Halifax Explosion

On December 6, 1917 a large French cargo ship carrying tons of wartime explosives set sail from Halifax, Novia Scotia to Bordeaux, France. This ship, called the Mont Blanc, was barely off shores when it collided with the vessel SS Imo in the Narrows. This vessel was sailing to New York to get relief supplies for the war. The collision was at a very slow speed, just 1 or 1.5 mph. The Mont Blanc caught fire and very quickly got out of the crewman’s control, so everyone aboard abandoned ship and rowed to Dartmouth, leaving the ship to burn and sink.The ship sailed its way over to the Halifax harbor. The fire soon spread to the waterfront of Halifax, where spectators had gathered to watch the display.   

 

20 minutes after the crash, a fire ignited a catastrophic explosion that ripped through the districts of Halifax, killing 2,000 from debris, fire, and collapsing buildings and injuring 9,000 more. The explosion was the second largest man-made explosion, behind the atomic bomb. The explosion, however, did not just effect Halifax. The power of the explosion created a tsunami that crashed into the shores of Dartmouth, killing people and children that were viewing the explosion from that standpoint. 

There were many vulnerabilities that led to the fire and the explosion. The crew of the Mont Blanc were obviously careless with their cargo. They also could not prevent the fire from getting bigger because they did not have the equipment on the ship to diminish the inferno.

        

  Another vulnerability of this disaster was that the rescue and relief efforts were busy with the blizzard that had struck the region earlier that night. This slowed down their efforts of getting to the site of the disaster. 

Halifax after the explosion

Halifax before the explosion