Halifax explosion
The Halifax explosion was a catastrophe that occurred on December 6, 1917 in Halifax on Canada's east coast. The French ammunition freighter Mont Blanc collided with the Norwegian ship Imo . In the collision , the Mont Blanc caught fire and exploded .
At least 1946 people were killed in the accident and 7000 injured, mostly from broken glass. The explosion was so powerful that it triggered a tidal wave and violent earth tremors, while the enormous shock wave uprooted trees , bent railroad tracks and destroyed numerous buildings, the debris of which was hurled over hundreds of meters.
It was one of the most violent non-nuclear explosions in history. It is considered to be the world's largest accidental man-made explosion. On no other day between the American Civil War (1861–1865) and the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (2001) were so many people killed in a single man-made event on the North American continent.
Charged explosives
The Mont Blanc freight consisted of:
- 35 t benzene (no explosives )
- 63 tons of gun cotton
- 2,300 tons of explosive picric acid
- 200 t TNT
For comparison: the most powerful conventional bomb, a thermobaric bomb used by the Russian armed forces called the Father of All Bombs , has an explosive power of around 44 t TNT equivalent , the Little Boy atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima has an explosive force of around 13,000 t.
Course of the disaster
In the fourth year of the First World War and after the United States entered the war in April 1917, Halifax was an important supply port in the North Atlantic for the Entente with a correspondingly high volume of shipping traffic. The Imo had arrived from Rotterdam ; she was a four-masted - steamship of the White Star Line for passenger traffic, 146 m long, and was under the command of Captain Haakon, while the control in the port tightness by the pilot was taken William Hayes. She had gone to Halifax for the coal bunker and wanted to sail to New York after the nocturnal submarine lock was lifted.
The French freighter Mont Blanc , built in 1899, belonged to the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique , was 111 m long and smaller than the Imo , and was under captain Aimé Le Medec; The pilot was Francis Mackey.
On Thursday, December 6, 1917, around 7:30 a.m. local time, the French freighter, coming from New York, arrived in Halifax to join a convoy to Europe without complying with the mandatory red flags for dangerous cargo . The Imo had been waiting for the unlock. At the entrance in the narrowness of the port of Halifax , the Mont Blanc came towards the Imo ; both were in the right fairway , so that evasive maneuvers were necessary. The Mont Blanc signaled that she would swerve to starboard (right), but the Imo maintained her course. When it became clear that the ships were on a collision course , both ships switched back to full power, but a collision could no longer be avoided. In principle, this was not serious, but the spark formation from the colliding steel was sufficient to ignite a benzene fire on board the Mont Blanc . The crew tried to save themselves by jumping into the ice-cold water of the harbor basin. The Imo also turned away as quickly as possible in view of the rapidly spreading fire. Some of the sailors of the Mont Blanc who were able to save themselves ashore warned the townspeople of the impending catastrophe, although there were communication problems between the French sailors and the English-speaking Canadians. Meanwhile, the ignited fuel burned for around 20 minutes on the driverless Mont Blanc, which was driving to quay number 6 in the north of Halifax , and some onlookers on the quay marveled at it, who had no idea of the dangerous cargo.
The ship exploded at 9:04 a.m. It created a huge ball of fire, a tidal wave, and a pressure wave. These devastated large parts of the city in a matter of seconds. Windows broke within a radius of 70 kilometers, and a cannon barrel was thrown almost a kilometer away. The torn-off shaft of the Mont Blanc anchor, weighing 520 kilograms, flew even further : It was thrown 3.85 kilometers. Part of the anchorage is still only a few meters away from the site and was designed as a memorial. The explosion could still be heard at Cape Breton , which is over 300 kilometers northeast of Halifax. For about ten minutes a mushroom-shaped cloud of dust and debris stood over the harbor, from which there was an oily, soot-like precipitate.
consequences
The entire Richmond neighborhood was nearly razed to the ground. 250 bodies were so badly mutilated that identification was impossible, and many remained missing. 25 people had limbs amputated, 37 people became blind as a result of the disaster. The military set up emergency hospitals and temporary accommodation and took control of the city instead of the civil administration.
Among the numerous personal dramas on the day of the accident, the story of Vincent Coleman deserves special mention, who rushed back to his telegraph office regardless of the danger to his life and warned approaching trains of the impending catastrophe just in time. Coleman was killed in the explosion, the trains were stopped on the outskirts and thus escaped the accident.
The day after the disaster, a blizzard hit the city, severely hampering rescue and cleanup efforts. Aid teams arrived from the neighboring provinces of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick as well as from Newfoundland, which was not yet part of Canada . Over the next few days, donations were made worldwide for the victims and their bereaved. In particular, the Red Cross of Boston and the "Massachusetts Public Safety Committee" provided valuable assistance, after which continues to this day close friendship cities between Halifax and Boston is based - annually gives Halifax the city of Boston as thanks a Christmas tree.
Initially, the surviving captain of the Mont Blanc was held responsible for the accident and brought to justice, but he was acquitted for lack of evidence.
The explosion and its aftermath formed the basis for several novels; best known are Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan and Burden of Desire by Robert MacNeil . With John Irving , it is the background of an excursus in Until I Find You .
See also
literature
- Bernd Grashoff: "It could only have been the Germans!" The Halifax explosion in 1917. Broadcast from the radioZeitreisen series on Bavarian Broadcasting BR2 (July 7, 2007, 1:30 pm).
- Andreas Molitor: The day when Halifax went out. In 1917 an ammunition ship exploded in the Canadian port. It becomes an inferno for thousands of people. Mare No. 68, June / July 2008.
Movie
- The 2003 film Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion by director Bruce Pittman depicts the events exceptionally well and authentically.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management - Halifax Explosion Remembrance Book. Government of Nova Scotia, December 2, 2010, accessed November 8, 2013 .
- ↑ Jay White: Exploding Myths: The Halifax Explosion in Historical Context . In: Alan Ruffman, Colin D. Howell (eds.): Ground Zero. A Reassessment of the 1917 explosion in Halifax . Nimbus Publishing, Halifax 1994. ISBN 1-55109-095-3 , pp. 266-292.
- ↑ Archive CBC Radio
- ↑ Destruction of Halifax - The explosion was as powerful as a small atomic bomb
- ↑ Ronald D. Gerste: Only surpassed by the atomic bomb In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of December 4, 2017
Coordinates: 44 ° 40 ′ 9 ″ N , 63 ° 35 ′ 47 ″ W.