Archive for July, 2010

31 Jul

GLACE BAY HIGH – 1966

Posted by CAPER in General Interest, History.

31 Jul

OBITS – JUL 31, 2010

Posted by CAPER in Obituaries.

Obituaries for July 31st, 2010

30 Jul

POINT ACONI – CAPE BRETON

Posted by CAPER in General Interest, Mining.

 

 

      Point Aconi Lighthouse

Point Aconi (2001 pop.: 176) is a rural community in Nova Scotia at the northeastern tip of Boularderie Island. It derives its name from the headland of the same name, Point Aconi. Many of its residents are fishermen, some work in the nearby towns and many others are retired.

Point Aconi is located in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and fronts the Cabot Strait along the northeastern shore of Boularderie Island.

Coal mining

The region sits over the northern end of the Sydney Coal Field, a large coal field which extends at an angle under the Cabot Strait. Specifically, the Point Aconi area is home to the Hub coal seam of the Sydney Mines Formation (Upper Carboniferous).

Prince Mine

As such, the area around Point Aconi has been commercially mined since the early 19th century, first by the General Mining Association (GMA), then by the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company (SCOTIA) and later the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO) and its successors, the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO) and the federal Crown corporation Cape Breton Development Corporation (DEVCO).

Point Aconi was home to the last underground coal mine in operation in Nova Scotia, the Prince Colliery, which was opened by DEVCO during the global energy crisis in the early 1970s. A limited access road, Highway 162, was constructed from the Trans-Canada Highway Highway 105 to the south in order to relieve local roads of traffic congestion during shift changes at the mine, as well as from dump trucks hauling the coal.

Point Aconi Power Plant

The then-provincial Crown corporation Nova Scotia Power Corp. constructed the Point Aconi Generating Station adjacent to the mine in the early 1990s to take advantage of the readily available fuel source.

The Prince mine was closed in November 2001, ending underground mining in Nova Scotia. However, the Point Aconi GS continues to operate as it is the most modern thermal generating station in Nova Scotia and provides lower emissions than older plants of a similar size.

Several proposals have been made in recent years to strip mine remaining coal deposits near the surface in the Point Aconi area. However, this proposal has met with strong community opposition, citing fears of contamination and changes to groundwater supplies, as well as industrial nuisance through deteriorated air quality and noise which would lead to lower property values.

So far even though lacking government support for their endeavours strong opposition from local residents have kept the strip mining moguls at bay. God willing this stale mate will continue. All we have to look at is the mess strip miners made at nearby Alder Point and Little Pond.

Simon’s Old Wharf

Highway 162 is a two-lane controlled access highway on Boularderie Island in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Highway 162 was constructed in the late 1970s to link Highway 105 in Bras d’Or to the now-closed Prince Mine at Point Aconi.

In the early 1990s the highway was extended another 2 kilometres to terminate at the Point Aconi Generating Station.

The highway is 7 kilometres (4.5 miles) long. There are no interchanges along the highway.

Government Wharf

Point Aconi School – The first school house stood near the prince mine near Mill Pond. It unfortunately burned down in 1931. The community quickly reacted and a replacement was ready for occupancy in 1932. The new school was located near where the Mill Creek Hall is today. It had an attendance of more than 50 students and grades consisted of primary to nine. Students desiring additional education would have to go to North Sydney or Bras d’Or. A lack of water from any source other than the brook ½ mile away, and no outhouses created much inconvenience. According to Nat Beaton, the school’s janitor, by the name of Rita Walker, came to school each morning on horse back. Christmas concerts were arranged and charged parents 25 cents each to attend. Nat remembers some of the teachers as Katie Beaton, Gracie Curry, and Mary Ellen Saunders. Years later Marguerite Dugas (later O’Shea) and a Mrs. Spencer taught in a one room school built out at the intersection of Point Aconi Road and the ‘Out Back’ road. There were two students to a desk and work was done on a slate with a slate pencil. These items were supplied by the parents and passed on to other siblings. Students were not forced to memorize. The answers were in clear view of the children who had to find the answer by proving they had the ability to find it and show the steps involved in achieving it.

(Courtesy of “Along The Shores of Boularderie” by Laurie A. Ryan)

30 Jul

OBITS – JUL 30, 2010

Posted by CAPER in Obituaries.

