Halifax was first established as a fortified settlement by the English in 1749, and expanded to become the capital of Nova Scotia by 1900. It served as a garrison city for the armies of the British Empire, but when the British forces withdrew, Halifax faced decline. Fortunately the port facilities were developed, new factories were built and this Canadian city became Nova Scotia’s commercial centre (pop c60,000).
Halifax was one of the best ice-free harbours in North America. So when WW1 brought thousands of allied cargo ships to Canada to await convoy to Europe, they chose Halifax. By 1917 the Germans had unleashed submarine warfare, causing massive problems for the Allies.
Now consider the two vessels at the centre of the Halifax Disaster. Imro, a Norwegian freighter commanded by Capt Haakon From, was scheduled to leave Halifax for New York on 5th Dec 1917, picking up relief supplies for war-torn Belgium. Mont Blanc, a French munitions ship commanded by Capt Aime Le Medec, was due to arrive on the following day, and was laden with tons of the explosive lyddite, TNT, gun cotton and the highly inflammable benzole on deck.
Given the 24-hour gap between their intended departure times, Howard Baker asked why did these two vessels arrive at the same time, at opposite ends of the narrow channel linking Halifax harbour to the Atlantic ocean? Alas the Mont Blanc had arrived a day early, just minutes AFTER the anti-submarine boom sealed off the narrows for the night. And a delay in the delivery of steam coal to the Imro forced it to spend an extra night in Halifax harbour.
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Canadian soldiers looked for survivors and dead bodies
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Stunned survivors wandered around in the snow
Halifax was one of the best ice-free harbours in North America. So when WW1 brought thousands of allied cargo ships to Canada to await convoy to Europe, they chose Halifax. By 1917 the Germans had unleashed submarine warfare, causing massive problems for the Allies.
Now consider the two vessels at the centre of the Halifax Disaster. Imro, a Norwegian freighter commanded by Capt Haakon From, was scheduled to leave Halifax for New York on 5th Dec 1917, picking up relief supplies for war-torn Belgium. Mont Blanc, a French munitions ship commanded by Capt Aime Le Medec, was due to arrive on the following day, and was laden with tons of the explosive lyddite, TNT, gun cotton and the highly inflammable benzole on deck.
Given the 24-hour gap between their intended departure times, Howard Baker asked why did these two vessels arrive at the same time, at opposite ends of the narrow channel linking Halifax harbour to the Atlantic ocean? Alas the Mont Blanc had arrived a day early, just minutes AFTER the anti-submarine boom sealed off the narrows for the night. And a delay in the delivery of steam coal to the Imro forced it to spend an extra night in Halifax harbour.
The relic of SS Mont Blanc,
in Halifax harbour
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The harbour was flattened
photo credit: New York Times
Immediately the boom was raised, early Thursday 6th December, the two vessels weighed anchor and steamed towards each other, but the waterway was normally wide enough for two vessels to pass! A later Court of Enquiry had to untangle the captains’ orders and signals that preceded the collision. No-one present on the bridge of the Imro survived to give evidence. Did the two vessels veer into each other’s path while trying to get out of it?
The impact drove the bow of the Imro through the starboard side of the Mont Blanc, slicing into the #1 hold and splitting open the drums lashed on the foredeck. Benzole cascaded through the torn plating on to the lyddite below, just as the Imro reversed. Ignition was immediate; the foredeck of the Mont Blanc was ablaze. As his burning vessel drifted landwards and there was insufficient time to scuttle the ship, Capt Le Medec was powerless to do more than protect his men. Le Medec gave the order to abandon ship and in seconds the lifeboats were away.
As the blazing Mont Blanc drifted into Halifax harbour, the road overlooking the docks filled with spectators and trams slowed to allow passengers to witness the drama. Across the city people clustered at office windows and on factory roofs to view the spectacle.
The Halifax Fire Department dispatched its trucks just as the Mont Blanc ploughed into Pier 6 and came to rest. At 9 am, the Mont Blanc blew up! Capt Le Medec and his crew had reached the shore seconds before the explosion, and had fled along the beach, to survival.
The explosion blasted the vessel into fragments, split the bed of the harbour and sent smoke and debris surging 5 ks into the sky. The sea boiled and nearby ships sunk. Buildings collapsed; bridges were swept away; cars and trains were hurled around; railway tracks were destroyed. The roads opened into fissures, while trees and telegraph poles snapped away. Then the blast wave scythed down houses, factories, churches and schools. A hurricane of airborne wreckage roared back to fill the vacuum created by the blast, followed by red-hot steel fragments that fell out of the sky. A thousand fires flared up across the city, fed by gas from fractured mains.
The crowds of spectators were hit by the full explosive force and were torn apart; the roadway on which they had congregated was first buried by wreckage and then swamped by the tidal wave that swept in. The boats tackling the fire were hurled away and their crews totally wiped out. The city’s Fire Chief and his deputy had reached Pier 6 seconds before the detonation, and they were crushed to death by debris. Imro's Captain Haakon From and his crew were killed as the blast threw the drifting ship on to the shore.
In the city, 200 children and their carers died beneath the ruins of the city’s orphanage, as did 400+ of the worshippers at the Anglican church of St Mark. Of the 75 men working at Hill’s Foundry near Pier 6, only 2 survived. 100 of the children who had answered the register that morning at Richmond School were dead by 9.07 am. The Canadian Government Railway lost 69 employees.
