Halifax Harbour

It was a grey day but no rain when I wandered along the Halifax waterfront.  The last time I was here was in 2000, the year that the Tall Ships Festival came to Halifax, and the waterfront was very different then, with tall ships from all over the world tied up at it's wharves.

Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Halifax largely owes its existence to the harbour, being one of the largest and deepest ice-free natural harbours in the world.

HMCS Sackville - Canada's Oldest Warship

HMCS Sackville is a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later served as a civilian research vessel. She is now a museum ship located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the last surviving Flower-class corvette.

The ship was transferred to the Canadian Naval Corvette Trust in 1983 and restored to her 1944 appearance. She currently serves the summer months as a museum ship moored beside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax.  

In September 2003, Sackville broke loose during Hurricane Juan and struck the schooner Larinda moored beside her.  

Sackville is towed by a naval tugboat from HMC Dockyard to a location off Point Pleasant Park on the first Sunday in May to participate in the Commemoration of the Battle of the Atlantic ceremonies held at a memorial in the park overlooking the entrance to Halifax Harbour. 

Sackville typically hosts several dozen Royal Canadian Navy veterans on this day and has also participated in several burials at sea for dispersing the ashes of Royal Canadian Navy veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic at this location. In 2018, the ship underwent CAN$3.5 million in repairs at CFB Halifax.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

 I spent a couple of days in Halifax visiting relatives. There was a pretty good view of the big cruise ship in the harbour from the 17th floor of the hotel.