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The Goseck circle
The Goseck circle is a Neolithic structure in Goseck in the Burgenlandkreis district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It consists of a set of concentric ditches 75 meters (246 feet) across and two palisade rings containing gates in defined places. It is considered the earliest sun observatory currently known in the world. Interpretations of the ring suggest that European Neolithic and Bronze Age people measured the heavens far earlier and more accurately than historians have thought. The site was made public in August 2003. German media have called the site "German Stonehenge," although the use of the term henge for structures outside Britain and Ireland is disputed and it apparently has no earth bank.
Context
The circle at Goseck is one of more than 250 ring-ditches in Germany, Austria and Croatia identified by aerial surveys, though archaeologists have investigated barely 10% of them. Goloring near Koblenz in western Germany is a similar, if later, example. Previously archaeologists thought that the enclosures might have been fortifications and were puzzled by the fact that there was no sign of buildings inside the circles.
Not all precisely laid out Neolithic and Bronze Age European religious, calendrical, or astronomical circles were stone circles of megaliths or standing stones; Stonehenge and Mnajdra are atypical examples. Even the Stonehenge site was preceded by a ditch-and-bank enclosure with timbers added later; their postholes remain. (Evidence of holes in the ground is very permanent. For example, when a posthole is left unused, it later fills with sediments, creating a characteristic pattern in an archaeological dig.) Mnajdra and the Maltese megalithic temple complexes are set in a woodless environment.
In a geographical context, the circle at Goseck is no further than 20 kilometres (12,5 miles) from the site where the Nebra sky disk was found. As the circle and the sky disk do not date from the same era, a link between them has been speculated about, but remains entirely unproven up to this point.
Description
Goseck ring is one of the best preserved and extensively investigated of the many similar structures built at around the same time. Its preservation and investigation have led to the belief that it was a solar observatory, although some archaeologists question this. In the first opening of the site, a state archaeologist Harald Meller called it a milestone in archaeological research.
Traces of the original configuration reveal that the Goseck ring consisted of four concentric circles, a mound, a ditch, and two wooden palisades. The palisades had three sets of gates facing southeast, southwest, and north. At the winter solstice, observers at the center would have seen the sun rise and set through the southeast and southwest gates. Potsherds at the site suggests that the observatory was built ca. 4900 BCE because they have linear designs compared to standard chronologies of pottery styles.
The cultural nexus that produced the circle is called the Stroke-Ornamented Pottery Culture. Archaeologists generally agree that Goseck circle was used for astronomical observation. Together with calendar calculations, it allowed coordinating an easily judged lunar calendar with the more demanding measurements of a solar calendar, embodied in a spiritual religious context. However, archaeologists disagree about whether all circles were used for the same purpose.
Other observations
Excavators also found the remains of what may have been ritual fires, animal and human bones, and a headless skeleton near the southeastern gate, possibly a sign of consecration sacrifice.
There is no sign of fire or of other destruction, so why the site was abandoned is unknown. Later villagers built a defensive moat (A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence.)following the ditches of the old enclosure.
Discovery
The first sign of the circle was a 1991 aerial survey photograph that showed circular ridges under a wheat field. The crop marks were easy to see in a season of drought. Francois Bertemes and Peter Biehl of the University of Halle-Wittenberg began a major excavation of the site in 2002. When archaeologists combined the evidence with GPS observations, they noticed that the two southern openings marked the beginning of the summer and winter solstices.
Current status
Bertemes and Biehl have continued the excavation for a few weeks each year. In 2004 a group from the University of California, Berkeley joined the ongoing dig, giving it an international scope.
Archaeologists and state officials have reconstructed the wooden palisade of the circle. Woodworkers worked with hand tools so that the wooden posts would look more authentic. The site was opened to public on 21 December 2005, the winter solstice.
Other interesting websites about The Goseck circle : scientificamerican
Source : Wikipedia
Anna Mitchell-Hedges and a Crystal Skull.
The Goseck circle and the
Nebra disc
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The Halifax explosion
The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in "The Narrows" section of the Halifax Harbour. About 2,000 people were killed by debris, fires, or collapsed buildings and it is estimated that over 9,000 people were injured. This is still the world's largest man-made accidental explosion.
At 8:40 in the morning, the SS Mont-Blanc, chartered by the French government to carry munitions to Europe, collided with the unloaded Norwegian ship Imo, chartered by the Commission for Relief in Belgium to carry relief supplies. Mont-Blanc caught fire ten minutes after the collision and exploded about twenty-five minutes later (at 9:04:35 AM). All buildings and structures covering nearly 2 square kilometres (500 acres) along the adjacent shore were obliterated, including those in the neighbouring communities of Richmond and Dartmouth. The explosion caused a tsunami in the harbour and a pressure wave of air that snapped trees, bent iron rails, demolished buildings, grounded vessels, and carried fragments of the Mont-Blanc for kilometres
Halifax in wartime
During World War I, Halifax became a major international port and naval facility. Halifax has one of the world's largest natural harbours that is ice free and was well connected through direct railway connections to other Canadian and North American cities. The harbour became a major shipment point for war supplies, troop ships to Europe from Canada and the United States and hospital ships returning the wounded. All neutral ships bound for North America had to report to Halifax for inspection. After German submarine attacks began in 1916, Halifax's harbour assumed an even larger role as an assembly point for merchant ships awaiting naval escort in convoys. A large army garrison protected the city with forts, gun batteries, and anti-submarine nets. These factors drove a major military, industrial and residential expansion of the city.
