History of Nova Scotia
with special attention given to
Communications and Transportation
Chapter 73
2000 December 1-19
Index with links to the other chapters
2000 December
The Internet's Smart Wharf
A New Wharf in a Small Nova Scotia Harbour,
Coping with Bay of Fundy Tides, may Help Save
Major Highways and Bridges from Serious Decay
Fibre-Optic "nerves" Embedded in Concrete
http://www.ncr.dfo.ca/sch/pe.htm?c=1121
From either of his offices in Halifax or Calgary, engineering professor John Newhook can log on to the Internet and check up on the wharf in Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia.
No, there's no "wharf cam" sitting on the docks and surveying the scene. Through the phone lines, Newhook can get inside the wharf's structure. The new, steel-free "smart wharf" at Hall's Harbour, completed in December, 1999, was built without steel reinforcing rods — commonly known as re-bar.
Instead, encased in the concrete are glass-fibre reinforced polymer (or GFRP) rods, which in turn have been wired with fibre-optic sensors and hooked up to the Internet. Newhook can check the deck's internal temperature, find out how much stress the structure is under and measure its movement over time. If it were approaching breaking point, he could program it to set off an alarm.
Hall's Harbour is exposed to the powerful tides of the Bay of Fundy, which is why the wharf was built there as a pilot project. Last month, it won a Canadian Consulting Engineering Award of Excellence for Transportation Infrastructure.
The wharf's builders — Halifax-based Vaughan Engineering, ISIS Canada (a research group whose acronym stands for Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures) and engineers from Dalhousie University such as Newhook — believe it embodies the future of transportation engineering: steel-free structures wired for real-time remote monitoring.
"These kinds of technologies have been around for about ten years, but they have been limited to the lab; they've rarely been used in the field," says Newhook. "Canada is becoming a leader in their application."
A number of alternatives to steel reinforcement have recently become available. Japan, for example, is pioneering the use of carbon-based rods, while Canadian engineers have taken to using GFRP. As the use of these materials becomes more widespread, it may signify the end of an era in the decidedly low-tech world of transportation infrastructure: Re-bar, the trusty old crutch, would finally be retired.
Used since the turn of the 20th century and usually made of recycled automobile carcasses (many believe it stands not for reinforcing bar, but recycled bar), re-bar is commonly embedded in the concrete foundations and walls of buildings. It's also used in bridge decks and elevated highways. But with the latter structures, when water seeps through the cracks of the concrete, the re-bar rusts and expands, cracking and splitting the concrete — known in the field as "spalling."
The problem of spalling is particularly acute in Canada, where the use of salt on winter roads accelerates the disintegration of re-bar. Corroding re-bar is to blame for the sorry state of bridges and elevated highways everywhere, including the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto and Montreal's Champlain Bridge.
Though it looks just like re-bar in shape and size, GFRP reinforcing bar is actually stronger than steel and is completely non-corrosive. Steel-free, GFRP-reinforced structures like the Hall's Harbour wharf or Calgary's Beddington Trail Bridge could have a lifespan of 80 to 100 years, or 30 to 50 years longer than conventional structures. But, says Newhook, "This is not about extending a bridge's lifespan. It's really about reducing maintenance and repairs."
According to Newhook, maintenance costs for bridges and wharves usually add up to more than the initial capital costs to build them. Transportation engineers now routinely calculate such things as time and pollution costs resulting from gridlock, as well as obvious basics such as materials and blue-collar labour. And Newhook likens concrete repairs to fishing with a jackhammer: "You never know exactly where the problem is, because it's embedded deep in the concrete. You have to expose the re-bar, find what's rusted and replace it. It's time-consuming and it ties up traffic."
Which is where the "smart" technology comes in. "We're essentially trying to build structures to mimic the human body," says Aftab Mufti of ISIS Canada, another member of the Hall's Harbour wharf team. "When humans feel pain, they know where it's coming from. Now, with remote-sensing technology, wharves and bridges can tell us what's going on inside it, where the pain is."
