On December 6, 1917, in Halifax Harbour, a Norwegian ship collided with a French ship that was loaded with explosives. The blast killed approximately 2000 people, and about 9000 were injured. The entire Richmond area of Halifax was flattened. Most of Halifax was destroyed. A tsunami created wiped out a …
The last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was driven on November 7, 1885. It was a huge and magnificent achievement of a fledgling country intended to unify the country. It was a promise to BC when they joined Confederation in 1871. The terminus was in Port Moody BC, but …
Thomas Edison is best known as the inventor of the lightbulb – but he also invented the phonograph and the motion picture camera. His most famous quote is “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” A Canadian actually invented the lightbulb, but it was Edison who made it practical. He …
Lewis Carroll grew up to become the author Alice in Wonderland. When he was 30, he and his friend rowed the 3 young daughters of Henry Lidell five miles down the River thames. On the way, he made up a story about a bored girl named Alice who went on …
The first victim of “Spanish flu” was private Albert Gitchell, March 4, in Kansas. By the end of the week 500 soldiers were down with it. American soldiers going abroad spread the flu across a Europe that was weakened by 4 years of war. Vast armies, an exhausted continent, ruined …
Four days into her maiden voyage, in “iceberg alley” in the northern Atlantic, the Titanic hit an iceberg while going at almost maximum speed. Said to be “unsinkable” the ship was designed to stay afloat with 4 flooded compartments. The iceberg ripped a hole in 6 of the 16 compartments …
The fire broke out from a bakery and spread through most of the old walled city of London near the docks and through 2 of the gates in the City. London was the biggest city in Europe at the time but there was so much chaos in attempting to rebuild …
