"On the 6th of December 1917 two ships collided in the mouth of Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada..."
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LearningTranscript
00:00This video is sponsored by Surfshark VPN.
00:16On the 6th of December, 1917, two ships collided in the mouth of Halifax Harbour
00:22in Nova Scotia, Canada. The collision sparked a fire on board one of the
00:28vessels, a repurposed tramp steamer packed with a cargo of explosives bound
00:33for the European theatre of war. At exactly 35 seconds after 9.04am this
00:40cargo detonated, bringing about one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever
00:45to take place. Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of
00:53Canada. It consists of a huge enclosed bay known as the Bedford Basin, as well
01:00as a slender strait known as the Narrows, which leads out towards open ocean,
01:05passing a few small islands on the way. On one side of Halifax Harbour in 1917
01:12was the town of Halifax. On the other side stood Dartmouth. Between them the
01:18towns had a combined population of around 65,000 people. This population had
01:25recently grown. The ongoing First World War made the harbour of great strategic
01:30importance. It was a key departure point for convoys of ships bound for Europe. It
01:36was an incredibly important port, and was thus busier during the war than it ever
01:41had been before. A few days before the disaster the Norwegian ship, the SS Emo,
01:48arrived at Halifax Harbour and docked in the Bedford Basin, where it sat for
01:53several days awaiting supplies. Some of these, namely the ship's required load of
01:59coal, were delayed. Although cleared to leave on the 5th of December, the Emo
02:05didn't complete loading until too late in the day to depart. Submarine nets,
02:10designed to protect the ships at anchor in the Bedford Basin from attack by
02:14German U-boats, had been raised for the night, and therefore no ship could pass
02:19in or out. Although anxious to get underway, the crew of the Emo would have
02:25to wait until the next morning. Meanwhile the French cargo ship, the SS Mont Blanc,
02:32was in a similar predicament outside the harbour. It had arrived too late in the
02:37to be allowed to enter the Bedford Basin, and so was forced to wait outside the
02:42harbour until the submarine nets were lowered again the next morning. The crew
02:47of the Mont Blanc would no doubt have preferred to spend the night with the
02:50ship moored safely inside the harbour, especially considering the cargo it
02:54carried. On board was a staggering amount of explosive materials, including TNT, gun
03:01cotton, picric acid, and barrel upon barrel of tar-like benzoyl. Whatever
03:09fears the crew of the Mont Blanc might have had, the night passed uneventfully.
03:13At 7.30 a.m. on the morning of the 6th of December the submarine nets were
03:19lowered and both ships started moving once more, the Emo heading out of
03:24Halifax Harbour and the Mont Blanc heading inwards. Normally ships passing
03:30through the narrows were expected to stay on the right and to adhere to a
03:34speed limit of just five knots, about the pace of a swift jog. On this particular
03:40day, though, the captain of the Emo was so keen to get moving that he ignored the
03:45speed limit and surged into the narrows at a much faster speed. At this point the
03:52Emo encountered two other vessels, one after the other. First was the SS Clara,
03:58an American tramp steamer, coming into the harbour on the wrong side of the
04:03narrows. The two boats signaled to one another and the Emo ultimately moved
04:08towards the middle of the narrows to avoid a collision. Moments later the Emo
04:14encountered the tugboat Stella Maris, which was traveling down the center of
04:18the strait. Again the Emo moved aside, this time going from a position near the
04:24middle of the narrows to completely the wrong side. That was how the Emo came to
04:30be on a collision course with the inbound Mont Blanc. The two ships sighted
04:36one another when they were still more than 1.2 kilometers, around three
04:39quarters of a mile, apart, and began a series of frantic signals. The Mont Blanc
04:45had right-of-way, but the crew of the Emo, for whatever reason, indicated that
04:50they would not yield. When it became clear that the end result of this game
04:56of chicken would be a catastrophic collision both ships cut their engines.
05:01The Mont Blanc tried to steer around the drifting Emo, and might have made it had
05:07the Emo not reversed its engines at exactly the wrong moment. The effect of
05:12this was to cause the nose of the Emo to swing into the hull of the Mont Blanc.
05:17The collision took place at a relatively low speed, and although quite
05:22damaging, did not immediately scuttle either boat. However, several barrels of
05:29the Mont Blanc's flammable cargo were ruptured in the smash, resulting in a
05:33huge spill of highly flammable material. Even at this point, though, a disaster was
05:40not yet assured. Without a spark even the most explosive materials would not catch
05:46fire. For a moment the boats drifted. Then the Emo's engines kicked in once
05:53again, and the two damaged vessels parted ways. As they did so, metal scraped upon
05:59metal. Sparks flew, and a fire began on board the Mont Blanc. Recognizing the
06:06danger, the captain of the Mont Blanc, Amy Lemedic, ordered his crew to abandon
06:11ship. They needed no further encouragement to do so. Piling into lifeboats they
06:18rowed for the shore, shouting desperate warnings to anyone they could see. Alas,
06:23such was the noise and confusion out on the water that very few people on
06:28nearby boats or watching from the shore actually heard or understood these
06:33warnings. The Mont Blanc itself drifted, blazing towards the Halifax side of the
06:39Narrows, eventually beaching itself beside Pier 6 of the harbour. A huge
06:45plume of smoke rose into the air above it, and people on both sides of the water
06:49were drawn to their windows or to the waterfront in order to watch the drama
06:53unfold. At 9.04 a.m. and 35 seconds the cargo on board the Mont Blanc
07:01detonated.