Remote-sensing works like so: Before the concrete is poured, fibre-optic sensors are attached to the GFRP rods at various points. Each sensor has its own fibre-optic channel leading to a measuring instrument encased in a weatherproof container beneath the structure. The instrument, similar to a computer, takes readings from the sensors and stores them. Engineers can then access the sensor readings via modem. And the technology only works with GFRP rods — perhaps the final blow for old-style steel re-bar.
Alas, one major hurdle remains: Current building codes do not include standards for the use of steel-free decks, GFRP and carbon-based reinforcements, or remote-sensing technology. "Engineering is a conservative industry," says Newhook. "Designers and owners are uncomfortable with new materials and techniques. We're just getting to the point where we have industry acceptance for these kinds of changes."
There are currently 26 steel-free concrete structures in Canada. A new highway and bridge building code, expected in January, 2001, will include new standards based on the experience gleaned from those 26 projects.
While the code is being updated, Ralston McDonnell, the president of Vaughan Engineering and the project director for the Hall's Harbour wharf, is setting his sights on future applications. "Parking garages are an obvious one," he says. "They're just great big bridge decks and they don't wear well. Manholes and other underground structures would also benefit from this technology. We're very excited about the possibilities."
[The National Post, 1 December 2000]
References:
Hall's Harbour smart wharf
http://www.dal.ca/~hharbor/
Collapse of the old wharf in 1998
http://www.dal.ca/~hharbor/Hall's%20Harbor%20Wharf%20Collapse.htm
Embedded instrumentation in the new smart wharf
http://www.dal.ca/~hharbor/Embedded%20Instrumentation.htm
Early in 1998 a team of ISIS researchers including representatives from the Nova Scotia CAD/CAM Centre at Dalhousie University, the Universities of Sherbrooke and British Columbia, and the ISIS Canada Technical Applications Consultant, and CAN/ACM Consultants Ltd., began preliminary design work for a new wharf using solutions involving advanced technologies, materials and methods. Using their extensive pool of contacts, they assembled a consortium of interested companies including material suppliers, designers, a construction company and a pre-cast company, that have all committed to working and providing materials and products either at cost, or at a substantial reduction. Their commercial interest in the project stems from the possibility of creating a modular wharf system whereby the piles, the deck beams, and the panels incorporate fibre reinforced polymers and fibre optic optic sensors, and can be marketed throughout Canada and around the world...
http://www.umanitoba.ca/centres/isis/applications/app19.htm
Related Research Projects
http://www.umanitoba.ca/centres/isis/programs/monitoring/projects.htm
Field Assessment of Hall's Harbour Wharf
http://www.umanitoba.ca/centres/isis/programs/monitoring/projects.htm#proj36
Expert System for Intelligent Interpretation of Sensor Data
http://www.umanitoba.ca/centres/isis/programs/monitoring/projects.htm#proj2
Intelligent Processing and Remote Monitoring, Field Installations
http://www.umanitoba.ca/centres/isis/programs/monitoring/field.htm
FRPs and Integrated Sensing for Structural Rehabilitation
http://www.isiscanada.com/programs/rehab/field.htm
Hall's Harbour Wharf Repair Highlights Innovation and Community Direction
http://eda.gov.ns.ca/press/1998/0725b-e.html
High Tide Floods Hall's Harbour
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/3116/hallhb01.html
Vaughan Engineering
http://www.mgnet.ca/techprof.html
Harbour Authorities — Nova Scotia
http://www.ncr.dfo.ca/sch/HA_NS_e.htm
The Bay of Fundy's Minas Basin — Highest Tides in the World
by Dr. Roy Bishop
The highest tides on Earth occur in the Minas Basin, the eastern extremity of the Bay of Fundy, where the average tide range is 12 metres and can reach 16 metres when the various factors affecting the tides are in phase (although the highest tides occur typically a day or two after the astronomical influences reach their peak). The primary cause of the immense tides of Fundy is a resonance of the Bay of Fundy-Gulf of Maine system. The system is effectively bounded at tis outer end by the edge of the continental shelf with its approximately 40:1 increase in depth. The system has a natural period of approximately 13 hours, which is close to the 12h25m period of the dominant lunar tide of the Atlantic Ocean. Like a father pushing his daughter on a swing, the gentle Atlantic tidal pulse pushes the waters of the Bay of Fundy-Gulf of Maine basin at nearly the optimum frequency to cause a large to-and-fro oscillation. The grestest slosh occurs at the head (northeast end) of the system. Because Earth rotates counterclockwise in the Norhern Hemisphere, the tides are higher in Minas Basin (Wolfville-Truro area) than in Chignecto Bay (Amherst-Moncton area)...