Collision and fire
Two-way passage by vessels through the narrow, curved harbour passage (called "The Narrows" - connecting the Atlantic Ocean and outer harbour with the Bedford Basin) was not restricted as to direction of travel, provided that vessels followed established collision avoidance regulations. Shortly after the submarine nets were opened around 7:30 AM on December 6, Imo attempted to depart through the starboard channel. It met an oncoming ship, an American tramp steamer. According to nautical regulations, vessels pass on their port sides with both ships steering to starboard. The two vessels agreed to pass on their 'incorrect' (starboard) sides, with Imo steering to port (left). This was a convenience for the incoming ship, which was docking on the Halifax side of the harbour.
The two steamers passed harmlessly. By roughly 8:15 AM, Imo was in the port channel as Stella Maris, a tugboat towing two barges, evaded Imo by remaining on the Halifax side of the harbour, passing the Imo on her starboard side and keeping her in the port channel.
But as Imo departed through the port channel, a second incoming vessel, the French steamer Mont-Blanc was entering via the starboard channel. A series of whistle blows communicated from both vessels indicated their intent to remain on course—a collision course. Captain Le Medec eventually ordered Mont-Blanc hard to port, sending the ship into the center channel. At the same time, Imo reversed its engines to stop, but the backward action of the propellers altered her course, bringing her to the center channel as well. The last minute evasive maneuvers by both vessels had sent them back onto a collision course.
At roughly 8:45 AM, Imo's prow struck Mont-Blanc and became lodged in its starboard bow, sparking the benzol and picric acid. Imo attempted to pull back and dislodge, which likely generated further sparks. By now the barrels of benzol stored on the Mont-Blanc's deck were aflame.
As the fire spread out of control, Mont-Blanc's crew were unable to reach fire-fighting equipment and, aware of their volatile cargo, they quickly abandoned ship upon the captain's orders. Within 10 minutes, their two rowboats containing the 40-man crew reached safety on the Dartmouth side of the harbour as the burning ship continued to drift towards the Halifax shore. Any warnings shouted by the French speaking crew were not understood as they fled further inland away from the burning ship, as Halifax is located in a primarily English speaking part of Canada. Other ships came to aid the burning Mont-Blanc. Efforts to scuttle the ship also failed as the seacocks were seized shut. HMCS Niobe and HMS Highflyer sent crews, in steam launches, to assist.
Hundreds of onlookers gathered on the shores of the harbour, watching as the flaming Mont-Blanc eventually drifted along Pier 6 on the Richmond side of the waterfront, spreading the fire onto land by igniting some munitions cargo stored on the pier. Fire Box 83 was quickly pulled and local shop owner Constant Upham began calling several other fire houses directly, while watching the scene from his store window. West Street (Station 2) housed the first motorized fire engine in Canada, a 1913 American LaFrance combination pumping engine. Members of the Halifax Fire Department aboard the Patricia, and horse-drawn apparatus from Brunswick, Gottingen, and Quinpool Road stations rushed to the pier.
Explosion and aftermath
At 9:04:35 AM, the cargo of Mont-Blanc exploded with more force than any man-made explosion before it, equivalent to roughly 3 kilotons of TNT. (Compare to atomic bomb Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima, which had an estimated power of 15 kilotons TNT equivalent.). The ship was instantly destroyed in the giant fireball that rose over 1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi) into the air, forming a large mushroom cloud. Shards of hot metal rained down across Halifax and Dartmouth. The force of the blast triggered a tsunami, which rose up as high as 18 metres (60 ft) above the harbour's high-water mark on the Halifax side. It was caused by the rapid displacement of harbour water near the blast, followed by water rushing back in towards the shore. The effects were likely compounded by the narrow cross-section of the harbour. There was little information documented on this event as witnesses were generally stunned and injured as the wave washed ashore, though the wave contributed to the death toll, dragging many victims on the harbour front into the waters. Imo was lifted up onto the Dartmouth shore by the tsunami. Captain Haakon From and most of the crew that were on the bridge of the Imo and on its decks were killed by the tsunami. A black rain of unconsumed carbon from the Mont-Blanc fell over the city for about 10 minutes after the blast, coating survivors and structural debris with soot.
Since the explosion occurred in the winter, the blast caused stoves, lamps and furnaces to tip or spill, spreading fires throughout the devastation, particularly in Halifax's North End, leaving entire streets on fire. Fuel reserves were high in preparation for the winter. Many people who had survived the blast were trapped in these fires. Problems were compounded as firemen from surrounding communities arrived and were unable to use their equipment, as hoses and hydrants were not standardized across communities or regions. However, the winds cooperated, and firemen, soldiers and other volunteers had most of the fires contained by evening.
