Dartmouth Ice Festival 2025

It was a cold day in downtown Dartmouth today, which was probably just as well for the 2025 edition of the Dartmouth Ice Festival underway on Portland Street and outside the Alderney Ferry Terminal from January 31st to February 2nd. I've gone down the last two years to try my hand at capturing some of the ice sculptures.

The black & white medium seemed to suit most of these images - I needed to boost the contrast to bring out the features of most of the ice sculpture - although I did process a few in colour.

This bear sculpture is wearing a blanket of light snow from earlier in the day. 

Every time I look at this particular sculpture I can't help but think that ET is making a rude gesture at the record store in the background.

I was fortunate to time this image with the passage of a child in a colourful winter jacket behind the sculpture.

There were several bears.

The lights in the business establishment behind this sculpture added some yellow light to the mix so I kept this one in colour.

Alleyway horse.

Peace sign.

This particular sculpture provided the novel opportunity of capturing the sculptor himself working away behind the block of ice. 

Ultimately, I hope my photographs do justice to the various sculptures that I captured, and many thanks to the sculptors themselves for providing the subject matter! The images can also be found in a gallery on my Smugmug site here. 

Bluenose II on the slip

Bluenose II was undergoing her 10-year American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) inspection on the slip in Lunenburg in December and was still on the slip during the holidays. It was a somewhat rare opportunity to see the schooner out of the water, let alone out of the water in the snow.

Remembrance Day 2024 - Natural Hazards of the Battle of the Atlantic

Eighty years ago the Second World War was still in full swing, and the Port of Halifax was humming with wartime activity as convoys and their escorts came and went during their efforts to supply Europe in the face of attacks by U-boats. The enemy wasn't the only hazard, as the North Atlantic had a few tricks up its sleeve as well. 

These photos of HMS Leamington entering what I believe is Halifax Harbour illustrate the natural hazards that the ships were subjected to. These photos were scanned and supplied to me probably 20 years ago by Bill Croshaw, and we believe they were all taken by Gord Condie who provided them to Bill. Gord served in HMCS Gananoque, which coincidentally was commanded for a time during the war by a relative of mine. 

HMS Leamington returning to port covered in ice. The rail of another ship is visible in the bottom of the image.

Ice build up on warships in the North Atlantic was a serious problem, as it could lead to stability problems, and sometimes the capsize of the ship. Leamington was one of the First World War era "flush deck" destroyers given to the RN and RCN under the US Lend/Lease program, similar to the ships of the RCN Town-class, and these ships already suffered from stability shortfalls especially after some of the new equipment (like radar) was installed to modernize these ships for service in the Second World War. The Type 271 radar especially would have contributed to the added topweight issues where it was installed so high in the ship, above and behind the bridge and just ahead of the mast.

Closeup of Leamington's bridge superstructure covered in ice.

As Leamington pulls alongside the jetty you can see that the entire bridge superstructure is encased in ice, and presumably the crew have been active with axes to keep the bridge itself habitable. The 4" gun on the foc'st'le is rendered unserviceable by ice, sections of railing have collapsed due to the weight of the ice, and the cable running from the deck up to the bridge has greatly increased in diameter through ice buildup. The RDF antenna on the front of the bridge is also encased in ice, and even the lantern of the Type 271 radar above and behind the bridge is encased. All of this would have impacted the operational readiness and effectiveness of Leamington as a warship trying to defend a convoy against Uboats. 

The crew works to remove ice from the foc'st'le of Leamington while preparing to secure lines as the ship comes alongside the jetty. 

The view of the bow shows more damage to the railing from the weight of the ice and possibly the action of the seas. Interestingly, the lantern for the Type 271 radar above the bridge and just forward of the mast appears to be most heavily encased in ice on the forward 180 degrees with less buildup on the aft 180 degrees - and the cables behind the bridge are protected and bare. The North Atlantic could be unkind to ships in various ways as the rust and paint issues around the bow indicate. 

Just image trying to shepherd a convoy of freighters and tankers across the Atlantic and trying to keep them safe from Uboats while also battling elements that are simultaneously trying to sink the ship. 

Lest we forget.

Foundation Maritime: Salvaging HMCS QUINTE

Commissioned on August 30, 1941, the Bangor-class minesweeper HMCS QUINTE was essentially brand new and had undergone a recent refit in Lunenburg in late 1942 when she ran aground and had to be "beached" - at some point she seems to have additionally capsized and sunk in the St. Peter's Canal. Foundation Maritime deployed to salvage the wreck, but winter apparently set in and the canal froze over before work could begin in earnest.

QUINTE lies on her side in the frozen waters of the St. Peter's Canal. The salvage operation has begun, and righting masts with block and tackle have been set up on the pier to begin righting the ship. This photo looks to the south.

The salvage operation began with the ship up against the sea wall on the east side of the canal entrance. The ship was lying on her port side with the bow pointed to the north, up into the canal.

Looking to the north, a man stands on a gangway rigged from the pier to the wreck. Tackle rigged to the righting masts is already connected to the ship.

