|
 CSS Acadia, survivor of the seas, turns 100 Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 44° 38.874 W 063° 34.188
20T E 454816 N 4943995
A Canadian National Historic site, the SS Acadia is the only ship to have served the Royal Canadian Navy in both the First and Second World Wars. She is now displayed on the Halifax Harbour alongside another CHS ship, the HMCS Sackville.
Waymark Code: WMQFFG
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Date Posted: 02/21/2016
Views: 8
Not only did the Acadia serve in both world wars, but she is also the only vessel afloat today to have survived the Great Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917 which devastated the port city of Halifax, killing 2,000 people outright, injuring or blinding another 9,000 and leaving more than 25,000 homeless. It was the largest man-made non-nuclear explosion ever to occur.
Originally built as a hydrographic vessel, The Acadia was launched in 1913 and recruited into the Royal Canadian Navy as a patrol ship and escort vessel from 1916 to 1919. Decommissioned as a navy vessel after the First World War, she went back to hydrographic research and mapping until 1939, when she was recommissioned as a warship, again serving as a patrol vessel and training ship until 1945. Again a survey and scientific ship, the was retired permanently in 1969 and eventually restored to become part of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax.
This vessel, the second Canadian government ship to bear the name, was designed in Canada, for the Hydrographic Survey and built at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. Launched in May 1913, for over half a century ACADIA played a leading role in the charting of Hudson Bay and Strait, the Labrador coast, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and pioneered oceanography to Canadian waters. During both world wars, as H.M.C.S. ACADIA, she served as an armed patrol vessel and after 1941, as a training ship C.S.S. ACADIA was finally retired from service to November 1969.
From the CNHS Plaque
Acadia was Nova Scotia’s name in the French colonial era. CSS stood for, at different times, “Canadian Scientific Ship” and “Canadian Survey Ship”.
Acadia also holds the distinction of being the only surviving ship to have served the Royal Canadian Navy during both World Wars. She served as a patrol and escort vessel from 1916 to 1919. She received minor damage in the Halifax Explosion in 1917 while acting as a guard ship in Bedford Basin, making her the only vessel still afloat today to have survived the Halifax Explosion. Acadia was re-commissioned as a warship in 1939 serving first as a patrol vessel and later as a training ship until the war’s end in 1945.
Acadia remains a classic example of the best that her British builders had to offer. Built during the Edwardian era, her splendid lines run uninterrupted from the straight bow to a graceful counter stern. With her two masts and her single funnel, she resembles a small steam yacht more than a hardworking survey vessel.
Her interior displays a class of marine craftsmanship typical of that great tradition. Beautiful mahogany and oak panelling and fine brass work are found throughout the quarters of the hydrographic staff and officers, giving them accommodations that suggest the great ocean liners of the same era.
From Nova Scotia Museums
CSS Acadia, survivor of the seas, turns 100
BY KELLY SHIERS STAFF REPORTER
Published October 26, 2013 - 12:00am
Arctic ice threatened to take ship and her crew of 50 on its first mission
The CSS Acadia, a research vessel pressed into naval service in two world wars, is now a floating time capsule and a national historic site permanently moored at the Halifax waterfront. The ship celebrates its 100th anniversary of its first mission this week. Images courtesy of the collection of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Halifax, N.S.
On July 8, 1913, Acadia steamed into Halifax Harbour, a new Canadian government ship designed to chart Canada’s Arctic.
With the graceful lines of a yacht and the heart of a battleship — as headlines proclaimed — she carried the weight of national interests like no other before her.
Explorer. Hero. Above all else, survivor.
For more than 50 years, she plied the waters, a regular visitor to the North and Atlantic Canada, mapping nooks and crannies, islands and harbours in ways never before known.
A research vessel pressed into naval service in two world wars. A floating time capsule. And now a national historic site permanently moored at the Halifax waterfront.
Not bad for an Edwardian-era vessel that almost didn’t make it through its very first mission, 100 years ago this week.
It was October 1913, and according to a newspaper account of the time, the 50-man crew of Canadian Survey Ship Acadia was losing hope as Arctic ice up to 10 metres thick hemmed in the steamship on all sides.
Acadia had plucked 28 people from lifeboats after the SS Alette was crushed by ice and sank in Hudson Bay. Now it seemed the same fate awaited Acadia.
“Acadia had to make a dash to get out of Hudson Bay before it froze up. But now you’ve got 78 people on board with limited supplies. This overcrowded, but tough, little ship is trying to get out (but) … gets trapped. … They’re stuck for over two days in ice, held prisoner there,” says Dan Conlin, curator of marine history at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, CSS Acadia’s home. “It looked like they weren’t going to get out. Everybody was doing the math about how long that many people would last on that much food.”
Read on at the Halifax Chronicle Herald
Type of publication: Newspaper
When was the article reported?: 10/26/2013
Publication: Halifax Chronicle Herald
Article Url: [Web Link]
Is Registration Required?: no
How widespread was the article reported?: regional
News Category: Arts/Culture
|
Visit Instructions:
Give the date of your visit at the news location along with a description of what you learned or experienced.
|