07:04The explosion was a huge one. The blast destroyed everything within 2.6
07:10kilometers, or 1.6 miles, of the grounded ship. Beyond that severe damage was done
07:17to thousands of buildings, and hot fragments of metal rained down across
07:21the city. A gun from the deck of the Mont Blanc was launched into the air and
07:27touched down again 5.6 kilometers, or 3.5 miles, away. The shockwave travelled at
07:35many times the speed of sound and was felt across the whole of Nova Scotia.
07:40Buildings disintegrated, trees were flattened, cars tumbled, and ships lifted
07:46completely from the harbour and dumped onto land. In the space of a moment
07:51around 1,600 people were instantly killed, and many more were seriously
07:57injured. Victims were buried beneath rubble, hit by flying debris, and in many
08:03cases received serious eye injuries as the windows they had been looking
08:07through exploded into shards of glass. As well as the destructive force of the
08:13blast, the explosion created a tsunami, a crashing six-story wall of water that
08:19surged into the leveled city, crushing and drowning many of those who had
08:23survived the initial blast. The Imo was one of many ships swept up by this
08:28tsunami. As it was thrown from the harbour almost everyone on board was
08:34killed. Worse yet, as the water receded fires began to burn in the wreckage. The
08:42explosion had destroyed boilers, collapsed factories, and knocked over
08:46domestic stoves. Now the rubble caught fire, turning the rescue effort into a
08:52race against time. Time was not on the side of the rescuers. Since the explosion
08:59had taken place in the context of the First World War the natural assumption
09:04of many was that it had been due to enemy action. Rather than immediately
09:08focusing on rescue, soldiers ran to their posts to defend against further
09:13attack. It was only after some hours had passed that the true source of the
09:18explosion was widely understood. Rescue work was grim and lengthy. Firefighters
09:25from across the province were joined by police and military, as well as hundreds
09:29of shell-shocked volunteers. They dug through the wreckage, pulling out any
09:34survivors they could find. These were sent to the city's remaining medical
09:39facilities. A deluge of thousands of seriously injured casualties arrived at
09:44every available hospital in a matter of hours. Several military vessels that had
09:49been close at the time of the explosion diverted to offer assistance, and were
09:54promptly converted into makeshift hospital ships. Although injured and
10:00shocked by what had happened, everyone present did whatever they could to help.
10:03There are even reports of children volunteering to carry messages across
10:07the town. This rescue effort was, however, soon complicated by worsening weather.
10:15The day after the explosion, when hundreds of people were still injured,
10:19homeless, and trapped beneath rubble, a blizzard descended on the city, bringing
10:24below-freezing temperatures and 1.2 meters, or four feet, of snow. Not only did
10:32these horrendous conditions present a challenge for rescuers, but they also
10:36stopped relief from reaching the city. Trains carrying medical supplies and
10:41food were forced to stop in place in zero visibility, even though their
10:45supplies were desperately needed within the blast zone. The Halifax explosion,
10:51then, was a disaster of many dimensions. As such the number of dead is difficult
10:57to estimate, but stands at around 2,000 in total, with a further 9,000 people
11:03suffering serious injury. As soon as the situation on the ground was
11:08under control an inquiry was launched to establish who had been to blame for the
11:12incident. It might seem logical that the captain of the EMO was to blame for the
11:18disaster. After all, the EMO had been speeding through the Narrows just before
11:22the collision. It had been on the wrong side of the strait and had refused to
11:26yield even when signaled by the Mont Blanc. However, the presiding judge, Mr.
11:32Justice Arthur Drysdale, had little hesitation in blaming the crew of the
11:37Mont Blanc, who he alleged had failed to follow the rules concerning the
11:41movement of ships. There were likely several reasons behind this rather
11:46one-sided judgment, not least of which was a great deal of public anger. Given
11:53that the crew of the EMO had almost all been killed in the explosion this anger
11:58was focused largely on the surviving crew of the Mont Blanc, who had, after
12:03all, abandoned ship in order to save their own lives when the fire began.
