Editing Halifax Explosion (section)

==Disaster==
[[File:19171208 Halifax explosion with map - The Boston Daily Globe.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|alt=The front page of the Boston Daily Globe. A map of Halifax is shown with shaded areas indicating the damaged areas.|The explosion devastated a large portion of Halifax (shown) and part of Dartmouth (off bottom of map).]]
The Norwegian ship {{SS|Imo}} had sailed from the Netherlands en route to New York to take on relief supplies for Belgium, under the command of Haakon From.{{sfn|Kitz|Payzant|2006|p=16}} The ship arrived in Halifax on 3 December for neutral inspection and spent two days in Bedford Basin awaiting refuelling supplies.<ref name="nasa">{{cite journal|url = https://nsc.nasa.gov/resources/case-studies/detail/kiloton-killer |title = Kiloton killer|journal = System Failure Case Study|publisher = NASA|date = January 2013|volume = 7|issue = 1|last = Lilley|first = Steve}}</ref> Though she had been given clearance to leave the port on 5 December, ''Imo''{{'}}s departure was delayed because her coal load did not arrive until late that afternoon. The loading of fuel was not completed until after the anti-submarine nets had been raised for the night. Therefore, the vessel could not depart until the next morning.{{sfn|Kitz|Payzant|2006|p=16}}{{sfn|Flemming|2004|p=18}}

The French cargo ship {{SS|Mont-Blanc}} arrived from New York late on 5 December, under the command of Aimé Le Medec.{{sfn|Kitz|Payzant|2006|p=16}} The vessel was fully loaded with the explosives [[Trinitrotoluene|TNT]] and [[picric acid]], the highly flammable fuel [[benzole|benzol]] and [[guncotton]].{{sfn|Flemming|2004|p=16}} She intended to join a slow convoy gathering in Bedford Basin readying to depart for Europe but was too late to enter the harbour before the nets were raised.{{sfn|Kitz|Payzant|2006|p=16}} Ships carrying dangerous cargo were not allowed into the harbour before the war, but the risks posed by German submarines had resulted in a relaxation of regulations.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|pp=19–20}}

Navigating into or out of Bedford Basin required passage through a strait called the Narrows. Ships were expected to keep close to the [[Lateral mark|side of the channel]] situated on their [[Port and starboard|starboard]] ("right"), and pass oncoming vessels "port to port", that is to keep them on their "left" side.{{sfn|Armstrong|2002|p=34}} Ships were restricted to a speed of {{convert |5|kn|lk=in}} within the harbour.{{sfn|Armstrong|2002|pp=32–33}}

===Collision and fire===
{{External media|width=210px|float=right|audio1 = [http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/mont-blanc-pilot-francis-mackey-recalls-halifax-1917-explosion Mont-Blanc pilot Francis Mackey recalls Halifax 1917 explosion], 6:38, [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC Archives]]}}
''Imo'' was granted clearance to leave [[Bedford Basin]] by signals from the guard ship [[CSS Acadia|HMCS ''Acadia'']] at approximately 7:30 on the morning of 6{{nbsp}}December,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://marinecurator.blogspot.ca/2013/12/halifax-harbour-remembers-halifax.html |author= Conlin, Dan |title= The Harbour Remembers the Halifax Explosion |publisher= Maritime Museum of the Atlantic |date= 6 December 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211220440/http://marinecurator.blogspot.ca/2013/12/halifax-harbour-remembers-halifax.html|archivedate=11 December 2013}}</ref> with Pilot William Hayes on board. The ship entered the Narrows well above the harbour's speed limit in an attempt to make up for the delay experienced in loading her coal.<ref name=nasa/> ''Imo'' met American [[Tramp trade|tramp steamer]] SS ''Clara'' being piloted up the wrong (western) side of the harbour.{{sfn|Flemming|2004|p=23}} The pilots agreed to pass starboard-to-starboard.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|pp=30–31}} Soon afterwards, ''Imo'' was forced to head even further towards the Dartmouth shore after passing the [[tugboat]] ''[[Stella Maris (ship)|Stella Maris]]'', which was travelling up the harbour to Bedford Basin near mid-channel. Horatio Brannen, the captain of ''Stella Maris'', saw ''Imo'' approaching at excessive speed and ordered his ship closer to the western shore to avoid an accident.{{sfn|Flemming|2004|p=24}}{{sfn|Kitz|Payzant|2006|p=17}}{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=33}}