Within 30 minutes of the blast, rescue teams were beginning to dig out the dead and injured, working in conditions made worse by a fierce blizzard. By 4pm the fires were under control, and the next day a relief committee was established to organise medical care for the survivors and shelter for the homeless. Note the burned out homes in the photo:
in Halifax harbour
photo credit: New York Times
Immediately the boom was raised, early Thursday 6th December, the two vessels weighed anchor and steamed towards each other, but the waterway was normally wide enough for two vessels to pass! A later Court of Enquiry had to untangle the captains’ orders and signals that preceded the collision. No-one present on the bridge of the Imro survived to give evidence. Did the two vessels veer into each other’s path while trying to get out of it?
The impact drove the bow of the Imro through the starboard side of the Mont Blanc, slicing into the #1 hold and splitting open the drums lashed on the foredeck. Benzole cascaded through the torn plating on to the lyddite below, just as the Imro reversed. Ignition was immediate; the foredeck of the Mont Blanc was ablaze. As his burning vessel drifted landwards and there was insufficient time to scuttle the ship, Capt Le Medec was powerless to do more than protect his men. Le Medec gave the order to abandon ship and in seconds the lifeboats were away.
As the blazing Mont Blanc drifted into Halifax harbour, the road overlooking the docks filled with spectators and trams slowed to allow passengers to witness the drama. Across the city people clustered at office windows and on factory roofs to view the spectacle.
The Halifax Fire Department dispatched its trucks just as the Mont Blanc ploughed into Pier 6 and came to rest. At 9 am, the Mont Blanc blew up! Capt Le Medec and his crew had reached the shore seconds before the explosion, and had fled along the beach, to survival.
The explosion blasted the vessel into fragments, split the bed of the harbour and sent smoke and debris surging 5 ks into the sky. The sea boiled and nearby ships sunk. Buildings collapsed; bridges were swept away; cars and trains were hurled around; railway tracks were destroyed. The roads opened into fissures, while trees and telegraph poles snapped away. Then the blast wave scythed down houses, factories, churches and schools. A hurricane of airborne wreckage roared back to fill the vacuum created by the blast, followed by red-hot steel fragments that fell out of the sky. A thousand fires flared up across the city, fed by gas from fractured mains.
The crowds of spectators were hit by the full explosive force and were torn apart; the roadway on which they had congregated was first buried by wreckage and then swamped by the tidal wave that swept in. The boats tackling the fire were hurled away and their crews totally wiped out. The city’s Fire Chief and his deputy had reached Pier 6 seconds before the detonation, and they were crushed to death by debris. Imro's Captain Haakon From and his crew were killed as the blast threw the drifting ship on to the shore.
In the city, 200 children and their carers died beneath the ruins of the city’s orphanage, as did 400+ of the worshippers at the Anglican church of St Mark. Of the 75 men working at Hill’s Foundry near Pier 6, only 2 survived. 100 of the children who had answered the register that morning at Richmond School were dead by 9.07 am. The Canadian Government Railway lost 69 employees.
Within 30 minutes of the blast, rescue teams were beginning to dig out the dead and injured, working in conditions made worse by a fierce blizzard. By 4pm the fires were under control, and the next day a relief committee was established to organise medical care for the survivors and shelter for the homeless. Note the burned out homes in the photo:
The international response was impressive. Millions of pounds poured in from Britain, Australia and the rest of the Commonwealth. From the USA, special trains left Boston carrying medical supplies, 500-bed hospitals, doctors, nurses, orderlies, blankets and foodstuffs. Despite the massive destruction to the railway system, the main lines were cleared two days after the blast. Electricity and gas supplies were restored within a week. Nonetheless there were many locals, including officials, who thought far more could have been done to help the survivors restore normal life AND to remember and honour the dead.
Unbelievable photographs were taken by Royal Navy Lt Victor Magnus, a British sailor who'd been based in Halifax. Magnus was very lucky to survive the Halifax disaster - after the war, he returned as a Marine Underwriter in Essex, had a family and died peacefully in 1969. His photos have emerged nearly 100 years after they were taken and show the appalling Halifax Explosion. The photos were recently discovered in Cornwall by his daughter, Ann Foreman; she took them to the Imperial War Museum London in 2014.
A Memorial Bell Tower overlooks the area devastated by the Halifax Explosion. It commemorates those who were killed, injured, orphaned or lost their homes back in Dec 1917. In 2017 the Fort Needham Memorial Park will balance the needs of the local community for recreation space with the significance of the park as a respectful memorial for the Halifax Explosion.
In summary, as Howard Baker showed, the port city of Halifax had bustled with ships carrying WW1 troops, relief supplies and munitions across the Atlantic Ocean. We know SS Mont Blanc exploded and disintegrated in seconds, and 3.8 sq km of Halifax was destroyed. The Halifax Relief Commission reported 1,963 dead, 9,000 injured and 199 blinded! But this was an underestimation since calculations were confined to the recovered bodies of Halifax residents and could not account for the sailors lost at sea. SS Imo survived and returned to service in 1918.
Unbelievable photographs were taken by Royal Navy Lt Victor Magnus, a British sailor who'd been based in Halifax. Magnus was very lucky to survive the Halifax disaster - after the war, he returned as a Marine Underwriter in Essex, had a family and died peacefully in 1969. His photos have emerged nearly 100 years after they were taken and show the appalling Halifax Explosion. The photos were recently discovered in Cornwall by his daughter, Ann Foreman; she took them to the Imperial War Museum London in 2014.
A Memorial Bell Tower overlooks the area devastated by the Halifax Explosion. It commemorates those who were killed, injured, orphaned or lost their homes back in Dec 1917. In 2017 the Fort Needham Memorial Park will balance the needs of the local community for recreation space with the significance of the park as a respectful memorial for the Halifax Explosion.