Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
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- Jul 11, 2008
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The "Mont Blanc"-Disaster
On Thursday, December 6, 1917, at around 7:30 am local time, the French freighter "Mont Blanc" is sailing ...
...under Captain Aimé Le Medec...
... coming from New York, into Halifax to join a convoy to Europe.
The ship is full of highly explosive cargo that it previously loaded in New York: 35 tons of benzene, 63 tons of gun cotton, 2,300 tons of explosive picric acid and 200 tons of TNT. Everything destined for warring France.
In the narrow port entrance the "Mont Blanc" comes on a collision course with the Norwegian freighter "Imo" (Captain Haakon From) ...
... who - as a "neutral" - goes on the trip alone and is destined for Belgium, where an aid organization has chartered the ship.
Due to a misunderstanding, both ships move to the same side - a collision is inevitable, although at the last moment both ships switch their engines to "three times crazy astern!"
As a result, the actual collision is only light - both ships are only superficially damaged and remain buoyant.
But the flying sparks that occur when the two steel side walls come into contact are sufficient to ignite a violent benzene fire on the “Mont Blanc”.
The crew of the explosives freighter knows immediately what has struck the bell and is saved by jumping into the ice-cold water of the harbor basin ...:
Some sailors swim ashore and try to warn the population of a feared explosion - but they are not understood by the mostly English-speaking townspeople.
Burning more and more violently, the "Mont Blanc" is drifting towards the quay, where a large number of onlookers have gathered in the meantime. They have no idea of the danger, as the ship did not have the actually prescribed red stander "Z" of the international flag alphabet, which warns of explosives on board in civilian shipping.
However, the captain of the "Imo" suspects evil and turns with full power and a hard oar maneuver to leave the harbor.
He doesn't get far!
At exactly 9:04 am, the “Mont Blanc” blows up in a huge explosion!
The detonation creates a giant ball of fire, a tidal wave, a small earthquake, and a pressure wave. These devastated large parts of the city in a matter of seconds! The Richmont neighborhood will be completely razed to the ground!
The fleeing freighter "Imo" is simply thrown onto the coast like a toy ship and stranded ...:
Windows broke within a radius of 70 kilometers and a cannon barrel from the port fort was thrown almost a kilometer away. The torn off shaft of the anchor of the “Mont Blanc”, weighing 520 kilograms, flies even further:
He is found 3.85 kilometers away.
The explosion can still be heard at Cape Breton, 300 kilometers away.
A kilometer-high, mushroom-shaped cloud of dust and debris piles up over Halifax, out of which there is an oily, soot-like precipitate ...:
In the accident 1946 people are killed immediately. 250 bodies are so badly mutilated that identification is impossible, many remained missing. 37 people go blind as a result of the disaster.
First press reports indicate the number of victims is still far too low ...:
The explosion of the "Mont Blanc" is considered to be the world's largest accidental man-made detonation!
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.
It is thanks to the quiet heroism of telegraph operator Vincent Coleman that there are not more dead.
Coleman had been among the onlookers on the quay and had rushed back to his nearby telegraph office just before the explosion to warn an approaching train ...:
#
He can still morse: “Stop the train! Burning ammunition ship at Pier 6! Take care guys ... "
Coleman dies in the detonation when the blast rips apart his office ...:
The train can be seen in the background, which was stopped just in time due to its warning.
Today part of the detached anchorage of the "Mont Blanc", which was integrated into a memorial stone, reminds of the disaster ...:
Whilst what is left of the "Mont Blanc" fits into a small box, the freighter "Imo" can be recovered and made afloat again in the weeks after the explosion. The Norwegians put the steamer back on the road under the new name “Guvernøren”.
But the ship is out of luck!
On November 30, 1921, after an extensive birthday party, almost the entire crew (including the officers) was completely drunk - and nobody noticed that there was no helmsman at the wheel. The man had left his post because he wanted to celebrate too ...
The uncontrolled "Guvernøren" runs at full speed in Cow Bay, 20 kilometers from Port Stanley, onto a reef close to the coast of the eastern Falkland Island - and is so badly damaged that it has to be scrapped ...:
The Falklands-British, especially known for their cryptic humor, will issue a stamp in 2005 that shows the stranded Norwegian - of course with a reference to the catastrophe of December 6, 1917 ...:
On Thursday, December 6, 1917, at around 7:30 am local time, the French freighter "Mont Blanc" is sailing ...