A view across the devastation of Halifax two days after the explosion, looking toward the Dartmouth side of the harbour. The Imo can be seen aground on the far side of the harbour.Some 1.32 square kilometres (326 acres) of Halifax was destroyed, essentially leaving a 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) radius around the blast site uninhabitable. Many people who had gathered around the ship either to help or watch were killed in the blast or were hit by the resulting tsunami. Others who had been watching from the windows of their homes and businesses were killed instantly or severely injured by flying glass as their windows shattered inwards.
Professor Howard Bronson of Dalhousie University later wrote that the disaster had damaged buildings and shattered windows as far away as Sackville and Windsor Junction, about 16 kilometres (10 mi) away. Buildings shook and items fell from shelves as far away as Truro (100 kilometres/60 miles) and New Glasgow (126 kilometres/80 miles). The explosion was felt and heard in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, roughly 215 kilometres (130 mi) north, and as far away as North Cape Breton, 360 kilometres (220 mi) east.
Fragments of Mont-Blanc rained down all over the city. A portion of Mont-Blanc's anchor shaft, weighing 517 kilograms (1,140 lb) was thrown 3,780 metres (2.3 mi) west of the blast on the far side of the Northwest Arm; it is now part of a monument at the corner of Spinnaker Dr. and Anchor Dr. A gun barrel landed in Dartmouth, over 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) east, near Albro Lake. Another piece of wreckage was driven into the wall of St. Paul's Church, where it remains today.
The Royal Naval College of Canada building was destroyed, and several cadets and instructors maimed.
Comparative power of explosion
The Halifax Explosion was one of a series of massive ammunition explosions which followed the large-scale manufacture, transport and use of high explosives in the 20th century and resulting in a grim list of large, artificial, non-nuclear explosions. An extensive comparison of 130 major explosions by a team of scientists and historians in 1994 concluded that, "Halifax Harbour remains unchallenged in overall magnitude as long as five criteria are considered together: number of casualties, force of blast, radius of devastation, quantity of explosive material, and total value of property destroyed."
The RAF Fauld Explosion in 1944 exceeded Halifax in sheer force, but was contained underground, limiting its destructive effects.
The Heligoland demolition in 1947 produced more force but was a deliberate series of explosions on uninhabited islands, limiting range and human loss. Likewise, the military tests Misty Picture and Minor Scale were larger explosions than Halifax, but, as deliberate tests, resulted in no loss of life or (unintended) damage.
However, both studies concluded that such large-scale explosions are difficult to measure and compare and even the largest non-nuclear explosions are less than one-quarter the power of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Event - Approximate yield
Minor Scale and Misty Picture 4 kt
Heligoland explosion 3.2 kt
Halifax Explosion 2.9 kt
Texas City Disaster 2.7-3.2 kt
Port Chicago disaster 1.6-2.2 kt
Fat Man 21 kt
Tsar Bomba 50,000 kt (50 Mt)
These yields are approximated by the amount of the explosive material and its properties. They are rough estimates and are not authoritative
Rumoured second explosion
A rumour of a second explosion had started roughly an hour after the first. Despite the high number of disciplined rescue workers, many of whom were military personnel, and although there are no records of an order to evacuate, soldiers reportedly had begun to clear the area with fear that smoke rising from the naval munitions magazine at Wellington Barracks was an impending second explosion. This site did store a large amount of explosive material and munitions, but the smoke/steam was a result of scattered coals being extinguished by personnel on site. Many rescue efforts were halted as masses of people fled to the high ground and open areas of Citadel Hill, Point Pleasant Park and the Halifax Commons, under the order of uniformed men. Rescuers and victims alike were delayed until almost noon when the situation was cleared, although some rescue parties ignored the evacuation and kept working. In the chaos and confusion, fear of German attacks had become rampant, leaving many to believe that the initial blast had been deliberate, further fueling the fear of a second explosion.
Blizzard
The next day brought a blizzard that dropped 40 centimetres (16 in) of snow on the community. Those who remained trapped in rubble, the injured, or those who had not been found or tended to, were often left in the bitter cold, adding to the loss of life. Rescuers were forced to work through the storm, and many people who were left homeless found shelter wherever they could. Houses left standing did not have windows after the blast, leaving survivors to use tar paper, carpets and other available materials to seal their homes from the elements. The snow, however, did aid firemen in ensuring any remaining fires were extinguished. This was apparently the largest blizzard in that decade.
Human loss and destruction
While it is unknown exactly how many deaths resulted from the disaster, a common estimate is 2,000, with an official database totaling 1,950 names made available through Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management in the Book of Remembrance.As many as 1,600 died immediately in the blast, the tsunami, and collapse of buildings, with an additional 9,000 injured, 6,000 of them seriously. 1,630 homes were destroyed in the explosion and fires, with 12,000 more houses damaged. This disaster left roughly 6,000 people homeless and without shelter and 25,000 without adequate housing. The city's industrial sector was in large part gone, with many workers among the casualties and the dockyard was heavily damaged.
The explosion killed more Nova Scotian residents than World War I itself. Detailed estimates showed that among those killed, 600 were under the age of 15, 166 were labourers, 134 were soldiers and sailors, 125 were craftsmen, and 39 were workers for the railway.
