A port on the Atlantic, sleepy Halifax
became a bustling city during the First World War. The military moved in as did
workers for the factories producing war material. The boarding houses were full
especially those close to the docks. The harbour was busy but guarded closely.
Little did they know that the most deadly threat came from friendly shipping
within their own waters.
There was a sense of optimism in the city in
1917. The US had entered the war in April of that year and the tide was turning
in the allies' favour. December 6, 1917 started as a working day like any
other. People were just starting their working day when two ships, the Imo and
the Mont Blanc, collided in the harbour. The Imo retreated
to see what repairs were needed but the crew of the Mont Blanc abandoned
ship. They knew that the Mont Blanc's cargo made it a floating bomb.
After the collision the cargo started to burn. As the Mont Blanc drifted
closer to the Halifax shore people stopped to watch the flaming ship. It was
quite a spectacle as the flames shot up and the burning ammunition created a
fireworks show. And then the ship exploded.
People were killed, houses were wrecked. The
blast went deep into the harbour and caused a tsunami wave that pushed onto the
streets close to the docks. Adding to the destruction were the house stoves
that were used to fight the winter's chill. These toppled over in the blast and
started fires in many of the houses. Richmond, the area closest to the docks,
was devastated. Most of the houses in the North End were wrecked and even some
in the richer South End were uninhabitable. Halifax paid dearly for its part in
the First World War.
Sources
Kitz, Janet and Pazant, Joan, December 1918: Re-visting the Halifax
Explosion. Nimbus Publishing, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2006
Mahar, James and Mahar, Rowena, Too Many to Mourn: One Family’s Tragedy in
the Halifax Explosion. Nimbus Publishing, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment