When Halifax exploded

I first heard about the Halifax explosion during a visit to Halifax in the 1990s. Why, I wondered, had I never heard of it before? In the United States we knew about the Chicago fire, the San Franscisco earthquake and the Johnstown flood, but just a few miles up the coast from Boston was the largest manmade explosion in history until the Hiroshima A-bomb, and I had heard nothing about it.

The 100th anniversary of explosion in 2017 resulted in two books on the subject, one of them The Great Halifax Explosion by John U. Bacon. Reading Bacon's book makes me wonder even more how an explosion that leveled most of a city could be remembered by so few people south of the Canadian border.

Two major factors led to the explosion: the First World War and carelessness. The explosion might just as easily have blown away a big chunk of New York City, for that is where the ship, the Mont-Blanc, was filled to the brim with explosives and ignitors. Crew members were forbidden to smoke or even to carry matches. Even a sudden bump could have set off an explosion.

Yet the disaster, which now seems all but inevitable, didn't occur until the ship was entering Halifax harbor on Dec. 6, 1917. It was intended as the last stop before the Mont-Blanc headed for the war in Europe. Had it been peacetime there would have been no need for a ship to be full of explosives, but if it had been, that ship would have had a red flag to alert other ships to stay clear. But they didn't want to alert any submarines or saboteurs that might be hanging about. So the Mont-Blanc looked no different than any other ship entering Halifax's near-perfect harbor.

The problem was there was another ship, the Imo, going the other way in the wrong lane at excessive speed. Its captain expected the Mont-Blanc to get out of its way, but the Mont-Blanc's captain didn't want to risk a sudden shift of its dangerous cargo. This game of chicken led to the collision.

Surprisingly the explosion did not occur immediately, but there was an immediate fire. The crew of the Mont-Blanc, knowing the danger, abandoned ship and got as far away as possible. Most survived, though officers were held accountable afterward. Others in the harbor, including those aboard the Imo and those responsible for fighting fires in the harbor,  moved in the opposite direction. Many people stood around the harbor to watch the ship burn.

The explosion killed nearly two thousand people and destroyed much of the city. Two days later a blizzard struck, burying the ruins under 16 inches of snow. Bacon is at his best detailing the extend of the damage to humans and to their property. Many survivors lost their eyes to the broken glass that flew at high speed from virtually every window in Halifax. Many children were left orphans; many parents were left childless.

Yet somehow over the century most Americans forgot about this disaster. The city of Halifax, however, has not forgotten the help they received from Americans at the time. Every December they still send the people of Boston a large Christmas tree to say thank you.