Halifax Disaster

On December 6th, 1917 two ships collided just off the coast of Halifax. One was called Mont Blanc a freighter the other was the Imo she was a Belgian relief ship. The Imo was going to fast and she hit the Mont Blanc they made an explosion that rocked Halifax. The collision was at 8:45am then she exploded 20 minutes later at 9:05am they could have prevented it by making all ship stay on given path and radio in if they need to change paths.

The port of Halifax bustled with the wartime movement of ships on the morning of December 6, 1917. The Belgian relief vessel Imo sailed toward the Atlantic as the French freighter Mont Blanc, carrying a cargo of TNT and flammables, headed up the harbour to moor. In a mix-up about right-of-way, the Imo struck the Mont Blanc, igniting a fire that quickly raged out of control.

When the crew of the Mont Blanc took to the lifeboats, leaving their blazing vessel to drift in the harbour, a Halifax firefighting crew boarded the ship in a gallant effort to quell the blaze … but the men were doomed. Moments later, the Mont Blanc struck a pier, setting it afire, then blew apart in a white flash, the largest man-made explosion to occur before the nuclear age.

More than 2,000 men, women and children died in the eruption. About 9,000 were injured, many crippled permanently, some blinded by shattering glass from windows they were looking through when the Mont Blanc disintegrated. The blast and the fires razed homes, shops and factories. Next day, the worst blizzard in years struck the city, heaping even more agony on thousands of people forced to live for weeks in tents in freezing temperatures. The Halifax Explosion remains Canada's worst-ever disaster

Halifax was founded by the British military, as a fortress against French interests in the Maritimes. Since 1749 it had thrived in times of war.

By 1917, three years of war in Europe had made Halifax a boom town. With a population of about 50,000, it was the largest in Atlantic Canada. It prided itself on keeping up with all the latest developments of the new century.

Across the harbour in Dartmouth, the pre-war town of 6,500 had grown too. Three ferries were hard pressed to keep up with traffic between the two communities.

On both sides of the harbour, business and industry were booming as factories, foundries and mills met the demands of a wartime economy.

Modern transportation and communications, schools and universities were all part of daily life. The Halifax Fire Department had just taken delivery of its first motorized fire truck.