Many of the wounds inflicted by the blast were permanently debilitating, with many people partially blinded by flying glass. Thousands of people had stopped to watch the ship burning in the harbour, with many people watching from inside buildings, leaving them directly in the path of flying glass from shattered windows. Roughly 600 people suffered eye injuries, and 38 of those lost their sight permanently. The large number of eye injuries led to better understanding on the part of physicians, and with the recently formed Canadian National Institute for the Blind, they managed to greatly improve the treatment of damaged eyes. The significant advances in eye care as a result of this disaster are often compared to the huge increase in burn care knowledge after the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in Boston. Halifax became internationally known as a center for care for the blind, accounting for a large proportion of patients.
According to estimates, roughly $35 million Canadian dollars in damages resulted (in 1917 dollars; adjusted for inflation, this is about CAD$500 million in 2007 dollars).
Communities affected
While the city of Halifax's North End neighborhood of Richmond suffered the most damage from the explosion, several neighbouring communities and settlements were also affected by the blast.
Dartmouth
The Dartmouth side of the harbour was not as densely populated as Halifax and was separated from the blast by the width of the harbour, but still suffered heavy damage. Estimates are that almost 100 people died on the Dartmouth side. Windows were shattered and many buildings were damaged or destroyed, including the Oland Brewery and parts of the Starr Manufacturing Company. Nova Scotia Hospital was the only hospital on the Dartmouth side of the harbour and many of the victims were treated there.
Mi'kmaq settlement
The small Mi'kmaq settlement directly opposite Halifax, in Tuft's Cove (also known as Turtle Grove), was completely obliterated. Unfortunately, little information was recorded on the effects of the disaster on the First Nations community. The settlement is known to have dated back to the 1700s, and on November 6 was slated to be relocated as reservations were established through Indian reserve status lobbying. Fewer than 20 families resided in this community, and had not begun their move before the collision and fire drew the attention of onlookers around the harbour. Records show that 9 bodies were recovered, and the settlement was abandoned in the wake of the disaster.
Africville
The black community of Africville, on the southern shores of the Bedford Basin, adjacent to the Halifax Peninsula, was spared the direct force of the blast by the shadow effect of the raised ground to the south. However Africville's small and frail homes were heavily damaged by the explosion which were described by a relief doctor as ruined but still standing. Africville families recorded the deaths of five residents.Africville received little of the relief funds and none of the progressive reconstruction invested into other parts of the city after the explosion
Heroism and rescue efforts
Many individuals, groups and organizations contributed to the rescue and relief in the days, months, and years following the disaster. Specific acts of heroism and bravery by individuals are detailed below.
Vince Coleman
The death toll could have been worse if not for the self-sacrifice of an Intercolonial Railway dispatcher, P. Vincent (Vince) Coleman, operating at the Richmond Railway Yards. He and his co-worker learned of the danger from the burning Mont-Blanc from a sailor and began to flee. Coleman remembered, however, that an incoming passenger train from Saint John, New Brunswick was due to arrive at the rail yard within minutes, and he returned to his post to send out urgent telegraph messages to stop the train.
“ Stop trains. Munitions ship on fire. Approaching Pier 6. Goodbye.
Coleman's message brought all incoming trains to a halt and was heard by other stations all along the Intercolonial Railway helping railway officials to respond immediately.The Saint John train is believed to have heeded the warning and stopped a safe distance from the blast at Rockingham, saving the lives of about 300 railway passengers. The rescued train was later used to carry injured and homeless survivors to Truro, Nova Scotia. Coleman was killed at his post as the explosion ripped through the city. He is honoured as a hero and fixture in Canadian history, notably being featured in a "Heritage Minute" one-minute movie and a display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.
Tug Stella Maris
Towing a string of barges at the time of the collision, the tug Stella Maris responded immediately to the fire, anchoring its barges and steaming beside the flaming Mont Blanc. The tug's crew began spraying Mont Blanc with their fire hose and were preparing to tow the burning ship away from the city when Mont Blanc exploded. The blast killed 19 of the crew aboard Stella Maris although five miraculously survived when the smashed tug was washed up on the Richmond shore.
Firemen
Firemen were among the first to respond to the disaster, rushing to Mont-Blanc to attempt to extinguish the blaze before the explosion even occurred. They also played an instrumental role in regaining control of the devastated city after the blast, with members arriving to assist from across Halifax, and by the end of the day from as far away as Springhill (180 kilometres/110 miles) and Amherst, Nova Scotia (200 kilometres/120 miles), and Moncton, New Brunswick (260 kilometres/160 miles), via relief trains.
Halifax's Fire Department at the time comprised 8 fire stations, 122 members (36 of whom were fully employed), 13 apparatus (1 of which was motorized), and roughly 30 horses. West Street's Station 2 was the first to arrive at pier 6 with the crew of the American LaFrance-built Patricia, the first motorized fire engine in Canada.
