![]() ![]() As the Royal Canadian Navy had virtually no seaworthy ships of its own, the Royal Navy assumed responsibility for maintaining Atlantic trade routes by re-adopting Halifax as its North American base of operations. The outbreak of the war brought Halifax back to prominence. Just before the First World War, the Canadian government began a determined, costly effort to develop the harbour and waterfront facilities. This dockyard later became the command centre of the Royal Canadian Navy upon its founding in 1910. The Canadian government took over the Halifax Dockyard (now CFB Halifax) from the Royal Navy. The British garrison left the city in late 1905 and early 1906. The completion of the Intercolonial Railway and its Deep Water Terminal in 1880 allowed for increased steamship trade and led to accelerated development of the port area, but Halifax faced an economic downturn in the 1890s as local factories struggled to compete with businesses in central Canada. By 1917, "Halifax's inner harbour had become a principal assembly point for merchant convoys leaving for Britain and France." Halifax and Dartmouth had thrived during times of war the harbour was one of the British Royal Navy's most important bases in North America, a centre for wartime trade, and a home to privateers who harried the British Empire's enemies during the American Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812. The North End of Halifax has several memorials to the victims of the explosion.įurther information: History of Halifax and History of Nova Scotia Looking north from a grain elevator towards Acadia Sugar Refinery, circa 1900, showing the area later devastated by the 1917 explosionĭartmouth lies on the east shore of Halifax Harbour, and Halifax is on the west shore. ![]() The initial judicial inquiry found Mont-Blanc to have been responsible for the disaster, but a later appeal determined that both vessels were to blame. Construction of temporary shelters to house the many people left homeless began soon after the disaster. Rescue trains began arriving the day of the explosion from across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick while other trains from central Canada and the Northeastern United States were impeded by blizzards. Relief efforts began almost immediately, and hospitals quickly became full. A tsunami created by the blast wiped out the community of the Mi'kmaq First Nation who had lived in the Tufts Cove area for generations. ![]() Across the harbour, in Dartmouth, there was also widespread damage. A pressure wave snapped trees, bent iron rails, demolished buildings, grounded vessels (including Imo, which was washed ashore by the ensuing tsunami), and scattered fragments of Mont-Blanc for kilometres. Nearly all structures within an 800-metre (half-mile) radius, including the community of Richmond, were obliterated. Approximately 20 minutes later at 9:04:35 am, the Mont-Blanc exploded. On the Mont-Blanc, the impact damaged benzol barrels stored on deck, leaking vapours which were ignited by sparks from the collision, setting off a fire on board that quickly grew out of control. At roughly 8:45 am, she collided at low speed, approximately one knot (1.2 mph or 1.9 km/h), with the unladen Imo, chartered by the Commission for Relief in Belgium to pick up a cargo of relief supplies in New York. Mont-Blanc was under orders from the French government to carry her cargo from New York City via Halifax to Bordeaux, France. It released the equivalent energy of roughly 2.9 kilotons of TNT (12 TJ). The blast was the largest human-made explosion at the time. At least 1,782 people were killed, largely in Halifax and Dartmouth, by the blast, debris, fires, or collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured. The Mont-Blanc, laden with high explosives, caught fire and exploded, devastating the Richmond district of Halifax. On the morning of 6 December 1917, the French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The pyrocumulus cloud produced by the explosionĦ December 1917 105 years ago ( 6 December 1917) ![]()
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