10 Lesser Known Facts About Revolution Era America-- Part 2: Blood Sports, Dueling and Opium

5.  IT WAS THE PEAK OF BLOOD SPORTS

Bears vs. a dog or a bunch of dogs and then there was goose-pulling.

4.  NEWSPAPER EDITORS HAD TO CARRY GUNS

Attack a politician in print, defend yourself on the dueling field.

3.  NOVA SCOTIA COULD HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED THE 14TH COLONY

Before the Revolution, it was just British North America, not the 13 colonies and N.S. was considered part of it.

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2.  THOMAS JEFFERSON CONSUMED OPIUM HABITUALLY

Well, our 3rd president had a habit.  And then, there was his slave.

1.  POLITICS WERE VERY, VERY UNCIVIL

And you thought politics are uncivil now.  They pale to those of the 18th-century.  Lord help you if you insulted Andrew Jackson.

I Challenge You to a Duel!!  --CooterCoward

USS San Diego Hits Mine-- Part 2: Off the U.S. Coast

The USS San Diego was recommissioned April 7 for use in World War I.  At first it operated in the Pacific before being ordered to the Atlantic.  Once there, the main job of the ship was to escort convoys across the North Atlantic to Europe.Ir was based out of Tompkinsville, New York, (Staten island) and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

An 18 July 1918, the San Diego was going to escort a convoy to France and its commander, Captain Harley H. Christy, ordered a zig-zag course with everyone on full alert for a submarine attack.  At 11:05 the next day, the ship was off Fire Island Lightship, N/Y/, when there was an explosion on the port side , well below the waterline.

Captain Christy thought his ship had been struck by a torpedo.  The San Diego began sinking rapidly and went below the water in 28 minutes.  Six men were killed.

--Cooter

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City of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Destroyed in 1917, During World War I

From the December 20, 2017, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1917, 100 Years Ago.

"The City of Halifax is destroyed by fire."

This would be the Halifax Explosion.  From Wikipedia.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.  December 6, 1917.  A Norwegian ship collided with the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship laden with high explosives.  Approximately 2,000 were killed and another 9,000 injured.  It was the largest man-made explosion before the advent of nuclear weapons.

Horrific.

Titanic Victim Margaret Rice-- Part 3: Was Her Son Eugene the "Unknown Child" Buried in Halifax?

There was a second note written about Mrs. Rice's body.  It noted her hair was black and turning gray and had false upper teeth.

Shoes marked "Parsons Sons, Athlone."; medallion round neck marked B.V.M.; wore a wedding ring; locket and photo; one jet and one bead necklace.

She was id'd as Catholic by her rosary and Margaret Rice by a box of pills prescribed April 9, 1912.

She was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

There is speculation that her son Eugene may be the "Unknown Child" buried in Halifax.

--Cooter

The Titanic Trail-- Part 4:Halifax, Nova Scotia

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA:  Located 300 miles from the disaster site and because of the closeness, designated as the center for recovery.

An exhibit at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic has huge rivets and steel plates from the Titanic.  In addition, it has first-hand accounts of seamen, ministers and undertakers involved in recovering bodies, id-ing them and preparing them for burial.

Unidentified bodies were buried in three local cemeteries.

The nondenominational Fairview Lawn Cemetery  has 121 granite stones donated by White Star Line to mark their graves.  Many of them just have the victim's id number and the words "Died April 15, 1912."

One stone in the cemetery is marked "J. Dawson," but is not the fictional one from the movie.

C.S. Minia-- Part 3: Unidentified Titanic Bodies Recovered

The bodies were numbered as they were found. //// The second body recovered, #308, was buried in Fairview Cemetery in Halifax. A handkervhief was found on it with the letters "A.H.F.. No other aids of identification found. //// BODY #310 was buried at sea. No aid to indentification found. //// BODY #318 was buried at sea. He wore a brass watch and chain. There was no other aids to identification and he was thought to be a fireman on the Titanic. //// I'm not sure why one unidentified was taken back and the other two buried at sea. Perhaps there bodies were mangled beyond identification or partially eaten by some sea creature. ////

C.S. Minia-- Part 2

The C.S. Minia belonged to the Anglo-America Telegraph Company and was chartered on April 21, 1912 and put to sea the next day from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canmada, under command of W.E.S. DeCarteret, with undertaker H.W. Snow and Rev. H.W. Cunnigham (rector Anglican Parish). /// It arrived at the Titanic site April 26 and was joined by the CS Mackay-Bennet and remained searching until May 3rd. Bad weather hampered recovery operations the whole time. Just seventeen bodies were recovered and fifteen taken back to Halifax to be claimed or interred. //// Three bodies were unidentified. Charles Hay's body was the first one recovered. ////

Titanic Victims 'Dead Calm'

From the April 13, 2012, New York Post by Maureen Callahan.

On April 12, 2012, the centennial Titanic cruise docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia, so passengers could visit Fairview Cemetery where 121 victims are buried.

One of the graves at the cemetery was that of John Law Hume, the first violinist on the ill-fated ship who had a pregnant fiancee. As the ship began to sink, he said, "We're gonna just play a few tunes to keep peoples' spirits up." He died playing "Nearer My God to Thee."

Another one was that of Alma Paulson, 29-years old, from Sweden with her four children, ages 2, 4, 6 and 8 and on her way to America to meet her husband.

The Centennial Cruise had lunch at Halifax's Five Fishermen Restaurant, formerly the city mortuary where the recovered dead from the Titanic were taken. The survivors went to New York City.

One complaint on the cruise was the absence of Titanic-themed souvenirs (Titanic coal, however, can still be bought.) A blue Titanic hat with coal in it can be bought for $20.

Then the people on the cruise went to Halifax's Maritime Museum of the Atlantic which has a permanent exhibition of Titanic artifacts. Some of their items are a deck chair, pair of child's shoes, and pieces of a life jacket that may have belonged to New York millionaire John Jacob Astor.

Reliving the Event.