Obituaries for July 30th, 2010

29 Jul

OBITS – JUL 29, 2010

Posted by CAPER in Obituaries.

Obituaries for July 29th, 2010

28 Jul

POINT ACONI SCHOOL – 1935

Posted by CAPER in History.

                    (Recognize anyone? GTF)

28 Jul

OBITS – JUL 28, 2010

Posted by CAPER in Obituaries.

Obituaries for July 28th, 2010

27 Jul

HER MAJESTY’S PLEASURE

Posted by CAPER in General Interest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Australian Rowing Team welcomes Princess Anne with unbridled affection.

27 Jul

SHIPWRECK TREASURE HUNTERS

Posted by CAPER in General Interest, History, Military.

 

Cape Breton a wreck-diver’s paradise

(Submitted by Michael Gerhartz)

Underwater explorers Michael Gerhartz and Harvey Morash shine a light on the plaque designating the site of the Astraea shipwreck during a dive to the shipwreck in June. The ship ran aground on May 8, 1834, near the community of Little Lorraine.

The coastal areas of Cape Breton Island have held secrets for hundreds of years as military powers looked to stabilize their colonies and migrants yearned to begin a new life in the New World only to chart a course that prematurely ended so many lives on the rocky Atlantic shore.

Shipwreck charts are dotted with spots up and down the coastline of Nova Scotia, particularly its northern most point of Saint Paul Island in Cape Breton.

Underwater explorers Michael Gerhartz, Ronald Newcombe, and Harvey Morash are part of the Si-Tech Explorer Team from Atlantic Canada. Si-Tech is a Swedish drysuit and scuba gear manufacturer.

The team has spent several months preoccupied with a 1834 shipwreck on Cape Breton’s eastern coastline, near the community of Little Lorraine.

The Irish immigrant ship Astraea ran aground at night May 8, 1834, and quickly broke up, killing 248 people. There were only three survivors — a surgeon, a carpenter and a seaman.

Researching background on the ship, the team came across a diary entry from Dr. Jerome O’Sullivan, one of the survivors of the shipwreck, and a letter written by the priest who oversaw the recovery of the bodies. The documents are held in trust at the Beaton Institute at Cape Breton University.

Only tiny pieces of scattered timber, iron and brass remain of the wreckage after years of ocean currents and saltwater taking a toll on the debris.

In June, the explorer team dived 30 metres down to the site of the Astraea to lay a plaque on the ocean floor in memory of the people who died aboard the ship.

Plaque

“We found an anchor, we found several copper nails, copper sheeting. After a while we had a pretty good idea of where everything was,” said Gerhartz, owner and operator of Easy Dive Canada, located in St. George’s Channel, Richmond County.

It was decided a memorial plaque would rest next to the anchor. Mounted to a concrete block, the stainless steel plaque reads: “In memory of the 248 souls who lost their lives on their search for a better future on May 8, 1834.”

“It seemed appropriate to us to lay our plaque by the ships anchor, perhaps the last remaining recognizable part of the vessel,” Ronald Newcombe of Atlantic Aquatic Adventures in Sydney said in a letter about the experience.

The only first-person account of what happened aboard the vessel and its immediate aftermath come from the diary entry of O’Sullivan. The following is an excerpt from his near-death experience:

“I was dreadfully washed by the breakers; the sea was rolling over the entire ship. I now left the wheel, got on the ship’s side, and was scarcely there when the vessel was torn off by the sea and was dashed overboard on the other side.

“Nova Scotia has the highest density of shipwrecks in North and South America, and some would even say in the whole world.” – Underwater explorer Michael Gerhartz

“I then saw that the ship was irrevocably lost, and determined to safe my life if I could. I plunged off the wreck without further hesitation, and endeavored to swim to the opposite rock, which I could discover pretty plainly by the foam of the breakers, which dashed against it with fury. I gained the cliff unhurt when a beam of timber (torn from the ship) struck me on the back and drove me down the current about forty yards in an opposite direction.

“However, the returning wave brought me back again, and threw me on the rock on my hands and knees; the timber drifted me off again and dashed me against another rock. I was held under the timber and partly under water for about fifteen minutes, when the beam stick in the nook of a rock and remained stationary, by which means I was enabled to disengage myself from it and finally, after many exertions, attained the cliff in a state of extreme exhaustion.”