...under Captain Aimé Le Medec...
... coming from New York, into Halifax to join a convoy to Europe.
The ship is full of highly explosive cargo that it previously loaded in New York: 35 tons of benzene, 63 tons of gun cotton, 2,300 tons of explosive picric acid and 200 tons of TNT. Everything destined for warring France.
In the narrow port entrance the "Mont Blanc" comes on a collision course with the Norwegian freighter "Imo" (Captain Haakon From) ...
... who - as a "neutral" - goes on the trip alone and is destined for Belgium, where an aid organization has chartered the ship.
Due to a misunderstanding, both ships move to the same side - a collision is inevitable, although at the last moment both ships switch their engines to "three times crazy astern!"
As a result, the actual collision is only light - both ships are only superficially damaged and remain buoyant.
But the flying sparks that occur when the two steel side walls come into contact are sufficient to ignite a violent benzene fire on the “Mont Blanc”.
The crew of the explosives freighter knows immediately what has struck the bell and is saved by jumping into the ice-cold water of the harbor basin ...:
Some sailors swim ashore and try to warn the population of a feared explosion - but they are not understood by the mostly English-speaking townspeople.
Burning more and more violently, the "Mont Blanc" is drifting towards the quay, where a large number of onlookers have gathered in the meantime. They have no idea of the danger, as the ship did not have the actually prescribed red stander "Z" of the international flag alphabet, which warns of explosives on board in civilian shipping.
However, the captain of the "Imo" suspects evil and turns with full power and a hard oar maneuver to leave the harbor.
He doesn't get far!
At exactly 9:04 am, the “Mont Blanc” blows up in a huge explosion!
The detonation creates a giant ball of fire, a tidal wave, a small earthquake, and a pressure wave. These devastated large parts of the city in a matter of seconds! The Richmont neighborhood will be completely razed to the ground!
The fleeing freighter "Imo" is simply thrown onto the coast like a toy ship and stranded ...:
Windows broke within a radius of 70 kilometers and a cannon barrel from the port fort was thrown almost a kilometer away. The torn off shaft of the anchor of the “Mont Blanc”, weighing 520 kilograms, flies even further:
He is found 3.85 kilometers away.
The explosion can still be heard at Cape Breton, 300 kilometers away.
A kilometer-high, mushroom-shaped cloud of dust and debris piles up over Halifax, out of which there is an oily, soot-like precipitate ...:
In the accident 1946 people are killed immediately. 250 bodies are so badly mutilated that identification is impossible, many remained missing. 37 people go blind as a result of the disaster.
First press reports indicate the number of victims is still far too low ...:
The explosion of the "Mont Blanc" is considered to be the world's largest accidental man-made detonation!
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.
It is thanks to the quiet heroism of telegraph operator Vincent Coleman that there are not more dead.
Coleman had been among the onlookers on the quay and had rushed back to his nearby telegraph office just before the explosion to warn an approaching train ...:
#He can still morse: “Stop the train! Burning ammunition ship at Pier 6! Take care guys ... "
Coleman dies in the detonation when the blast rips apart his office ...:
The train can be seen in the background, which was stopped just in time due to its warning.
Today part of the detached anchorage of the "Mont Blanc", which was integrated into a memorial stone, reminds of the disaster ...:
Whilst what is left of the "Mont Blanc" fits into a small box, the freighter "Imo" can be recovered and made afloat again in the weeks after the explosion. The Norwegians put the steamer back on the road under the new name “Guvernøren”.
But the ship is out of luck!
On November 30, 1921, after an extensive birthday party, almost the entire crew (including the officers) was completely drunk - and nobody noticed that there was no helmsman at the wheel. The man had left his post because he wanted to celebrate too ...
The uncontrolled "Guvernøren" runs at full speed in Cow Bay, 20 kilometers from Port Stanley, onto a reef close to the coast of the eastern Falkland Island - and is so badly damaged that it has to be scrapped ...:
The Falklands-British, especially known for their cryptic humor, will issue a stamp in 2005 that shows the stranded Norwegian - of course with a reference to the catastrophe of December 6, 1917 ...:
