The Course of Empire (Uncensored)

Forwarded from Canada The Unknown Country

The Halifax Explosion
At about 8;45 on the morning of Dec. 6, 1917, the French munitions ship SS Mont-Blanc, heavily loaded with 2,810 tons of explosives bound for the Western Front, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo, which was carrying supplies intended for the relief of occupied Belgium. A series of poor decisions and miscommunications led to the collision in the entrance of Halifax Harbour’s Narrows and sparks quickly started a fire aboard the Mont-Blanc. As the burning ship drifted toward Pier 6, thousands of people—unaware of the ship’s cargo—gathered at windows and along the waterfront to watch it burn. The crew of the Mont-Blanc quickly abandoned ship and tried, mostly in vain, to warn people of the impending doom carried by the “death ship.”

Barely 20 minutes after the collision at 9:04 a.m., the Mont-Blanc exploded with catastrophic force. The blast levelled much of Halifax’s North End and devastated nearby Dartmouth, and parts of the ship were thrown 1,000 feet into the air, landing as much 4 km away. The massive shock wave shattered just about ever window for miles around and blew the water away, exposing the bottom of the harbour which triggered a 60-foot tsunami that swept through the waterfront, causing further damage and loss of life. The giant smoke plume rose up to 20,000 feet tall and could be seen for miles. It is recorded that 1,782 people were killed by the blast, with over 9,000 people being injured, many with long life long effects such as blindness. The shock wave of the blast is said to have been felt as far away as Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island.

The amount of devastation quickly overwhelmed local resources, but thanks to the quick word being spread along the telegraph lines, trains full of relief supplies and firemen began pouring into the ruined city. In the following days, a severe blizzard struck the city which hit the people of Halifax even harder, and a number of people are presumed to have succumbed the the cold. Notably, some friendly help quickly arrived from the City of Boston on the morning of Dec. 8th. The American train fought through the blizzard and was among the first trains to reach the city and began to immediately distribute food. This began a tradition of friendship still commemorated today with Nova Scotia sending Boston a Christmas tree every year since 1971 as thanks.

The Halifax Explosion remains one of Canada’s defining historical tragedies. It took several years for Halifax to recover and rebuild, with the body of the last victim not being found until 1919. The disaster prompted major changes in naval regulation, harbour traffic control, and emergency planning. The 2.9 kiloton explosion remained the largest on record and was the measure against which other massive explosions were compared until the advent of Nuclear weapons. In 1945 the destruction caused by the 15 kiloton bomb dropped on Hiroshima was compared against the Halifax Explosion. The terrible disaster is still remembered and commemorated today, both for its immense destruction and the extraordinary humanitarian response that followed.

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