Posted on 12/05/2020 12:42:28 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
...the 1917 Halifax Explosion—the largest man-made blast of the preatomic age.
On the morning of Dec. 6, 1917, the SS Mont-Blanc entered Halifax’s harbor carrying thousands of tons of explosives en route from New York to France for use in World War I. The Norwegian steamship SS Imo, traveling above the speed limit and in the wrong lane, was exiting the harbor. They collided. Unaware of the Mont-Blanc’s cargo, crowds gathered to see the fire. A sailor appraised train dispatcher Vince Coleman of the danger, and rather than flee, Coleman warned incoming trains: “Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbour making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys.” Coleman died at
his post; his warning saved as many as 300 lives.
Some 2,000 were killed and 9,000 wounded in a city of 50,000. Twelve thousand buildings were obliterated or badly damaged. Suddenly, half the city was homeless in the cold.
After a telegraph requesting help reached Boston, Gov. Samuel McCall wired Halifax’s mayor: “Massachusetts stands ready to go to the limit in rendering every assistance you may be in need of. Wire me immediately.” Without waiting for a reply, McCall organized a relief expedition.
The train stalled in a blizzard, which buried Halifax in 16 inches of snow. The men “worked like Trojans,” Ratshesky reported, digging the train out and willing it on. They arrived in Halifax the morning of Dec. 8 ...
Later that first day, Ratshesky was given a building to set up a hospital. Every door and window was damaged, every room flooded. But by 9 p.m. it was up and running with 60 patients. The medical team distinguished itself in performing eye surgeries and readying the city to treat any outbreak of disease.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Also here:
https://archive.vn/nTmvT
Thank you for posting this.
Movie: Shattered City
(excerpt)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3DU95ZLxw8
6:36
Her baby brother normally got a bath in his bedroom the same time everyday. For some reason my grandmother didn't bath him that day so he escaped being hit by broken glass.
My mother recalled sitting on the side of his bed and looking up at the broken skylight waiting for the German soldiers to come down from the roof above.
It’s unfathomable the horrific injuries people must have suffered.
Burns, cuts from shards of glass, being impaled by flying objects. And in those days of limited medical care.
The lucky ones died on the spot, or were far enough away that they weren’t affected.
A terrible event by any measure. At least twice as big as this years blast in Beirut. Maybe three times bigger.
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