http://www.valleyweb.com/fundytides/
1999 Annual Report on Canada's Road Transportation Infrastructure
http://www.tc.gc.ca/pol/en/anre1999/tc9910ce.htm
1999 Annual Report on Canada's Marine Transportation Infrastructure
http://www.tc.gc.ca/pol/en/anre1999/tc9910de.htm
2000 December
Internet Radio Stations in Nova Scotia
Following are known Nova Scotia radio stations broadcasting on the Internet:
(All of these URLs were valid when posted here in December 2000)
Live — Internet Simulcast With On-Air Broadcast
CBC Halifax Radio One CBHA 90.5 MHz FM RealAudio
http://radio.cbc.ca/cbchalifax.ram
CBC Sydney Radio One CBI 1140 kHz AM RealAudio
http://halifax.cbc.ca/capebreton/sydney.ram
C100 FM Halifax for MS IE browsers
http://www.chumradio.com/index.asp
CJCH 920 kHz AM Halifax for MS IE browsers
http://www.chumradio.com/index.asp
CIGO 101.5 MHz FM Port Hawkesbury for MS IE browsers
http://streams.localwave.com/hawk/hawk.asx
CKDU 97.5 MHz FM Dalhousie University Student Radio, Halifax RealAudio
http://is2.dal.ca/~ckdufm/
Acadia University Student Radio, Wolfville Winamp
(Broadcasting on the Internet to on-campus locations only)
http://www.radioacadia.org/
CFXU 690 kHz AM Antigonish
http://cfxu.stfx.ca/
Cached — Available On Demand
CBC Radio — Latest Nova Scotia hourly newscast RealAudio
http://www.radio.cbc.ca/regional/halifax/realaudio/halifaxnews/hourlynews.ram
CBC Radio — Latest national newscast RealAudio
http://www.radio.cbc.ca/news/hourly/latest.ram
Bruce Nunn — Mr.-Nova-Scotia-Know-It-All stories Archive
http://www.halifax.cbc.ca/radio/infomorn/knowitall/archive.html
2000 November 7 RealAudio [9:40]
http://www.halifax2.cbc.ca/media/nskia.ram
2000 November 21 RealAudio [10:19]
http://www.halifax.cbc.ca/radio/infomorn/knowitall/media/nskia5.ram
2000 November 27 RealAudio [9:44]
http://www.halifax.cbc.ca/radio/infomorn/knowitall/media/nskia6.ram
2000 December 4 RealAudio [10:26]
http://www.halifax.cbc.ca/radio/infomorn/knowitall/media/nskia7.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM Cow Bay Seaside Broadcasting
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/ckepfm/
Treasure Island Oldies Show Michael Godin's weekly 4-hour show that goes on a musical trip back through time to discover lost treasures and rediscover some of your old favourites...
Broadcast over CKEP-FM each Sunday evening beginning 10:00pm.
