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Halifax Disaster of 1917


Gildwiller1918

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Most associate WW1 with the Western front in Europe, or on the high seas, or even Africa, but the Great war touched the lives of countless millions. One event, very distant from the battlefields in Europe was to rock a sleepy community in eastern Canada. 

By 1914, the port city of Halifax was the largest in Nova Scotia, with a population of 45,000 people, additionally there was a Native Indian tribe, the Mi'kmaq and 6,500 people across the harbor in Dartmouth. A lot of industry was in the area, oil refineries, fish processing plants, sugar refineries, railways, dock work and lumber mills. As the war started, it all seemed so far away to the locals, even as their port was selected for its easy access and deep waters to be a major stop for goods, troops and war materials to flow across the Atlantic. This port became even more important and busier when the US started to get involved. After 1917, when the US declared war, this port became the main jumping off point, it importance was so much so, that 5,000 Canadian soldiers (many brought their families) were stationed there to keep order and maintain security. 

With the war raging, business at the port bustled with activity, and life in the city and surrounding area carried on, many looked forward to the holiday season in December of 1917. However the news from the front of battles with horrendous losses put a damper on the holiday mood as most families had a son or father serving in the military. In the early morning of December 6th, 1917 an event would occur that would change this city and port forever. Of the many ships in the busy port, the Mont-Blanc and the Imo would collide to cause the world's largest man made explosion at that point. 

The Mont-Blanc was a 320 foot freighter weighing in at 3,121 tons, built in England in 1899. This ship was owned by the French company; Compagnie Generale Transatlatique, however with the outbreak of war, all merchant vessels were placed under the French Admiralty. During the later part of 1917 she was refitted in America, included were 2 deck guns, non sparking coverings were installed in the hold and on access points. After the refit was completed in November 1917, the vessel was loaded with barrels, kegs, and cases filled with picric acid, trinitrotoluene (TNT), and gun cotton. As if these were not enough, the topside deck had drums full of benzene stacked 3-4 drums high. On December 1st, 1917, the Mont-Blanc put to sea with Halifax as the destination. 

The 430 foot Imo was a Norwegian owned freighter built in Belfast, Ireland in 1889. Before war broke out, she was carrying cargo and livestock such as horses. The ship was owned South Pacific Whaling Company, but was under charter to deliver humanitarian supplies to Belgium. She had just arrived in Halifax from Rotterdam in Belgium where she delivered food, medicine and clothing and was unladen. The ship was in port to re-fuel and then head to New York to pick up more relief materials. The ship had two large white signs painted on the outer hulls that said "Belgian Relief". This was done in the hopes that the neutrality of Belgium would be respected, however by this stage in the war, these vessels, if found, were captured by the Germans and the cargo sent back to their homeland as the Germans were blockaded are its people starving as well. With the tactic of using convoys the chance of capture dwindled. 

On December 6th, 1917, over 40 vessels were in the port, and the harbor buzzed with activity. At 7:30 am at the Harbor entrance, the Mont-Blanc had received the harbor pilot to guide the vessel past the anti-submarine nets into the safety of the harbor. Additionally the harbor had two submarines moored as well as minesweepers and patrol ships. Onboard the Mont-Blanc, the harbor pilot, who was aware of the cargo asked if any special orders required, he was told "No Sir". At 8 am the Imo, was preparing for departure from the port, Imo's Captain was in a hurry to get to New York as soon as possible. However the Imo was not notified that a vessel was coming into port as she was heading out. There were also other vessels sailing around the harbor, and the Imo encountered the Freighter Clara, as well as a tugboat pulling a barge in his area. The Captain of the Imo as well as the harbor pilot on board decided to not wait for the other vessels to give way, instead the Imo steered out of the way for the other craft. 

As the Imo moved out of the way of the other vessels, the ships began to communicate through the use of horns, however by this time the Mont-Blanc was nearing the location, which was partially obscured by the buildings in the harbor. The Captain and pilot on the Mont-Blanc signalled the Imo that she should sail towards Halifax to stay out of her path. The blaring of horns continued between these ships, and that is where the confusion started. It seemed that neither vessels understood what each others horns meant, meanwhile the ships were closing on each other rapidly. The Mont-Blanc decided to turn to port heading towards Halifax to avoid a collision, while the Imo started to reverse engines. The Imo however was riding high as the vessel was empty and her propellers were partly out of the water and not slowing the ship down fast enough and her bow swung towards the Mont-Blanc. At this point the accident was unavoidable, and they collided shortly afterwards. The Imo hit the Mont-Blanc at the water line and penetrated the number one hold which was packed with explosives. Also as a result of the impact the drums of benzene fell over and burst over the deck, slowly running down into the hold area. 

After the collision, the Imo began to back away, however by doing so her anchor ripped some of Mont-Blancs protective plating away, causing sparks to fly. The Mont-Blanc drifted towards the downtown area of Richmond. Although the collision did not immediately cause an explosion, the force from the impact led to the the explosive materials in the hold to break free from their containers, which caused small flash fires, which in turn ignited the benzene. Within seconds the deck of the Mont-Blanc erupted in flames and black smoke as the crew tried to put out the flames, incredibly there were no fire extinguishers on board. Meanwhile on the Imo, the crew and Captain found the ship not the be heavily damaged, and sailed towards the harbor entrance, as to not block traffic. On the Mont-Blanc it soon became clear the fires could not be put out, the crew did not have time to sink the ship, so they abandoned ship and heading for shore in the vessels lifeboats. The Mont-Blanc crew and harbor pilot tried to warn other vessels of the dangers by waving and hand signals but these seemed to not have any effect. The Mont-Blanc, now drifted toward Pier 6, were she ran aground and hit the timbers on the pier, which in turn, they began to catch fire. 