They were responding to Box 83, the dockyard alarm at the corner of Roome Street and Campbell Road (now Barrington Street), as Mont-Blanc drifted toward its resting place at Pier 6. Although the dockyard alarms were routine for the department, today was different, as North End general storekeeper Constant Upham could see the serious nature of the fire from his home and called surrounding fire stations to advise them. Upham's store was on Campbell Road, directly in view of the burning ship, and as one of the few buildings at the time with a telephone, he placed his call sometime after 8:45 that morning. Despite this warning, none of the firemen knew that the ship carried munitions. It was believed however, that the vessel's crew was still onboard, as West Street's Station 2, Brunswick Street's Station 1, Gottingen Street, and Quinpool Road's Station 5 responded to Upham's call.
Fire Chief Edward P. Condon and Deputy Chief William P. Brunt, were next on the scene, arriving from Brunswick Street in the department's 1911 McLaughlin Roadster. The heat was so overwhelming, no one could look at the inferno. Chief Condon pulled the Box 83 alarm again. In the final moments before the explosion, hoses were being unrolled as the fire spread to the docks. Retired Hoseman John Spruin Sr. was on his way from Brunswick Street in a horse-drawn pumper, and Hoseman John H. E. Duggan was traveling from Isleville Street's Station 7 with another horse-drawn firefighting wagon.
None of the firemen knew the danger that they faced as 9:04 arrived, bringing about the explosion that obliterated the dockyard fire site. Fire Chief Edward Condon and Deputy Chief William Brunt were killed immediately along with the Patricia's crew members: Captain William T. Broderick, Captain G. Michael Maltus, Hoseman Walter Hennessey, and Hoseman Frank Killeen. Teamsters John Spruin and John Duggan were both struck and killed by shrapnel en route to the fire. Their horses were also killed instantly in the blast. Patricia hoseman Frank D. Leahy died on December 31, 1917 from his injuries. Nine members of the Halifax Fire Department lost their lives performing their duty that day.
The only surviving member at the scene was Patricia driver Billy (William) Wells, who was opening a hydrant at the time of the blast. He recounts the event for the Mail Star, October 6, 1967,
“ That's when it happened ... The first thing I remember after the explosion was standing quite a distance from the fire engine ... The force of the explosion had blown off all my clothes as well as the muscles from my right arm... ”
It is explained that Billy was standing again as the tsunami came over him. He managed to remain on land.
“ ...After the wave had receded I didn't see anything of the other firemen so made my way to the old magazine on Campbell Road ... The sight was awful ... with people hanging out of windows dead. Some with their heads off, and some thrown onto the overhead telegraph wires ... I was taken to Camp Hill Hospital and lay on the floor for two days waiting for a bed. The doctors and nurses certainly gave me great service ."
Notably, firefighter Albert Brunt also survived the blast, by chance, as he slipped while attempting to jump onto the Patricia as it rounded a corner on its way to the docks.
A new pumper was purchased by the city and arrived just a few days after the explosion. The Patricia was later restored by the American LaFrance company for $6,000, who donated $1,500 to a fund for the families of the firemen. The families of firemen killed in the blast received $1,000 from the city (close to $15,000 in 2007 dollars), with the exception of one, who received $500.
On the 75th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion, December 6, 1992, the Halifax Fire Department erected a monument at the current Station 4, at the corner of Lady Hammond Road and Robie Street, in honour of the fallen members who died fighting the fire on Mont-Blanc.
Medical relief
Almost immediately following the blast, Halifax hospitals began to overflow with the dead and injured. Anybody with medical training and experience, both military and civilian, found themselves tasked with the treatment of thousands. Military medical staff, mainly from British naval vessels in the harbour provided some of the first response teams and set up an improvised hospital ship aboard the coastal passenger ship SS Old Colony, which was enroute from the U.S. to Britain for naval conversion, and which had been tied up in Halifax for repairs. In the afternoon the USS von Steuben, a seized German liner turned troop transport, and the USS Tacoma (CL-20), a Protected Cruiser that was returning to the U.S. from Convoy Duty across the Atlantic arrived to assist.Relief trains with doctors, nurses and supplies first arrived from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick towns a day and a half ahead of American relief. The first outside relief train arrived via the Intercolonial Railway from Truro, Nova Scotia, 95 kilometres (60 mi) away, at about noon, followed by a Dominion Atlantic Railway relief train from Kentville, 100 kilometres (60 mi) away By nightfall, about a dozen trains had brought help from across the Maritimes including trains from Amherst (200 kilometres/120 miles), Moncton, New Brunswick (260 kilometres/160 miles) and New Glasgow, Nova Scotia (160 kilometres/100 miles).
Later, American support was strong, particularly from Massachusetts, with support trains bringing doctors, nurses, orderlies and much needed supplies to the effort. A relief train left from Boston, 1,100 kilometres (700 mi) away, at 10:00 PM on the day of the explosion. Relentlessly chugging through wintry terrain, it was delayed by heavy snowfall but reached Halifax a day plus a few hours later, at 3:00 AM on December 8, unloading much needed food, water, medical supplies, and some aid workers to relieve the Nova Scotia medical staff, many of whom had worked without rest since the morning of the explosion.
Many of the emergency procedures involved eye injuries and removals, lacerations, or amputations, with operating rooms and medical wards working around the clock for several days. Medical students at Dalhousie University were enlisted to assist, even those who had just begun studying in September. The Red Cross, Salvation Army and Saint John Ambulance all focused their resources to the disaster, and away from the war overseas.