The lastest show is cached at the Treasure Island Oldies Show website
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/
"Please mark your calendar for two upcoming specials on Treasure Island Oldies Show: Sunday, December 17th will be the live netcast of the 4th Annual Christmas Special, with the greatest Christmas songs of all time! I am also very pleased to let you know that this very special edition of the show will be simulcast live on CKEP-FM in Halifax, Nova Scotia. If you have friends and family in the Halifax area, please be sure to let them know to listen to 97.9 CKEP-FM beginning at 10:00pm Halifax time..."
Source:
Treasure Island Oldies Club Newsletter, Issue #32, 3 Dec. 2000
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/TINews.html
Digital Archive
Treasure Island Oldies Shows
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/archive.html
6 August 2000 — Treasure Island Oldies makes history. First ever Internet Simulcast (internet to a broadcast FM station) with CKEP-FM, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. [Running time] about four hours.
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm August 6, 2000 RealAudio [4:03:01]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/aug6.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm August 13, 2000 RealAudio [4:02:36]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/aug13.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm August 27, 2000 RealAudio [3:59:34]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/aug27.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm September 3, 2000 RealAudio [3:59:37]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/Sept3.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm September 10, 2000 RealAudio [3:59:37]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/Sept10.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm September 17, 2000 RealAudio [3:59:37]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/Sept17.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm September 24, 2000 RealAudio [3:59:28]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/Sept24.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm October 1, 2000 RealAudio [3:58:33]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/October01.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm October 8, 2000 RealAudio [4:01:28]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/October08.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm October 15, 2000 RealAudio [4:01:28]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/October15.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm October 22, 2000 RealAudio [4:01:28]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/October22.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm October 29, 2000 RealAudio [4:01:28]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/October29.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm November 5, 2000 RealAudio [4:01:28]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/November5.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm November 12, 2000 RealAudio [4:01:28]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/November12.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm November 19, 2000 RealAudio [4:01:28]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/November19.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm November 26, 2000 RealAudio [4:01:28]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/November26.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm December 3, 2000 RealAudio [4:01:28]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/December3.ram
CKEP 97.9 MHz FM 10:00pm December 10, 2000 RealAudio [4:01:28]
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/December10.ram
Digital Archive
On The Air
Classic Radio Moments — Audio gems from long ago
http://members.nbci.com/coastmmc/airchex.htm
On The Air Classic Radio Moments Audio gems from long ago
http://members.nbci.com/coastmmc/airchex.htm
For 25 years Jerry Lawrence or Jer Bear has entertained Nova Scotia morning radio listeners with his contagious humor on various stations in Halifax. Here's an audio clip of one of his wacky phone calls from his HelloMetro on CHNS...
http://members.nbci.com/coastmmc/chns1.ram
2000 December
Radio the Way it Used to be in These Parts
CFDR CKEP
Restoring fond memories from the distant past
by Pat Connolly
The Daily News
You have to hand it to Wayne Harrett and his small but never discouraged band of disciples preaching the gospel of faded idols, they keep coming back like an old song. For those arriving late to this resurrection, Harrett is Moses to about 2,000-and-counting devotees of radio the way it used to be in these parts, when so-called easy listening music was the choice of some, if not the vogue of all in the metro radio market.
This was mostly in the period between 1963 and 1985, when Arnie Patterson and his confederates provided an option in listening, the soft sounds of music in an overwhelming sea of hard rock dipped in acid. CFDR maintained an extremely loyal following among mature listeners over those years, but there was never enough of them to create an economic comfort zone for an independent owner standing alone against the fierce market pressures created by nationally owned competitors.
So it came to pass that in the mid-1980s, Sir Arnold of Chebucto had to abandon his long and lonely battle, sold his properties and CFDR as it was intended to be became an asterisk in history. Mind you, a very pleasant interlude for those of us who were involved over the course of the adventure, and eventually a rewarding pit stop in Arnie's divergent business career. Although money alone could never replace Arnie's lost passion for writing and presenting his own personalized version of the news at 5pm.
