Halifax Municipal Archives

If anyone is wondering, as I was, why the air force needed boats: sites.rootsweb.com/~andersonfamily/RCAFMarine.htm

Thanks jamica1 - that is fascinating - and explains why they had such interesting names - the crash boats were always named after Canadian waterfowl!

They were patrolling the harbour and recovering any RCAF patrol planes that may have crashed In the harbour or In the vecinity. They would recover any surviving pilots from the cold ocean before it was to late.

If I am not wrong you are referring to the RCN - Duck Class patrol boat like the HMCS Mallard, Loon and Cormorant. My grandfather served on one of those boats.

Thank you to Eric K. and others for help in identifying this photo.

The old St Peter’s School is in the background, right, The old church, destroyed by fire in 1966, is barely visible through the trees.

R. D. Barry Hi Ross - so do you believe that would place the photo at pre-1966? Which building specifically is the old church? Thanks for your help!

After reviewing this photo, I cannot tell if the building is the old St. Peter’s or the newer one completed in 1969. Also the fence on Hawthorne St. and the concrete underpass suggests that the photo was after the flood in 1971, when that section of the street was washed out.

Thanks for these additional suggestions, www.flickr.com/photos/rdb466/. We can at least narrow down the date to [196? to 197?] until we get more clues!

Those Railway tracks... the very ones were badley damaged by Hurricane Juan In Sept. 2003. Some of the rails were ripped out off the ground and the power poles up the bank were blow down over the rail track making It imposable for trains to pass through. I have pictures of that very same rail line with Bedford Basin In the background. It was a windy night that night... WINDY.

freightor/cargo ship In the background sitting In Bedford Basin... Engine powered, Two mast, bridge In sight. Engines are off... at anchor. May have been part of the Convoy running out of Halifax... war had just ended.

Hi Tom Barlow, thank you for sharing this interesting memory from Hurricane Juan and the additional information!