The lack of coordinated pediatric care in such a disaster was noted by a surgeon from Boston named William Ladd who had arrived to help. His insights from the explosion are generally credited with inspiring him to pioneer the specialty of pediatric surgery in North America.
Facilities
Halifax at the time had four public hospitals, four military hospitals, and seven private hospitals. The most important were Victoria General Hospital and Camp Hill Hospital, taking many of the critically injured while redirecting minor injuries to other sites and temporary facilities.
Victoria General Hospital was the largest civilian hospital in Halifax at that period. Three operating rooms ran non-stop after the explosion, treating the critically injured. The original structure no longer exists, as the current Victoria Building replaced it in 1948. However, the institution still exists today as the VG site, part of the QEII Health Sciences Centre, a 10 building group of facilities formed in 1996.
Located behind Citadel Hill, Camp Hill Hospital was a military hospital completed earlier the same year. It was built quickly in order to treat the large number of wounded returning from the war in Europe. It was completed only a few months before the explosion, and treated 1,400 wounded in the first 24 hours after the blast.
Archibald MacMechan, who collected many accounts of the disaster, describes Camp Hill Hospital as,
“ a synonym for horror ... broken bones, scalds, burns due to the contact with stoves or boilers, contusions, maiming, internal injuries--but undoubtedly the most ghastly wounds were those inflicted by the flying glass. ”
Camp Hill Hospital was also administratively absorbed into the QEII Health Sciences Centre, and none of its original facilities exist today. Its grounds now comprise the Halifax Infirmary site of the QEII, including the Camp Hill Veterans' Memorial Building, the Abbie J. Lane Memorial Building, and the new Halifax Infirmary Building.
Also, the Hospital for the Insane, also known as Mount Hope helped handle the casualties on the Dartmouth side of the harbour. Having opened in 1859, Mount Hope was designed to support 250 patients when completed. It was renamed to the Nova Scotia Hospital in the early 1900s. It accommodated 200 patients following the blast. The hospital still exists today as part of the Capital District Health Authority, and is a fully accredited teaching facility affiliated with Dalhousie University.
Reconstruction
The North End Halifax neighborhood of Richmond received the brunt of the explosion. In 1917, Richmond was considered a working class neighborhood and was excluded from basic city services such as weekly garbage pick-up or paved roads After the explosion, the Halifax Relief Commission approached the reconstruction of Richmond as an opportunity to improve and modernize the city’s North End.English town planner, Thomas Adams, and Montreal architect, George Ross were recruited to design a new housing plan for Richmond. Adams, inspired by the Victorian Garden City Movement, aimed to provide public access to green spaces and to create a low rise, low density and multifunctional urban neighborhood. The planners designed 324 large homes that each faced a tree- lined, paved boulevard. Ross and Adams specified that the homes be built with a new and innovative fire- proof material, blocks of compressed cement called Hydro-stone. The two planners designed the construction of over 300 new homes using Hydro-stone for the hundreds of North End residents who had been rendered homeless after the explosion.
Once finished, the Hydrostone neighborhood consisted of homes, businesses and parks, which helped create a new sense of community in the North End of Halifax. Adams and Ross were revolutionary in their enlightened approach to the reconstruction of the working-class, poor neighborhood. The construction of this new and cutting edge urban neighborhood was criticized by many upper- class Haligonians who thought the Hydrostone was too extravagant for its working class residents. Nevertheless, the Hydrostone remains a unique neighborhood and continues to serve as a valuable example of a modern urban- planning concept.
This is a picture of the Bell Tower erected in Halifax as a memorial of the Halifax Explosion. The inscription on the tower reads:
"THIS BELL TOWER, A MEMORIAL TO THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES OR SUFFERED INJURIES IN THE HALIFAX EXPLOSION OF THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1917, AND TO THE SURVIVORS WHO REBUILT THE CITIES OF HALIFAX & DARTMOUTH. THE TOWER WAS ERECTED WITH DONATIONS FROM INDIVIDUALS AND CORPORATE CITIZENS AND THE GOVERNMENTS OF CANADA AND NOVA SCOTIA AND THE CITIES OF HALIFAX & DARTMOUTH."
Christmas
In 1918, Halifax sent a Christmas tree to the City of Boston in thanks and remembrance for the help that the Boston Red Cross and the Massachusetts Public Safety Committee provided immediately after the disaster. That gift was revived in 1971 by the Lunenburg County Christmas Tree Producers Association, who began an annual donation of a large tree to promote Christmas tree exports as well as acknowledge the Boston support after the explosion. The gift was later taken over by the Nova Scotia Government to continue the goodwill gesture as well as to promote trade and tourism. The tree is Boston's official Christmas tree and is lit on Boston Common throughout the holiday season. Knowing its symbolic importance to both cities, the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources has specific guidelines for selecting the tree. It must be an attractive balsam fir, white spruce or red spruce, 12 to 16 metres (40 to 50 ft) tall, healthy with good colour, medium to heavy density, uniform and symmetrical and easy to access.