The ship is sitting on the bottom in these photos, and her exposed sides and deck would have been subject to the rise and fall of the tides - with all the ice present, this probably contributed to scouring paint from the hull.

QUINTE still on her side, with her starboard lifeboat davits pointing up into the air. The ground is still covered in snow in this image.

The tug that supported the operation at this stage was the Saint-class Ocean Eagle - a Canadian Government asset at this time, and formerly Royal Navy tug St. Arvans, she had been placed under the operational control of Foundation Maritime during the war.

Though ice remains in the canal, snow cover on the ground itself is receding, and Foundation Maritime has managed to maneuver the crane barge Foundation Scarboro into position alongside the now-righted wreck. Operated during the war by Foundation Maritime, the government tug Ocean Eagle can be seen to the right of the image. Foundation Scarboro's shear legs are in the stowed position in this photo - folded down onto the deck on the right side of the barge.

The masts and tackle are still in position after righting the wreck, though she has not yet been refloated. If is hard to tell if the wreck has already been relocated, or if some of the photos have been reversed, because she is now port side-to the pier as opposed to starboard side-to in the previous photos. I am assuming they would not have relocated the righting masts, so I believe this photo is mirrored - the opposite side of the canal in this photo should be the west side.

Once QUINTE was back on a more or less even keel, she was refloated. Presumably Foundation Scarboro's participation would have been critical to this state of the operation.

Now refloated, QUINTE is rafted outside Foundation Scarboro on the west side of the canal entrance, the latter with her shear legs now deployed. Ocean Eagle can be seen in the background. The righting masts can still be seen erected on the east (near) side of the canal.

Apart from the removal of a minesweeper wreck, this end of the St. Peter's Canal hasn't changed that much over the years - the sea wall is still there, and you can see the knuckles in the edge in these Google Map Streetview images to locate the action all those years ago. In fact, the house in the background appearing between the shear legs on Foundation Scarboro still appears in the Streetview image here. 

QUINTE alongside Foundation Scarboro on the west side of the canal. The house in the background right of the image still exists and can be seen in the Google Streetview link above.

A close-up of the now-refloated QUINTE, looking rather the worse for wear after her ordeal. This is the starboard side of the ship, which would have been exposed to tidal action and ice, and presumably the paint has been partially scoured off - although I am unable to immediately find a photo of QUINTE taken before her sinking, so I don't know what her paint scheme would have been - but the camouflage applied during the war tended to consist of lighter colours in order to blend in on the horizon.

After completing the salvage operation in 1943, QUINTE was towed to the Foundation Maritime-operated Pictou Shipyard, where she was repaired by 1944, and then she spent the rest of the war as a training ship attached to the HMCS CORNWALLIS training base in Digby, NS. Although the Bangors had been built with enclosed bridges, it would appear that QUINTE's new training role demanded an open bridge modeled along the lines of the Flower-class corvette, and she appears to have received a new armament outfit as well, at least as compared to her contemporary sisterships.

In 1946, she briefly operated with the Naval Research Establishment in Halifax, but paid off by October 25th of that year. All this might seem like a lot of work for little return, as QUINTE was scrapped in Sydney, NS, in 1947. But then, salt water has a bad effect on electrical wiring, and perhaps problems were beginning to surface - certainly, if her history was known, she would not have been among the first to be purchased by other navies after the war.

The entire incident seems to have been relatively unknown, to the extent that at least one RCN ship historian wasn't even sure that it had occurred - until I was able to produce the photos. And the only reason I myself had the photos was because I was able to access the archives of the Foundation Company of Canada in Toronto, thanks to the kind assistance of Harold Beswick, who combed the archives, collected anything he found of interest and couriered it to me in Nova Scotia, and then received it back when I was finished scanning it. I learned just last week that Harold passed away on April 10th, at the age of 87. So if you've read this and enjoyed it, please say a little thank-you to Harold.

Cold surf at Lawrencetown

We felt like getting out of the house this afternoon, so we headed out to Lawrencetown Beach to see what was up. It was a tad chilly, though bearable, and the entrance to the parking lot was a bit icy. I say "icy", but what I mean is that it had up to 8" of ice in places, and no ice in others, and the car sort of slid its way in through the ruts in the ice. 

Despite the blue sky when we arrived (or perhaps because it soon gave way to grey skies and snow), I was definitely in a black & white mood.

Still snow on the beach.

Snow. And dead grass. Or maybe it's just resting.

At least there was some good wave action, and some crazy people were even out surfing. 

I caught this wave just as it was breaking.

Same with this one.

Pretty sure you can see a theme here.

Aforementioned crazy surfer. She didn't last too long, and by my count made 6-7 runs for the beach. It appeared cold, and difficult to make it out any distance.

Foam on beach rocks.

In the shot above, I was playing with the continuous auto-focus tracking and 11 frames per second that the camera is capable of, and was pleasantly surprised that it was able to track the incoming waves (most of the time, anyway) and render the front of each wave in focus at f/4. You can make out the individual bubbles. 

Soon after this shot, my fingers decided they were cold enough, and mutinied. I then bravely decided it was time to go back and rescue the wife from the rugrats, who were by this time running loose in the car.