By now the smoke of the fire had gotten the attention of most people in the area, and as nothing exciting rarely happens, people flocked towards the harbor to get a glimpse of the smoke and fire, which would have unfortunate consequences. Many wives and children stared out of their houses through glass windows to watch the spectacle unfold. In the harbor, there was confusion as people reacted to the situation. The tugboat Stella Maris, which had a fire fighting canon rushed to the scene in hopes of putting out the fire. Crews from the the British ship HMS Highflyer and the Canadian ship HMCS Niobe rushed to the piers to help put of the fires. Shortly before 9am, the benzene drums on the deck of the Mont-Blanc began exploded and began shooting into the air like fireworks, and the impact from the benzene drums exploding, caused the picric acid and TNT to explode. 

At 9:04 am the Mont-Blanc exploded, it was the largest explosion that was man made until the Atomic bombs in WW2. It has been estimated the center of the explosion reached over 9,000 degrees and the initial speed of the shock wave traveled at 5,000 feet per second. In an instant the shock wave pushed across the entire harbor, and the Mont-Blanc blew apart with pieces raining down everywhere. The downtown area of Richmond was hit with the full force of the blast, as the shockwave pushed further into the area. The blast blew apart the wooden frame houses, roofs flew off houses, brick faced factories fell apart, the sugar refinery just disappeared. Pier 6 was simply gone as well. Every building in a 16 mile radius was damaged or destroyed. Telegraph poles were snapped, electrical cables from power lines sparked on the ground, horses that pulled carts or carriages lay dead from the blast. All across the area were shards of glass from windows, some several inches deep. Windows were broken up to 50 miles away from the blast. A lot of injuries from this glass was a result, many people were blinded by the shards. 

The blast was felt in Sydney over 250 miles away, and the smoke went as high as 11,000 feet. As bad as the initial explosion was it got worse, as the pressure blast moved the air out, fresh air rushed in to push clouds made heavy with benzene to rain upon the devastation, which gave everything a slick black appearance. The explosion also caused a tsunami which displaced the water in the harbor to rise as high as 45 feet. This wave of water further devastated the area, sweeping away people and anything else in its path. The Imo was pushed by this wave across the harbor and was beached. Part of the Mont-Blancs deck gun landed 3.5 miles away and its anchor landed over 2 miles away from the blast site. 

With the initial blast of the Mont-Blanc, over a thousand were dead and thousands more lay injured. Bodies were thrown into the air, some landing blocks away from where they were. Countless others were trapped inside the rubble of their homes or places of work. The Indian Mi'kmaq community was also heavily hit by the blast and tsunami. After the tsunami and blast were over, rescue and recovery efforts started, however all communication lines had been destroyed so Halifax was on its own for some time. Soldiers and sailors in the area were sent out to assist with recovery operations. Makeshift hospitals were set up anywhere there was a cleared area, and wounded were being treated as best they could be. The US troop ship USS Old Colony was in harbor for repairs at the time and was empty, was converted into a floating hospital as well. As the hours went by, relief started to arrive by trains and ships as the word spread of the disaster. To make the situation worse, the following day, a strong winter storm hit the area already saturated with water, was now covered with ice and snow, which limited recovery operations. By the 2nd day, relief trains began arriving from America and other parts of Canada to help with recovery efforts. Millions of dollars were donated and raised to help the area and victims recover from this disaster. As the situation started to get under control, one thought crossed everyone's mind, who was at fault?

At one point, after the explosion gun crews in the area thought the blast was a result of a German plane bombing the area, this was quickly dismissed. Hysteria seemed to run amok as papers called for all residents of German descent were to be arrested. There was even a story in the papers about a German spy on the Imo, which was later proven to be false. The blame was put on the shoulders of the Mont-Blancs captain and the harbor pilot. During the trial, many of the witness accounts varied and no clear picture of what really happened emerged right away. The confusion from the horn signals of both ships in question and the fact that the ships involved did not follow harbor rules were overlooked by the Judge who ruled the Mont-Blanc was solely at fault. It is noteworthy to mention there was a high anti-French sentiment in this region of Canada, which also may have played a role in the judgment. The harbor pilot aboard the Mont-Blanc went to jail and was eventually released to resume his role as harbor pilot. The Mont-Blanc's captain was sent back to France. The Imo was repaired and renamed the Guvernoren which was used to carry whale oil until she ran aground in 1921 and was abandoned. 

The search for the truth and real story of what happened continued for some time. In the 1920's another trial was held where both ships were equally found to be at fault. 

The official number of deaths is listed at 1,952, which over 500 were children, however the real number is believed to be well over 2,000, over 9,000 people were injured from the blast and subsequent events. 

 

 

Below is a link you can read more about the disaster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

 

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