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The Great Halifax Explosion, 100 years ago, Dec 6, 1917

A

alfablue

Banned
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/06/568755922/100-years-after-the-great-halifax-explosion

This is partial right now at 7:30 am, but I'm sure the whole article will be put up, soon.

In short, a ship willed with 6M TONS of high explosives, the Mont Blanc, was in a shipping accident in Halifax harbor with another ship, the Imo. The collision caused the Mont Blanc to catch fire thanks to many gallons of fuel stored on board, and shortly after that, it exploded.

The largest man-made explosion until 1945, when the nuclear age started.

It devastated Halifax. Horrible.

The reaction made the US and Canada fast friends, as Boston sent huge amounts of support up to Halifax. Huge enough that to this day, Boston gets a thank you every year via a Christmas Tree.

Before this- Canada and the US were hardly friendly. Even as recently as 1911, it was proposed to annex Canada- which didn't exactly go over well up north. And all the great forts built along the border were to protect Canada from the US.

As an interesting side effect- Michigan's first hockey coach was part of the recovery effort. He was in the area recovering from wounds suffered in WWI, and decided to go to medical school as a result of his efforts. That medical school was Michigan, where Joe Barss managed to convince Yost to build an indoor rink before the depression. I have a gut feeling that had a lot to do with Michigan's early success in college hockey.

So this massive explosion that happened 100 years ago today in Halifax had a pretty sizable impact on college hockey.
 
Re: The Great Halifax Explosion, 100 years ago, Dec 6, 1917

alfablue said:
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/06/568755922/100-years-after-the-great-halifax-explosion

This is partial right now at 7:30 am, but I'm sure the whole article will be put up, soon.

In short, a ship willed with 6M TONS of high explosives, the Mont Blanc, was in a shipping accident in Halifax harbor with another ship, the Imo. The collision caused the Mont Blanc to catch fire thanks to many gallons of fuel stored on board, and shortly after that, it exploded.

The largest man-made explosion until 1945, when the nuclear age started.

It devastated Halifax. Horrible.

The reaction made the US and Canada fast friends, as Boston sent huge amounts of support up to Halifax. Huge enough that to this day, Boston gets a thank you every year via a Christmas Tree.

Before this- Canada and the US were hardly friendly. Even as recently as 1911, it was proposed to annex Canada- which didn't exactly go over well up north. And all the great forts built along the border were to protect Canada from the US.

As an interesting side effect- Michigan's first hockey coach was part of the recovery effort. He was in the area recovering from wounds suffered in WWI, and decided to go to medical school as a result of his efforts. That medical school was Michigan, where Joe Barss managed to convince Yost to build an indoor rink before the depression. I have a gut feeling that had a lot to do with Michigan's early success in college hockey.

So this massive explosion that happened 100 years ago today in Halifax had a pretty sizable impact on college hockey.
Click to expand...

Great story, alfa. I'm sure it will prompt many of us to find out more.
 
Re: The Great Halifax Explosion, 100 years ago, Dec 6, 1917

burd said:
Great story, alfa. I'm sure it will prompt many of us to find out more.
Click to expand...

We've gone on cruises to Halifax 3 times, and learned of the explosion on the first of them. Not to enough detail, like with Bacon's book. But it was interesting.

This year, we had a cruise from Quebec, and that really sparked some interest in Canadian history- and this adds to that, a lot. Especially when it marks the end of bad relations and starts one of the closest relations between two countries in the world. It's not an accident that the "wall" will not cover our northern border.
 
Re: The Great Halifax Explosion, 100 years ago, Dec 6, 1917

I traveled to Halifax for work once. Has to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
 
alfablue said:
We've gone on cruises to Halifax 3 times, and learned of the explosion on the first of them. Not to enough detail, like with Bacon's book. But it was interesting.

This year, we had a cruise from Quebec, and that really sparked some interest in Canadian history- and this adds to that, a lot. Especially when it marks the end of bad relations and starts one of the closest relations between two countries in the world. It's not an accident that the "wall" will not cover our northern border.
Click to expand...

Were the bad relations because there were so many loyalists living there? I actually read about the explosion randomly a month ago or so. There was a ferry that ran to Nova Scotia close to where I grew up but I foolishly never went over. It’s definitely a place I am going to visit at some point.
 
Re: The Great Halifax Explosion, 100 years ago, Dec 6, 1917

Drew S. said:
Were the bad relations because there were so many loyalists living there? I actually read about the explosion randomly a month ago or so. There was a ferry that ran to Nova Scotia close to where I grew up but I foolishly never went over. It’s definitely a place I am going to visit at some point.
Click to expand...

Canada was part of Great Britain until 150 years ago (happy 150 Canada!!!). And Canada did support the south in our Civil war, secretly- the North trapped a South boat in Halifax harbor, until the locals told them a way around the blockade.

There were a number of fighting battles between the US and Canada- one of the more notable is when Canada burned Washington in the War of 1812.

And it didn't help that the US Speaker of the House, Champ Clark, said- "I look forward to the time when the American flag will fly over every square foot of British North America up to the North Pole. The people of Canada are of our blood and language." It sounds nice and all, but not so much to Canadians.

Finally, Canadians fighting in France were not happy that we were not part of that, too.

Lots of reasons that our relations were not good.
 
Re: The Great Halifax Explosion, 100 years ago, Dec 6, 1917

If you're ever in Halifax visit the museum of the explosion, it's great. Ask for Babs.

Fun fact: "Hello City" by BNL is about Halifax.
 
Last edited:
Re: The Great Halifax Explosion, 100 years ago, Dec 6, 1917

There is a nice book out by John U. Bacon about the explosion. I just finished it and not bad at all.
 
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