12:09Three men were charged with manslaughter. They included Amy Lemedeck, the captain
12:15of the Mont Blanc, Francis Mackey, a harbor pilot, and Frederick Evans Wyatt,
12:21the chief examining officer of Halifax Harbor. However, none of these men were
12:27ever brought to trial as there simply wasn't enough evidence to do so. In any
12:33event, the ruling that the Mont Blanc alone had been at fault was overturned
12:36by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1919, and it was established that both ships
12:42had made errors which contributed to the disaster. Despite the devastation of
12:48Halifax some positive outcomes did arise from the disaster. The rules concerning
12:54harbor navigation and the storage of hazardous materials were changed to make
12:58a repeat of the explosion unlikely. Beyond this the huge rescue efforts
13:03served to inform and bolster charitable organizations within Canada. The massive
13:08number of eye injuries caused by flying glass, for example, led directly to the
13:13founding of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind a few years
13:16later, while the extensive rescue effort underlined the importance of the Red
13:21Cross and helped them to grow into the humanitarian organization they are
13:25today. In the aftermath of the disaster there was a huge need for housing, and
13:31this led to the construction of one of the first public housing projects in
13:36Canada known as the Hydrostone. Some of the dwellings constructed during this
13:41time are still in place today, providing a home to Halifax's modern citizens. One
13:48of the most enduring legacies from the disaster is one of civic friendship.
13:53Boston was one of the first cities to send aid to Halifax, and this aid arrived
13:58at a crucial time just as the blizzard was setting in. The help provided by
14:04Boston was vital in saving lives and relieving medical staff and rescuers. As
14:10a thank you for this vital support at the most difficult time in its history
14:14Nova Scotia donated a Christmas tree to the city of Boston. Many years later this
14:20became a tradition, and to this day Nova Scotia provides Boston with a tree.
14:26Though devastated by the explosion that rocked the harbour on the 6th of December
14:311917, Halifax has risen from the ruins. Today it is a thriving maritime city,
14:38home to more than 400,000 people. The Halifax explosion remains a painful but
14:45vital part of its history, and reminders of the suffering, the loss, and the
14:50heroism of rescuers are everywhere. Though the city has recovered, the
14:55Halifax explosion will never be forgotten.
15:01There is one final, and at least somewhat positive, coda to the story of the
15:06Halifax explosion... that of Patrick Vincent Coleman. I'm able to include this
15:12story in this extra-long episode thanks to the sponsor of today's video, Surfshark VPN.
15:17First and foremost their support allows me to spend more time
15:22researching and writing, more time seeking out sources, and more time putting
15:26together a video that tells the full story of a massive historic disaster. But
15:31Surfshark itself also enables my research. I'm based in the UK, which means
15:37that all too often resources based in other countries are off-limits to me due
15:41to GDPR-related blocks. With Surfshark, however, it takes only a few seconds and
15:47a couple of clicks to get around these. You might use Surfshark for research, or
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16:31forward slash fascinating, and use the code fascinating for a discount. Now
16:37here's the story of Patrick Vince Coleman, a man whose actions on the 6th
16:41of December 1917 saved an untold number of lives.
16:47Vince Coleman was a train dispatcher for Canadian Government Railways. On the day
16:53of the disaster he was working at Richmond Station, not far from Pier 6
16:58where the burning Mont Blanc ran aground. He would have had a clear view of the
17:03plumes of smoke rising from the burning vessel, and would no doubt have been
17:06deeply alarmed when a sailor dashed up to him and his colleagues to inform them
17:10that they must evacuate, as the burning boat was laden with explosives. Coleman
17:17and his colleagues, quite understandably, ran for their lives. Before getting very
17:22far, however, Coleman turned around and sprinted back to the telegraph office at
17:26Richmond Station. From there he started sending out one final, desperate message.
17:33Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbour, making for Pier 6 and will
17:40explode. Guess this will be my last message. Goodbye, boys.
17:47Coleman's message was most likely intended for one particular train, the
17:52Overnight Express from New Brunswick. This service, carrying around 300
17:58passengers, was due to arrive within just a few minutes, and would have passed
18:02directly by the burning Mont Blanc when it did. Thanks to Coleman's actions,
18:07however, it was halted on the other side of the Bedford Basin, and 300 innocent
18:12lived to see another day. Moreover, his message was relayed to many
18:18other stations, instantly halting inbound freight and passenger trains, and also
18:23alerting telegraph operators across Nova Scotia and beyond to the impending
18:28disaster. When the Mont Blanc exploded the wheels were already in motion to
18:34begin delivering rescuers, supplies, equipment, and aid to the victims of the
18:38disaster. Coleman, as he had predicted in his final message, did not survive. The
18:46explosion hit him with such force that it blew the hands from his pocket watch.
18:50Death would have been instant. His legacy, however, lives on, not just in the lives
18:58he saved but in his presence as an enduring figure in history, a symbol of
19:03the many heroes who sacrificed themselves during the years of the First
19:07World War in order to preserve the lives of others. Today Coleman's
19:13telegraph key and damaged pocket watch are preserved in the Maritime Museum of
19:18the Atlantic in Nova Scotia. Though he has been dead for over 100 years, by
19:24virtue of actions taken in the final few seconds of his life, Vince Coleman stands
19:29to be remembered for centuries to come.
20:07you