Facts and the Story
The Story
It was around 9:04 on December 6th 1917 when the actual explosion happened.
Several children were off to school, just like you and I. Meanwhile, down in the narrows of the harbor where the McKay bridge is now, two ships were sailing in different directions. One, the Mont Blanc, a ship sailing in from France, the other was the Imo. Now the Mont Blanc was carrying explosives because it was bringing them over to the war in Europe, it rubbed up against the Imo causing both ships to break out in deadly flames. Because explosives and flames obviously cause an explosion.
The Facts
That night there was a terrible blizzard that left homeless families to freeze.
Vincent Coleman was the telegraph operator who risked his life to send a telegraph to the train coming from Boston instructing them to stop on account of an explosion was brewing.
Seconds after the explosion happened the power formed a gigantic tidal-wave.
The whole explosion including the tidal-wave happened in a short time period of 10 seconds.
About two-thousand people were killed and about nine-thousand people were seriously injured.
The Halifax explosion is the second biggest man made explosion in the worlds history. (The first was the Japan Bombing)
The Halifax explosion was the biggest Canadian tragedy in terms of life loss and despair.
You may know how Halifax sends Boston a Christmas Tree every year in thanks for their support and help during the explosion days, well that tradition didn't start until ABOUT twenty years ago!
At least one fifth of the city was in ruins after the explosion.
The explosives that the Mont Blanc was carrying were nitroglycerine and trinitrotuol.
Eighteen minutes after the explosion the old sugar refinery and all the buildings within a large area collapsed.
The explosion could be heard in Truro !!!!!!
It happened in the Narrows where a bridge called the MacKay bridge stands today.
World war I was going on at the time of the explosion.
More damage was done to Halifax than Dartmouth.
All of the crew on the Mont Blanc evacuated the ship before it exploded.
All the crew on deck in the Imo was killed, but the crew members below deck all survived.
Today there are cameras that scan all of the ships that enter the harbor.
Citizens that lived through the explosion sometimes get petrified when they hear a loud noise or see fire, because they remembered the tragedy that happened.
United Memorial Church, A local church, was re-built after the explosion by town people.
There were fireman that tried to put out the fire on the boats boats.
The Mont Blanc weighed 1140 tons.
When the Halifax explosion occurred World War 1 was more than 3 years old.
Stories Of Relief
Cities that helped bring relief to Halifax after the explosion were:
The
Australian Government gave
$250 000.00
Chicago gave $125 000. 00
Ontario gave $100 000. 00
The united kingdom (Britain) gave One Million dollars!
The Lord Mayor of London gave $600 000.00
The British red cross gave $125 000.00
King George V gave $5000.00
ITEMS THAT COMMITIES PURCHASED FOR FAMILIES IN NEED WERE:
BEDS
REFRIGERATORS
SILVERWARE
SHEETS
PILLOW CASES
MATTRESSES
CHAIRS/TABLES
CURTAINS
BLINDS
FOOD
COMPLETE DINNER SETS
TOWELS
etc!
The Halifax explosion has become part of the history of Halifax and Dartmouth.
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