Maritime Museum of the Atlantic Presents “Tugs!”
No place depicts the history and emotion of the Atlantic region like the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Located right in the pulse of the Halifax’s waterfront the museum is more of a static historical tour than a museum.
In a couple of hours you can get an education on small craft building, experience life on a fishing boat, with the hull rocking in the waves, see beautifully-crafted ship’s models, from paddle-wheelers to the luxury liners.
However, nothing prepares you for the Halifax Explosion exhibit with its haunting pictures and relics from the largest man-made detonation until the Hiroshima bomb. The devastation is ingrained in the very soul of modern Halifax.
The depth of Halifax’s World War II involvement is spread out in the charts and wall displays of the convoys, huge fleets of ships that were responsible for winning the ground and air war over Europe
And visitors gawk in amazement as they approach the exhibit of the RMS Titanic. An original deck chair sits in state and everyone’s thoughts drift to, “Who was the last person that sat there?” Other artifacts sent a chill up your spine, as does the story of the S.S Atlantic, another Nova Scotia sea disaster that took the lives of so many people a scant 200 meters from the shore.
Also in September and October check out the new display on hurricanes. You can track the the progress of this year’s storms on a gigantic weather map.
In October, the museum features Tugs!, a celebration of the workhorses of Halifax harbour, the tugboats. In honour of these boats (immortalized in the Childrens show Theodore Tugboat) there will be two talks by recognized experts in the filed:
October 20: Dan Conlin will give a presentaion of featuring the tugboat Franklin Foundation.
October 27: Mac MacKay will present a program entitled: “Tugboats, the Working Heroes of Halifax Harbour.”
For more Information on times contact: The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.
(Image by Kathy Gurholt)
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