For the Christmas tree extension specialist the "tree can be elusive, the demands excessive, and the job requires remembering the locations of the best specimens in the province and persuading the people who own them to give them up for a pittance." Most donors are "honoured to give up their trees... [and] most will gladly watch their towering trees fall" since everyone knows the reason it is being sent to Boston. The trees don't often come from tree farms, but from open land where they can grow tall and full. It is so important to the people of Nova Scotia that "people have cried over it, argued about it, even penned song lyrics in its honor."
Other interesting websites about The Halifax Explosion : halifaxexplosion
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The MV Wilhelm Gustloff
The MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a German KdF (Kraft durch Freude -KdF, literally "Strength through Joy") was a large state-controlled leisure organization in the Third Reich, a part of the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront - DAF), the national German labour organization at that time. Set up as a tool to promote the advantages of National Socialism to the people, it soon became the world's largest tourism operator of the 1930sflagship, during 1937-1945, constructed by the Blohm and Voss shipyards. It sank after being hit by three torpedoes fired by the Soviet submarine S-13 on 30 January 1945 with the loss of over 9,000 lives – the greatest loss of life in a maritime disaster in history.
The ship was named after Wilhelm Gustloff, the assassinated German leader of the Swiss Nazi party. It was requisitioned into the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) on 1 September 1939 and served as a hospital ship during 1939 and 1940. Beginning on 20 November 1940, it was stripped of medical equipment and repainted from its hospital ship colors (white with a green stripe) to standard naval grey. The Wilhelm Gustloff was then assigned as a floating barracks for naval personnel at the Baltic port of Gdynia (German: Gotenhafen), near Gdansk (German: Danzig), from 1940 onwards.
The Wilhelm Gustloff's final voyage was during Operation Hannibal in January 1945, when it was sunk while participating in the evacuation of civilians and personnel who were surrounded by the Red Army in East Prussia. The Gustloff was hit by three torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea on the night of 30 January 1945 and sank in less than 45 minutes. An estimated 9,400 people were killed in the sinking. If accurate, this would be the largest known loss of life occurring during a single ship sinking in recorded maritime history.
Construction
The Wilhelm Gustloff was constructed by the Blohm and Voss shipyards. The Gustloff was launched on 5 May 1937 measuring 208.50 metres (684.1 ft) long by 23.59 metres (77.4 ft) wide with a capacity of 25,484 gross register tons.
Ship history
The Wilhelm Gustloff was the first purpose-built cruise liner for the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF) and used by subsidiary organisation Kraft durch Freude (KdF) (Strength Through Joy). Its purposes were to provide recreational and cultural activities for German functionaries and workers, including concerts, cruises, and other holiday trips, and as a public relations tool, to present "a more acceptable image of the Third Reich."The Wilhelm Gustloff was the flagship of the KdF cruise fleet until the spring of 1939. That was her last civilian role. From then on, she served the needs of the German military.
Military career
During the summer of 1939, she was pressed into service to bring the Condor Legion back from Spain after the victory of the Nationalist forces under General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War.
German soldiers wounded at Narvik being transported back to Germany on the Wilhelm Gustloff in July 1940.From September 1939 to November 1940, she served as a hospital ship, with her official designation being Lazarettschiff D.
Beginning 20 November 1940, the medical equipment was removed from the ship and it was repainted from the hospital ship colors of white with a green stripe to standard naval grey. As a consequence of the British blockade of the German coastline, she was used as an accommodations ship (barracks) for approximately 1,000 U-boat trainees of the 2nd Submarine Training Division (2. Unterseeboot-Lehrdivision) in the Baltic port of Gotenhafen (Gdynia) – near Danzig (Gdańsk).The Wilhelm Gustloff sat dockside for over four years, until she was put back in service to transport civilians and military personnel as part of Operation Hannibal.
Operation Hannibal
The ship's final voyage was to evacuate civilians, Kriegsmarine sailors, and German soldiers from Gotenhafen to Kiel. The ship's complement and passenger lists cited 6,050 people on board, but this did not include many civilians who boarded the ship without being recorded in the ship's official embarkation records. Heinz Schön, who carried out extensive research into the sinking during the 1980s and 1990s, concluded that the Wilhelm Gustloff was carrying a crew of 173 (naval armed forces auxiliaries), 918 officers, NCOs, and men of the 2nd Submarine Training Division (2. Unterseeboot-Lehrdivision), 373 female naval auxiliary helpers, 162 wounded soldiers, and 8,956 civilians, for a total of 10,582 passengers and crew. Although the ship was built for 1,465 passengers, she had the capacity to board many more for a short trip by utilizing her public recreation spaces to accommodate people, but she was carrying less than 50% of the rescue equipment necessary for the extra passengers.
