Bells toll for Titanic
Thousands gather in Halifax to mark 100th anniversary of nautical tragedy
HALIFAX— Thousands of Titanic pilgrims marched beneath a starlit sky through the streets Saturday night to remember those who died on a similarly starry night exactly 100 years ago, in one of the great marine disasters of modern times.
Some pilgrims carried candles as they paraded through the city to a large outdoor stage for an emotional evening of music and commemoration.
One man carried a small black-andwhite photograph of a handsome 18year-old Irishman who went down with the doomed ship.
“He was my uncle, Albert Ervine,” said Warren Ervine, a Halifax university professor.
“He was the youngest crewman on the Titanic, an electrical engineer, and it was he who kept the lights on as long as he could, to help passengers escape while the Titanic was sinking.”
Ervine didn’t know much about his uncle until he began researching his story in recent years.
His father, who emigrated from Ireland to Canada a few years after the disaster, was too saddened by the loss to talk about his brother, whose body was never found.
Few people would want to relive tragedy, but that’s exactly what some Torontonians did to mark the centenary of the Titanic’s sinking.
Ahundred years after the doomed ocean liner hit an iceberg and quickly sank in the frigid waters off the coast of Newfoundland, venues across the city recreated the fateful evening of April 14, 1912.
The opulent Windsor Arms Hotel, with its chandeliers and high ceilings, commemorated the anniversary by offering an afternoon tea similar to what the Titanic’s firstclass guests would have had, including full-service dining and a selection of scones and éclairs for 100 guests.
“We try to stay as true as possible,” said George Friedmann, the hotel’s president. “We’re doing it to pay tribute.” For Heather Graham, whose great-great-uncle, Hudson Allison, perished on the Titanic, the hotel’s tribute was personal. “My grandfather, when I was small, would tell me the stories about his uncle,” said Graham, who attended the afternoon tea with her family. “So that was something we were always familiar with.”
Allison, who was travelling with his family in first class, died with his wife Bess and daughter Lorraine. His son Hudson Trevor survived.
Another guest, Tiudy Bundy, wearing pearls and an elaborate feathered hat, said she was reminded of her own nautical passage from England to North America on the Empress of Canada in1952. “Thank goodness the ship did not sink!”
The tribute went from stateroom to steerage at the Ceili Cottage, a centre of Celtic culture in Leslieville, which created a special thirdclass menu, available only on Friday and Saturday, featuring barley broth and beef and kidney pie.
“You can tell it’s more of a poor man’s menu,” said head chef Chris Mentier. He and owner Patrick Mcmurray, whose great-uncle helped build the Titanic in Belfast, developed it based on recipes from a Titanic-themed cookbook.
The Irish pub’s downtown sister restaurant, Starfish Oyster Bed and Grill, offered a first-class menu. Eoghan Banks, manager of the Ceili Cottage, said it was a way to capital- ize on the anniversary while commemorating the disaster. “Any historical thing like that, we really try and use it,” he said, adding that nearly half of the pub’s customers ordered the Titanic menu on Friday. “People will buy into it.” Still, he said, “we have to remember that a lot of people died. It was quite a huge tragedy at the time.” Over at Captain John’s Harbour Boat Restaurant, on Queens Quay E. and Yonge St., the mood felt celebratory as Kerry Brown and Lesley Garratt threw a Titanic-themed party. About 90 of the couple’s friends, family and acquaintances attended the event, which included dinner and dancing, to mark the ship’s demise.
Guests wore period costumes — from first-class ball gowns to thirdclass flat caps and suspenders — while sipping wine.
Still, Garratt emphasized that the event was “about respect.”
“We just felt that we wanted to not celebrate but (honour) people that were lost,” she said. “It was such a sad story.”