Wayne Harrett and his people have been trying to keep the old CFDR flame lighted in the Eastern Passage-Cow Bay area of Dartmouth, where they launched a tiny signal, 97.9 on the FM band several years ago, brought over a number of the familiar voices from the past in local radio and received permission from the Canadian Radio and Television Commission to go on air for special occasions.
Yesterday, CKEP-FM signed on at 6pm with a Christmas From the Passage broadcast that will continue through until January 2, the fourth special events programming that Seaside Broadcasting has conducted.
This time, the occasion is in support of various community organizations, including radio-thons for the Eastern Passage-Cow Bay Food Bank, today and tomorrow, the Eastern Passage Boys and Girls Club on December 23, and the community newspaper, The Beacon, December 30.
The classic Christmas program made famous by the late Cy Lynch, Chimes of Christmas, will be heard each evening (6 to 7pm) and familiar on-air personalities like Randy Dewell, Wayne Adams, Jim David, Paul Meagher, Gail Rice, Paul Kennedy and Joe Hanratty, as well as community broadcasters such as Newfie George, Wally B., Shauna V., Chuck Roberts, Gordon Heffler and Rod Ledrew will join the fun.
Restoring fond memories from the distant past.
[The Halifax Daily News, 16 December 2000]
2000 December
Manufacturer of Wooden Barrels
...Anyone who visits the Canadian Pavilion in the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa (Hull) will see that the very first exhibit in the pavilion depicts the earliest of Canadian history, the Basque whale fishermen who operated off the Labrador coast long before Canada was settled. The main ingredients in that exhibit are replicas of whale oil barrels that were used by Basque whalers to transport whale oil back to Europe.
Those replicas were manufactured by Raymond and Donna Rhuland at Shelburne Barrel Factory. To my knowledge, no other Nova Scotia firm has such a significant (if any) exhibit in that national museum.
The original barrel staves and parts were resurrected in recent years from the wreck of a ship which sank off the Labrador coast centuries ago. The staves and parts from those original barrels are now stored in freeze-dried state to prevent further deterioration. When the museum was being established, Raymond and Donna were flown to Ottawa to study the original staves. They then modified their equipment and proceeded to make exact replicas.
I would also note that powder kegs and similar containers at the Halifax Citadel and other like establishments in the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario are products of that plant...
G.R., Shelburne
[Letter in the Halifax Sunday Herald, 3 December 2000]
Local Coopers
Wayne Coldwell's grandfather, Joe Vaughan, was a cooper during the era when Annapolis Valley apples were exported in large quantities to England and the Carribbean. Vaughan made barrels the old-fashioned way in the Wolfville area until he was 80. He died in 1976. Coldwell, of New Minas, remembers the time when a cooper could fabricate as many as 75 barrels per day. He says there was a legendary cooper in the Falmouth area (west of Windsor) who was renowned for making 100 barrels in one day from dawn to dark. If you want to see someone making wooden barrels today you have to go to Ross Farm in Lunenburg County, or Antigonish (or Shelburne).
[The Kentville Advertiser, 12 December 2000]
2000 December 8
Rogers AT&T Wireless Growing
Rogers AT&T Wireless will invest more than $17,700,000 to expand its wireless network coverage in Nova Scotia, the company announced yesterday. Michael Boudreau, vice-president Atlantic, said the addition of new cell sites across the province will increase network reliability, provide superior coverage and ensure that customers can connect anywhere. With the expansion, more customers in Nova Scotia will have access to Rogers AT&T Digital PCS [personal communications services] enhanced services. The Nova Scotia money is part of a larger $40,000,000 investment to improve services throughout Atlantic Canada. The money will be spent over the next 18 months. Rogers Wireless Inc. operates under the brand name Rogers AT&T Wireless and is Canada's largest wireless communications service provider, with more than 2,800,000 customers. It has offices in Canadian cities from coast to coast.
