The Halifax Explosion | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

2 months ago

"On the 6th of December 1917 two ships collided in the mouth of Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada..."

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Transcript

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

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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

The Halifax Explosion | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

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