You’ve heard this expression countless of times before:
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Browse through a collection of vintage photos of the 1917 Halifax Explosion and bring new meaning to the old saying. The images of this disastrous historical event instantly grab your attention and the only words you know are “Oh, my God”. They say the moments between the Mont-Blanc and Imo’s collision and the explosion were set apart with a momentary silence…
You can’t help but stop and take a closer look of a mushroom cloud photo. Again, words fail you and you can only utter “Woa…”. Silently, you continue clicking through a series of before and after pictures that leave you shuddering with goose bumps. Suddenly, the clicks stop as you come upon a photo that literally cuts your breath short. The caption reads “Bodies in Chebucto Road Mortuary”
After getting over the initial shock of these pictures, you start looking into the information. Whether you’re from the East Coast or not, the information will leave your head spinning and you will need a moment or two to recollect yourself.
The Mont-Blanc exploded in a fraction of a second.
The most immediate and devastating effect of the explosion was a shockwave produced by the detonation that was the equivalent of 2989 tons of TNT. The shockwave travelled at a speed of more than 1500 meters per second.
At the center of the blast the heat produced by the chemical reaction was in excess of 5000C. The heat and pressure pushed a fireball of hot gases, and debris consisting of soot, unburned coal, carbon from explosives, and shrapnel high into the sky above the harbour. As the gases cooled a giant cloud formed, the soot, carbon, and shrapnel fell as a deadly shower.
Around the Mont-Blanc the water was vaporized by the heat, the pressure of the explosion sent a 16 meter tidal wave out into the harbour and up into the Richmond neighbourhood for three city blocks. – Passage from the Halifax Explosion, In the blink of an eye…
December 6, 1917 will be a day that Halifax will forever remember.
Halifax Explosion Resources