[The Halifax Daily News, 9 December 2000]
Rogers to Spend $32,000,000 on Wireless Network
OTTAWA (Reuters) — Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. said on Friday that it will spend more than $32,000,000 to expand its wireless network coverage in the eastern Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Canada's largest cell phone company said the network expansion will take two to three years and is aimed at reaching new subscribers and boosting service for existing customers. Toronto-based Rogers now has about 30,000 subscribers in New Brunswick and 58,000 in Nova Scotia. Rogers recently launched a plan to deliver high-speed Internet services to mobile phones in Canada by 2003. The $280,000,000 launch of 3G or third-generation services is already shaking up the country's highly competitive wireless market.
Source:
http://ca.dailynews.yahoo.com/ca/headlines/ts/
story.html?s=v/ca/20001208/ts/rogers_col_1.html
Rogers Wireless Communications Inc., which operates under the co-brand Rogers AT&T Wireless, is 51% owned by Rogers Communications and 33.3% owned equally by AT&T Corp. and British Telecommunications PLC. The Class B Restricted Voting Shares of Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the RCM.B ticker and on the New York Stock Exchange under the RCN ticker.
Source:
http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/
ir_site.zhtml?ticker=rci.b.to&script=2100#wireless
References
Rogers Communications Inc.
http://www.rogers.com/
Rogers Wireless Communications Inc.
http://www.rogers.com/wireless/
SEDAR profile of Rogers Wireless Communications Inc.
http://www.sedar.com/dynamic_pages/issuerprofiles_e/i00003770.htm
Corporate profile of Rogers Wireless Communications Inc.
http://www.thestandard.com/companies/display/0,2063,47842,00.html
2000 December 13
CanJet Adds Sixth Plane
Halifax-based CanJet Airlines has added a sixth Boeing 737-200 to its fleet. The discount carrier said yesterday, December 12th, it will use the plane to expand services, including a morning flight out of Winnipeg, additional evening services between Halifax and St. John's, Newfoundland, and its first non-stop flight out of Halifax to Toronto.
[The Halifax Daily News, 13 December 2000]
2000 December 14
Margaree Harbour Highway Bridge to be Replaced
Will cost about $12,000,000
On Thursday, December 14th, the Inverness Municipal Council members and staff met in Port Hood with representatives from the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Public Works to discuss plans to replace the existing Margaree Harbour bridge, which spans the Margaree River between Margaree Harbour and Belle Cote in Inverness County. The new bridge will be about 260 metres long, and will cost about $12,000,000. It will be built a short distance downstream from the existing bridge, which was built in 1954. Construction may begin in the fall of 2001 or the spring of 2002. When the new bridge is completed, the old bridge will be removed with the support structures cut underwater at the bottom of the river. The piers of the pre-1954 bridge are still in place, and will have to be removed to make way for the new bridge.
[The Inverness Oran, 20 December 2000]
2000 December 18
Vice-Admiral Harry DeWolf
The most decorated Canadian naval officer
of the Second World War
Military historians think he is Canada's
greatest naval officer
Vice-Admiral Harry DeWolf, who died on December 18th, 2000, aged 97, was the most decorated Canadian naval officer of the Second World War. His destroyer, HMCS St. Laurent, fired the Royal Canadian Navy's first shots of the war as it helped rescue British and French troops after the fall of France in 1940.
St. Laurent then moved to convoy duty in the North Atlantic. The ship rescued 859 survivors of SS Arandora Star, a liner sunk by a U-boat. Most of those pulled from the water were German and Italian prisoners of war. He was mentioned in dispatches twice for his service on St. Laurent.
But his naval reputation was made as the first commander of HMCS Haida, the Royal Canadian Navy's most famous ship. He took command in August, 1943, and first escorted convoys to Murmansk, in the Soviet Arctic, from Halifax.