The ship left Gotenhafen early on 30 January 1945, accompanied by the passenger liner Hansa, also filled with civilians and military personnel, and two torpedo boats. The Hansa and one torpedo boat developed mechanical problems and could not continue, leaving the Wilhelm Gustloff with one torpedo boat escort, the Löwe. The ship had four captains (three civilian and one military) on board, and they could not agree on the best course of action to guard against submarine attacks. Against the advice of the military commander, Lieutenant Commander Wilhelm Zahn (a submariner who argued for a course in shallow waters close to shore and without lights), the senior civilian captain, Friedrich Petersen, decided to head for deep water. When he was informed by radio of an oncoming German minesweeper convoy, he decided to activate his ship's red and green navigation lights so as to avoid a collision in the dark, making the Wilhelm Gustloff easy to spot in the night. As the ship's equipment included antiaircraft weapons, it had been travelling blacked-out, it was not marked as a hospital ship, no notification of it operating in a hospital capacity had been given, and as it was transporting combat troops, it did not have any protection as a hospital ship under the international accords governing this.
The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff
The ship was soon sighted by the S-13, under the command of Captain Third Class Alexander Marinesko, which launched three torpedoes at the Wilhelm Gustloff's port side about 30 kilometres (19 mi) offshore between Großendorf and Leba soon after 21:00 (CET), hitting it with all three. The first torpedo struck near the port bow. The second torpedo hit just ahead of midships. The third torpedo struck the engine room in the area below the ship's funnel, cutting off electrical power to the ship. The ship took a list to starboard and was settling by the head. Later, the Wilhelm Gustloff listed to port.
In the panic that followed, many of the passengers were trampled in the rush to the lifeboats and life jackets. Some equipment was lost as a result of the panic. The water temperature in the Baltic Sea at this time of year is usually around 4 °C (39 °F); however, this was a particularly cold night, with an air temperature of −18 to −10 °C (-0 to 14 °F) and ice floes covering the surface. Many deaths were caused either directly by the torpedoes or by drowning in the onrushing water. Others were crushed in the initial panic on the stairs and decks, and many jumped into the icy Baltic. There are reports of children clinging onto adults and women trying to save their babies, though constant waves dragged them away from them, most never to be seen again. Small children fitted with life jackets for adults drowned because their heads were under water while their legs were in the air, due to the ill-fitting survival gear.
Depiction of the sinkingLess than 45 minutes after being struck, the Wilhelm Gustloff went down bow first in 44 metres (140 ft) of water. German forces were able to rescue some of the survivors from the attack: torpedo boat T-36 rescued 564 people; torpedo boat Löwe, 472; Minesweeper M387, 98; Minesweeper M375, 43; Minesweeper M341, 37; the steamer Gottingen saved 28; torpedo-recovery boat (Torpedofangboot) TF19, seven; the freighter Gotland, two; and Patrol boat (Vorpostenboot) V1703 was able to save one baby. The figures from the research of Heinz Schön make the total lost in the sinking to be about 9,343 men, women, and children. This would make it the largest loss of life in a single sinking in maritime history.All four captains on the Gustloff survived its sinking, but an official naval inquiry was started only against Wilhelm Zahn. His degree of responsibility was never resolved, however, because of Nazi Germany's problems in 1945
In an article in the popular magazine "Sea Classics", Irwin Kappes mentions that "there were over 6,000 passengers on board." He also states that the escort ship Löwe was alongside within 15 minutes, taking off as many survivors as she could carry, and that when Captain Henigst of the cruiser Admiral Hipper, herself carrying 1,500 evacuees, received reports from her lookouts that she was under torpedo attack, he chose not to stop to pick up survivors. Kappes gives a precise total of those lost in the sinking as 5,348. The source of this information was the German book "Die Gustloff Katastrophe" written by Heinz Schön, who later revised his original numbers.
Heinz Schön's more recent research is backed up by estimates made by a different method. The Discovery Channel program Unsolved History undertook a computer analysis (using software called maritime EXODUS) of the sinking, which estimated 9,400 dead −85% (among over 10,600 on board); this analysis considered the load density based on witness reports and a simulation of escape routes and survivability with the timeline of the sinking.
Aftermath
Many ships carrying civilians were sunk during the war by both the Allies and Axis. However, based on the latest estimates of passenger numbers and those known to be saved, the Wilhelm Gustloff remains the largest loss of life resulting from the sinking of one vessel in maritime history. Günter Grass, in an interview published in The New York Times on Tuesday 8 April 2003 said, "One of the many reasons I wrote Crabwalk was to take the subject away from the extreme Right...They said the tragedy of the Gustloff was a war crime. It wasn’t. It was terrible, but it was a result of war, a terrible result of war."
About a thousand German naval officers and men, were aboard and died in the sinking of the Gustloff. The women onboard the ship at the time of the sinking were inaccurately described by Soviet propaganda as "SS personnel from the German concentration camps"
Wreckage
Noted as "Obstacle No. 73" on Polish navigation charts,[14] Gustloff rests at 55°04′N 17°25′E / 55.07°N 17.41°E / 55.07; 17.41, about 30 km (19 mi) offshore, east of Łeba (17.33E) and west of Władysławowo (18.24E). It is one of the largest shipwrecks on the Baltic Sea floor. It has been designated as a war memorial site (off-limits to salvage crews).
In 2006, a bell recovered from the wreck and subsequently used as decoration in a Polish fish restaurant was loaned to a privately funded "Forced Paths" exhibition in Berlin. In 2007, the ship's bell was placed on display at a Gdańsk museum in Krantor.
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The MV Wilhelm Gustloff
The MV Wilhelm Gustloff
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