In the weeks ahead, the team will gear up to examine a French warship that sank in the shallow waters of Louisbourg harbour.

A Sinking

Le Celebre, a 64-gun frigate, was burnt during the second siege of the Fortress of Louisbourg on July 21, 1758. British cannon fire struck Celebre and set off cartridges. The mast caught fire and the small number of men aboard were unable to put it out.

Sparks from the fire set the French ships Entreprenant and Capricieux ablaze as well. All three vessels were destroyed in the enormous fire as they drifted across the harbour, guns spontaneously shooting off in the heat. The fire destroyed over half the remaining French fleet in Louisbourg.

The wreck is open to supervised recreational diving booked through licensed tour operators at Louisbourg. Its rows of cannons and mounds of recognizable artifacts make it a popular international diving attraction.

“As far as I know, it’s one of the best documented shipwrecks in Nova Scotia because of its historical significance and because of the easy access,” Gerhartz said.

“We’ll see if we can document them a little bit more, and probably get a name behind those items. We first have to see what we find in detail. We have a pretty good idea of what we can find down there.”

The team expects to begin its video survey of the Le Celebre with a series of dives in late August to document the changes on the nearly intact warship from wave action over the last year.

 cshannon@cbpost.com

 Some of the most notable seafaring disasters in Cape Breton’s history

• March 15, 1979: British oil tanker Kurdistan broke in half in an ice field in heavy seas in the Cabot Strait, about 80 kilometres northeast of Sydney. The crew was removed and the stern section was towed to Port Hawksbury. The bow section of the tanker was deemed unsalvageable and was towed to deep water far offshore. The incident resulted in a massive oil spill.

• Feb. 4, 1970: Liberian oil tanker Arrow became stranded off Arichat when it struck Cerberus Rock in a storm. It split in two, spilled its cargo and sank. There were no deaths.

Little Lorraine

• Oct. 14, 1942: The Cape Breton-Newfoundland ferry Caribou was torpedoed by a German U-boat approximately 40 kilometres south of Port aux Basques. There were 136 passengers and crew who died during the attack, but 101 survived the ordeal.

• April 28, 1928: Dutch freighter Callisto struck rocks in fog and wrecked near Baleine, outside of Little Lorraine. The entire crew of 32 died.

• March 22, 1911: Passenger steamer ferry SS Bruce sunk near Scatarie Island as a result of a judgment error killing two crewmen.

• Aug. 24, 1873: British steamer Saltwell wrecked on the Hay Island shoals near Scatarie Island during a night time gale. Fifteen crewmen were killed, but another 15 survived.

• July 15, 1871: Sailing ship Minerva ran on to the jagged rocks in fog at Saint Paul Island. There were 227 passengers and 33 crewmen aboard. All landed safely and were rescued 10 days later by the steamer Merritt.

• Sept. 11, 1834: Irish immigrant ship Sybelle hit rocks and sank off Saint Paul Island; 316 died — mostly Irish immigrants

• Dec. 1, 1824: Barque ship Jessie hit rocks on Saint Paul Island during a snowstorm. All 26 aboard made it safely on to the island, but later died of starvation and exposure. The tragedy led to the construction of two lighthouses on the island several years later.

• Oct. 18, 1814: British transport ship Sovereign wrecks on Saint Paul Island killing 202, mostly British troops; 37 survived. It is believed that the ship may have been carrying a large consignment of silver coins.

• Nov. 15, 1761: Transport ship Auguste was stranded in a gale near Dingwall, killing 121 passengers and crew, but seven people managed to survive.

• Sept. 24, 1758: British warship HMS Tilbury caught in a hurricane off St. Esprit Island led to the deaths of 280.

• Oct. 21, 1725: During a squall French frigate Le Chameau was blown on to rocks near Louisbourg . All 316 aboard died. About 180 victims who washed ashore were buried in a mass grave.

• Oct. 7, 1711: British warship HMS Feversham wrecked on Scatarie Island during a gale killing 102 people.

Lighting the way to Safe Harbour

 

 

 

Source: Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

27 Jul

OBITS – JUL 27, 2010

Posted by CAPER in Obituaries.

Obituaries for July 27th, 2010

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