Then, in preparation for the invasion of Europe, Haida and other ships moved to secure the coast of France. Commander DeWolf was known as Hard Over Harry for his bold manoeuvres off the coast of France and in the English Channel. Most of his battles took place at night and he recalled that he would stand on the bridge, imagining the positions of other ships and submarines, all manoeuvring at high speed in the dark, close to the French coast.
On April 26, 1944, HMCS Athabaskan and two British destroyers fought a running battle at close range — as close as a kilometre — with some German destroyers, sinking the German destroyer T-29.
Three nights later, Haida and Athabaskan sank another destroyer, the T-27, but Athabaskan was sunk by a torpedo.
Commander DeWolf stopped his engines and pulled 44 men from the frigid water, even as the commander of Athabaskan, John Stubbs, yelled from the water: "Get away Haida, get clear."
The sun was coming up in an hour and Haida had to leave, as it was just 15 kilometres off the French coast and in range of German aircraft. Cmdr. Stubbs and 128 other men drowned, 83 others were taken prisoner by the Germans.
For those actions, Cmdr. DeWolf was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the highest medal for gallantry after the Victoria Cross.
On June 8 and 9, 1944, following the June 6 invasion of Normandy, Haida engaged a powerful German destroyer, Z-32, and ran it aground. This brought Cmdr. DeWolf the Distinguished Service Cross, the naval award for gallantry. On June 24, 1944, he sank a German U-boat off the coast of France.
During the Second World War, Haida sank two German destroyers, a minesweeper, a submarine and 14 other warships.
After it was taken out of service in 1963, Haida was bought with private donations and sits moored in Lake Ontario at Toronto as a naval museum, maritime memorial and Sea Cadet training ship.
Harry DeWolf is thought by military historians to be Canada's greatest naval officer. Not only did he win a string of victories at sea, he also helped negotiate an independent role for the Royal Canadian Navy in the North Atlantic, rather than have it as an appendage to the British or U.S. navies.
In addition to his two medals for gallantry, Harry DeWolf was also made an officer of the Order of the British Empire and, later, a commander of the order.
He was also made a member of the U.S. Legion of Merit and received the Cross of the Legion of Honour from France and the Cross of Liberation from Norway.
During his command of Haida, he was mentioned in dispatches twice more.
Harry George DeWolf was born in Bedford, Nova Scotia, on June 26, 1903. His father ran the family business, DeWolf & Sons, shipping brokers. At age 15, young Harry was sent to the Royal Naval College of Canada at Esquimalt, B.C. The original naval college had been destroyed in the Halifax explosion on December 6, 1917.
As a young sailor he served in the ships of the Royal Navy, learning the skills of navigation in such odd vessels as an armed yacht. He helped build Canada's navy, and in 1935-36 helped negotiate the acquisition of four destroyers from the British.
He then went on to study at the Royal Navy Staff College in Greenwich in 1937 and served with a British cruiser squadron in the Mediterranean during the Spanish Civil War.
After his command of St. Laurent he served as a staff officer, working in Halifax and Ottawa.
In 1945, he was back in Ottawa, with the job of dismantling most of the Royal Canadian Navy, which during the war had grown to the third-largest in the world as it protected convoys in the North Atlantic.
In 1947-48, he was captain of the Canadian aircraft carriers Warrior and Magnificent. During the Korean War he was in charge of the deployment of three Canadian destroyers to the Korean peninsula.
By then a rear-admiral, Harry DeWolf went on to become vice-chief of the naval staff and then served in Washington as the senior Canadian military official at the height of the Cold War and the buildup of NATO's naval forces.
He returned to Canada in 1956 and was promoted to vice-admiral and chief of naval staff. He retired in 1960 after 42 years in the navy.
Harry DeWolf married Gwendolen Fowle, whom he met while in Bermuda, where he was posted on a Canadian destroyer for one winter in the 1920s.
He and his wife retired to Bermuda, although he spent summers in Ottawa. His hobbies included golf and fishing and he was active in the Royal Canadian Navy Benevolent Fund, which raises money for retired sailors down on their luck.