Francis Mackey, an experienced harbour pilot, had boarded ''Mont-Blanc'' on the evening of 5 December 1917; he had asked about "special protections" such as a guard ship, given ''Mont-Blanc''{{'}}s cargo, but no protections were put in place.<ref name=nasa/> ''Mont-Blanc'' started moving at 7:30&nbsp;am on 6 December and was the second ship to enter the harbour as the anti-submarine net between [[Georges Island (Nova Scotia)|Georges Island]] and [[Pier 21]] opened for the morning.{{sfn|Kitz|1989|p=15}} ''Mont-Blanc'' headed towards Bedford Basin on the Dartmouth side of the harbour.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|pp=15–19, 27}}{{sfn|Flemming|2004|pp=17, 22}}{{sfn|Armstrong|2002|p=32}} Mackey kept his eye on the ferry traffic between Halifax and Dartmouth and other small boats in the area.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=32}} He first spotted ''Imo'' when she was about {{convert|0.75|mi|order=flip}} away and became concerned as her path appeared to be heading towards his ship's starboard side, as if to cut him off. Mackey gave a short blast of his ship's signal whistle to indicate that he had the right of way but was met with two short blasts from ''Imo'', indicating that the approaching vessel would not yield its position.{{sfn|Flemming|2004|p=24}}{{sfn|Kitz|1989|p=15}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.halifaxexplosion.org/collision3.html |author1=Ruffman, Alan |author2=Findley, Wendy |year=2007 |title=The Collision |work=The Halifax Explosion |accessdate=13 June 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924024640/http://www.halifaxexplosion.org/collision3.html |archivedate=24 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The captain ordered ''Mont-Blanc'' to halt her engines and angle slightly to starboard, closer to the Dartmouth side of the Narrows. He let out another single blast of his whistle, hoping the other vessel would likewise move to starboard but was again met with a double-blast.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=38}}

Sailors on nearby ships heard the series of signals and, realizing that a collision was imminent, gathered to watch as ''Imo'' bore down on ''Mont-Blanc''.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=39}} Both ships had cut their engines by this point, but their momentum carried them towards each other at slow speed. Unable to ground his ship for fear of a shock that would set off his explosive cargo, Mackey ordered ''Mont-Blanc'' to steer hard to port (starboard helm) and crossed the bow of ''Imo'' in a last-second bid to avoid a collision. The two ships were almost parallel to each other, when ''Imo'' suddenly sent out three signal blasts, indicating the ship was reversing its engines. The combination of the cargoless ship's height in the water and the [[Propeller walk|transverse thrust]] of her right-hand propeller caused the ship's head to swing into ''Mont-Blanc''. ''Imo''{{'}}s prow pushed into the No. 1 hold of ''Mont Blanc'', on her starboard side.<ref name=nasa/>{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|pp=40–41}}

The collision occurred at 8:45&nbsp;am.{{sfn|Flemming|2004|p=25}} The damage to ''Mont Blanc'' was not severe, but barrels of deck cargo toppled and broke open. This flooded the deck with benzol that quickly flowed into the hold. As ''Imo''{{'}}s engines kicked in, she disengaged, which created sparks inside ''Mont-Blanc''{{'}}s hull. These ignited the vapours from the benzol. A fire started at the water line and travelled quickly up the side of the ship. Surrounded by thick black smoke, and fearing she would explode almost immediately, the captain ordered the crew to abandon ship.{{sfn|Flemming|2004|p=25}}{{sfn|Kitz|1989|p=19}} A growing number of Halifax citizens gathered on the street or stood at the windows of their homes or businesses to watch the spectacular fire.{{sfn|Kitz|1989|pp=22–23}} The frantic crew of ''Mont-Blanc'' shouted from their two lifeboats to some of the other vessels that their ship was about to explode, but they could not be heard above the noise and confusion.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=49}} As the lifeboats made their way across the harbour to the Dartmouth shore, the abandoned ship continued to drift and beached herself at Pier 6 near the foot of Richmond street.{{sfn|Flemming|2004|pp=25–26}}

