with a fleet of 40 coastal vessels, Cunard convinced the British Admiralty he was the man to start regular mail runs using steam between Britain and Halifax.
On July 4, 1840, his newly built steamship Britannia carried him into Halifax from Liverpool ahead of schedule, in just over 12 days, arriving in the middle of the night. Rather than sacrifice his record and wait for the city to wake up, he carried on to Boston and a grand reception. Cunard Line was launched.
Nothing remains of Samuel Cunard’s cottage, or the grander house he later built beside it. The busy Cunard pier has long been assumed by a naval base, though the Cunard name ceremoniously shines on a convention facility. A statue of Sir Samuel stands at the port, as if welcoming the wellheeled visitors streaming off QM2.
The Harbourwalk is a splendid boardwalk of hefty wood timbers that begins at the Seaport and follows the undulating harbour shore for more than three kilometres, connecting cafés, restaurants, marinas, museums and museum ships, shops, parks and more. The length of it can be walked in both directions in about an hour if you rush, but by taking in the sights along the way, you’ll easily kill several hours.
If you’re travelling with the kids, they’ll love Halifax because so many attractions are climbable. Like the HMCS Sackville, a fully restored example of the corvette class of ships that escorted Second World War convoys to Europe. Berthed next door is Theodore Too, a replica of the famous tugboat character featured in the children’s television series (created in Halifax), waiting to take families on kid-oriented sightseeing cruises. Rising out of the boardwalk nearby is a four-metre tall sculpture of a wave that children happily clamber up and slide down.
Along the way I found shops renting bicycles and offering Segway tours, but to rest my feet I took advantage of a brilliant gift from the city: public hammocks!
Restored by a power nap, I followed the boardwalk to what is now my favourite spot in Halifax, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, a vast collection of ship memorabilia on two floors. A glass wall looks out on the waterfront and the museum’s largest asset, the CSS Acadia, which is open to visitors. Her designation stands for Canadian Survey Ship and she was a pioneer of hydrographic research in Canada’s Arctic waters.
Inside I wandered among examples of sailing and fishing craft native to the area. And on the second floor, I entered a ship buff ’s nirvana, an astounding collection of large, detailed and utterly beautiful ship models: Mauretania, Titanic, Carinthia, Britannia and countless others. (Cunard features large.)
There are naval displays, too, and war artifacts, lighthouse beacons and myriad other relics of Nova Scotia’s long, close relationship with the sea. There’s even a deck chair from the Titanic.
A whole section of the museum is devoted to the Titanic, since Halifax is closely connected with the famous tragedy. The MackayBennett, a cable repair ship that recovered the majority of Titanic’s victims, took them here. The class system was maintained even in death: First class passengers were disembarked in coffins, second and third class in canvas bags, and crew in open stretchers.
One of the most popular Halifax tourist sites is the suburban Fairview Lawn Cemetery, where 121 Titanic passengers are laid to rest. To get there, you’ll need a taxi, tour, or public bus 29 from Lower Water Street. It’s a sobering experience to walk among the rows of gravestones, many simply marked “Unknown.”
I recalled seeing at the Maritime Museum a pair of baby shoes that belonged to an infant buried under the lonely sobriquet “Unknown child.” In 2010, scientific study finally revealed the identity of the youngster as Sidney Leslie Goodwin of Wilshire, England. Sidney was the youngest of a family of eight, all of whom perished. His was the only body recovered. Back in town in time for a sunset cruise on the harbour, I toasted little Sidney with a local beer — not the popular Alexander Keith’s or Moosehead, but Schooner. It has the Bluenose on the label.