[The National Post, 22 December 2000]
Reference:
Vice-Admiral DeWolf: A Canadian Naval Legend
http://www3.sympatico.ca/hrc/haida/dewolf.htm
2000 December 19
360networks Announces Deal
VANCOUVER — Canadian-based international network services provider 360networks has announced an agreement with Deutsche Telekom estimated to be worth US$230,000,000 (C$350,000,000) over 20 years. The deal with Europe's largest telecommunications company covers North American broadband capacity, dark fibre, maintenance and network-facilities outsourcing known as colocation. 360networks said yesterday it will provide multiple 2.5-gigabit-per-second wavelengths in its North American network to Deutsche Telekom. 360networks recently opened its Halifax operation, where two trans-Atlantic cables and another to Boston converge. The company has made capacity on its system available to Dalhousie University in Halifax for research purposes.
[The Halifax Daily News, 20 December 2000]
360networks Announces Long-Term Service Agreement
with Deutsche Telekom
19 December 2000
VANCOUVER, December 19 — 360networks, a global provider of broadband network services, and Deutsche Telekom Aktiengesellschaft, Europe's largest telecommunications company, today announced the signing of a network services agreement. The potential value of the broadband capacity, dark fibre, colocation and maintenance service agreement is estimated at US$230,000,000 (C$350,000,000).
360networks will provide multiple 2.5 gigabit-per-second wavelengths throughout its North American network to Deutsche Telekom. Under the agreement, Deutsche Telekom will also be able to purchase dark fibre infrastructure and equipment maintenance services from 360networks on the same network for the next 20 years, as well as colocation and other related services.
"We are pleased to be working closely with one of the world's largest and most successful telecommunications companies," said Greg Maffei, president and chief executive officer of 360networks. "This is a major sale that demonstrates the extensive range of network services and infrastructure we can bundle and sell to the most demanding telecommunications and data-driven companies."
The contract will enable Deutsche Telekom to move a step closer in completing the company's seamless global network platform. This network will link 90 major business districts in 40 countries and offer customers virtually unlimited international transmission capacities with maximum network security.
About 360networks
360networks (NASDAQ: TSIX and TSE: TSX) offers broadband network and
colocation services to telecommunications and data-centric organizations.
360networks is developing one of the largest and most technologically advanced fibre optic mesh networks in the world. By mid-2002, the planned network will span 142,000 kilometres 88,000 miles and link more than 100 major cities with terrestrial routes and submarine cables joining North America, South America, Asia and Europe. 360networks is also developing 340,000 square metres of network and server colocation space.
About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom Aktiengesellschaft is Europe's largest telecommunications company and the fourth largest carrier worldwide, with 1999 revenues of EUR 35,500,000,000 (C$47,000,000,000). The company offers its customers a complete range of products and services through more than 50,000,000 telephone lines. It is a leading provider of high-speed digital access lines, with actually more than 16,000,000 marketed ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) channels, and new ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) services that will be available in 60 percent of Germany by the end of 2000, and 90 percent of the country by the end of 2001.
In online services, the company's T-Online subsidiary is Europe's largest Internet provider with 8,300,000 registered customers, including 7,000,000 subscribers with online access through companies of the Telekom Group. Via its mobile subsidiary T-Mobile International, Deutsche Telekom today serves more than 30,000,000 mobile telephony customers in Europe through majority- and minority-controlled operations. The company is also the second largest European provider of information technology solutions to multinational companies worldwide via its majority investment in debis Systemhaus.
Source:
Press release
http://www.newswire.ca/releases/December2000/19/c4912.html
http://www.telekom.de/dtag/presse/artikel/0,1018,x1039,00.html
http://www.360.net/News---Releases---Details.asp?ID=101
References:
360networks website
http://www.360.net/
Deutsche Telekom website
http://www.telekom.de/international/
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