Towing two [[scow]]s at the time of the collision,{{sfn|Kitz|Payzant|2006|p=17}} ''Stella Maris'' responded immediately to the fire, anchoring the barges and steaming back towards Pier 6 to spray the burning ship with their fire hose.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=46}} The tug's captain, Horatio H. Brannen, and his crew realized that the fire was too intense for their single hose and backed off from the burning ''Mont Blanc''. They were approached by a [[Whaleboat|whaler]] from [[HMS Highflyer (1898)|HMS ''Highflyer'']] and later a steam [[Pinnace (ship's boat)|pinnace]] belonging to [[HMS Niobe (1897)|HMCS ''Niobe'']]. Captain Brannen and Albert Mattison of ''Niobe'' agreed to secure a line to the French ship's stern so as to pull it away from the pier to avoid setting it on fire. The {{convert|5|in|mm|adj=on|spell=in|round=5}} [[hawser]] initially produced was deemed too small and orders for a {{convert|10|in|mm|adj=on|spell=in}} hawser came down. It was at this point that the blast occurred.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|pp=50–51}}

===Explosion===
{{multiple image
 | direction = vertical
 | width = 220
 | image1 = Blast cloud from the Halifax Explosion, December 6, 1917.jpg
 | caption1 = Blast cloud of the explosion
 | image2 = Plan of the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia, showing the radius of the blast from the explosion - Plan de la cite d’Halifax en Nouvelle-Écosse, montrant l’étendue du souffle de l’explosion (8148373492).jpg
 | caption2 = A map showing the radius of the explosion
 | image3 = Halifax Explosion - harbour view - restored.jpg
 | alt3 = Destroyed buildings, with harbour in background
 | caption3 = A view across the devastation of Halifax two days after the explosion, looking toward the Dartmouth side of the harbour. ''Imo'' is visible aground on the far side of the harbour.
}}
At 9:04:35&nbsp;am the out-of-control fire on board ''Mont-Blanc'' set off her cargo of high explosives.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=58}} The ship was completely blown apart and a powerful [[blast wave]] radiated away from the explosion initially at more than {{convert|1000|m}} per second. Temperatures of {{convert|5000|C|F|sigfig=2}} and pressures of thousands of atmospheres accompanied the moment of detonation at the centre of the explosion.<ref name=nasa/>{{sfn|Ruffman|Howell|1994|p=277}} White-hot shards of iron fell down upon Halifax and Dartmouth.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=62}}

A cloud of white smoke rose to at least {{convert|3600|m|ft}}.<ref>The peak of the cloud was measured at 3,600 metres (11,811 feet or 2.25 miles) by Captain W. M. A. Campbell of the inbound Canadian merchant ship ''Acadian'', using a sextant approximately {{convert|28|km}} from the harbour approaches. {{harvnb|Ruffman|Howell|1994|p=323}}</ref> The blast was felt as far away as [[Cape Breton Island|Cape Breton]] ({{convert|207|km|disp=or}}) and [[Prince Edward Island]] ({{convert|180|km|disp=or}}).<ref name=nasa/>{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=63}} An area of over {{convert|1.6|km2|acre}} was completely destroyed by the explosion,{{sfn|Kitz|1989|p=25}} and the harbour floor was momentarily exposed by the volume of water that was displaced. A tsunami was formed by water surging in to fill the void;{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=66}} it rose as high as {{convert|18|m|-1}} above the high-water mark on the Halifax side of the harbour.{{sfn|Krehl|2007|p=459}} ''Imo'' was carried onto the shore at Dartmouth by the tsunami.{{sfn|Kitz|1989|p=26}} The blast killed all but one on the whaler, everyone on the pinnace and 21 of the 26 men on ''Stella Maris''; she ended up on the Dartmouth shore, severely damaged. The captain's son, First Mate Walter Brannen, who had been thrown into the hold by the blast, survived, as did four others.{{sfn|Armstrong|2002|pp=42–43}} All but one of ''Mont-Blanc'''s crew members survived.{{sfn|Flemming|2004|p=47}}

The blast instantly killed more than 1,600 people and injured an additional 9,000, more than 300 of whom later died.<ref name=nasa/> It destroyed or badly damaged every building within a {{convert|2.6|km|mi|adj = on}} radius, over 12,000 in total.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=66}} Hundreds of people who had been watching the fire from their homes were blinded when the blast wave shattered the windows in front of them.{{sfn|Gilmour|2001|p=119}} Overturned stoves and lamps started fires throughout Halifax,{{sfn|Kitz|Payzant|2006|p=21}} particularly in the [[North End, Halifax|North End]], where entire city blocks burned, trapping residents inside their houses. Firefighter Billy Wells, who was thrown away from the explosion and had his clothes torn from his body, described the devastation survivors faced: "The sight was awful, with people hanging out of windows dead. Some with their heads missing, and some thrown onto the overhead telegraph wires." He was the only member of the eight-man crew of the fire engine ''Patricia'' to survive.{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|p=71}}

Large brick and stone factories near Pier 6, such as the Acadia Sugar Refinery, disappeared into unrecognizable heaps of rubble, killing most of their workers.{{sfn|Armstrong|2002|p=42}} The [[Nova Scotia Cotton Manufacturing Company|Nova Scotia cotton mill]] located 1.5&nbsp;km (0.93 mile) from the blast was destroyed by fire and the collapse of its concrete floors.{{sfn|Kitz|Payzant|2006|p=43}} The [[Royal Naval College of Canada]] building was badly damaged, and several cadets and instructors maimed.<ref>{{cite news|last=Chaplin |first=Charmion |url=http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/commun/ml-fe/article-eng.asp?id=2862 |title=The Royal Naval College of Canada Closes |work=The Maple Leaf |volume=9 |number=23 |date=14 June 2006 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401182805/http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/commun/ml-fe/article-eng.asp?id=2862 |archivedate=1 April 2012 }}</ref> The Richmond Railway Yards and station were destroyed, killing 55 railway workers and destroying and damaging over 500 railway cars. The [[North Street Station (Halifax)|North Street Station]], one of the busiest in Canada, was badly damaged.<ref name=smith>{{cite journal|author=Smith, Douglas|title=The Railways and Canada's Greatest Disaster: The Halifax Explosion, December 6, 1917|journal=Canadian Rail|issue=431|date=November–December 1992|pages=202&ndash;212}}</ref>

[[File:Panoramic view of damage to Halifax waterfront after Halifax Explosion, 1917.jpg|thumb|upright=3.4|center|alt=Panoramic view over traintracks to destroyed cityscape|View from the waterfront looking west from the ruins of the Sugar Refinery across the obliterated Richmond District several days after the explosion. The remains of Pier 6, site of the explosion, are on the extreme right.]]

The death toll could have been worse had it not been for the self-sacrifice of an Intercolonial Railway dispatcher, [[Vince Coleman (train dispatcher)|Patrick Vincent (Vince) Coleman]], operating at the railyard about {{convert|750|ft|m|order=flip}} from Pier 6, where the explosion occurred. He and his co-worker, William Lovett, learned of the dangerous cargo aboard the burning ''Mont-Blanc'' from a sailor and began to flee. Coleman remembered that an incoming passenger train from [[Saint John, New Brunswick]], was due to arrive at the railyard within minutes. He returned to his post alone and continued to send out urgent telegraph messages to stop the train. Several variations of the message have been reported, among them this from the [[Maritime Museum of the Atlantic]]: "Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbor making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys." Coleman's message was responsible for bringing all incoming trains around Halifax to a halt. It was heard by other stations all along the Intercolonial Railway, helping railway officials to respond immediately.<ref name=conlin>{{cite web|url=https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca/what-see-do/halifax-explosion/vincent-coleman-and-halifax-explosion|author=Conlin, Dan|title=Vincent Coleman and the Halifax Explosion|publisher=Maritime Museum of the Atlantic|accessdate=25 April 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510161551/https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca/what-see-do/halifax-explosion/vincent-coleman-and-halifax-explosion|archivedate=10 May 2015}}</ref>{{sfn|Mac Donald|2005|pp=1–3}} Passenger Train No. 10, the overnight train from Saint John, is believed to have heeded the warning and stopped a safe distance from the blast at [[Rockingham, Nova Scotia|Rockingham]], saving the lives of about 300 railway passengers. Coleman was killed at his post.<ref name=conlin/>