than 25 minutes after the collision, the largest man-made explosion in history ripped through Halifax. The fireball rose over 6,000ft (1,800m) into the air. A dense mushroom cloud of white smoke towered up to 20,000ft (6,000m). The
Mont Blanc
âs cargo detonatedwith a force equivalent to 3 kilotons of TNT, a record the explosion retained until 1945. People felt the shock of the explosion as far away as Cape Breton Island, at the eastern tip of Nova Scotia, some 130 miles (200km) distant. In the town of New Glasgow, 80 miles (130km) from Halifax, homes and other buildings shook like the town had been struck by an earthquake. Ten miles (16km) away, windows in Sackville and Windsor Junction shattered.
A city in ruins
The
Mont Blanc
was completely obliterated within a fraction of a second. The explosion tore her hull and superstructure into superheated iron shards of varying size, which were thrown almost 1,000ft (over 300m) into the air before they started raining down, still white hot, all over Halifax and Dartmouth. Cowering in the woods on the Dartmouth side, one of the
Mont Blanc
âs crew was killed by such falling debris. Later, people would find twisted shrapnel identified as once being part of the ship over 2.5 miles (4km) away. The
Mont Blanc
âs anchor, which weighed 1,140lb (more than half a ton), landed 2 miles (3.2km) away. The barrel of one of her deck cannons was carried even further, eventually crashing back to earth 3.5 miles (5.6km) from where the ship had exploded.
The blast hit them so fast they wouldnât have had time to realise what was happening.
By the time the
Mont Blanc
âs cargo detonated, hundreds of people â including dozens of firemen â were standing along the shoreline. The blast hit them so fast they wouldnât have had time to realise what was happening. Up to 1,500 people within a mile radius of the explosion died instantly.Hundreds more, further from the
Mont Blanc
, were blinded, some by the flash of the explosion, others because they had been watching the burning ship from behind glass windows, and the explosion smashed all of the windows in Halifax, spraying those behind them with flying shards.
The shockwave from the explosion travelled at 23 times the speed of sound â over 25,000ft (almost 8,000m) per second. It created a wall of highly compressed hot air that smashed through everything in its path, just like after a nuclear blast. The pressure wave destroyed (or left on the verge of collapse) every building across 500 acres adjacent to Pier 6. Nearly 1,630 homes were demolished in a moment, and another 12,000 beyond them severely damaged. The blast made stone churches crumble as if they were built of childrenâs building blocks. It snapped centuries-old trees like twigs, bent iron railings like pipe cleaners and hurled vehicles through the air like toys.
The blast made stone churches crumble as if they were built of childrenâs building blocks.
The explosion generated so much heat that it flash-boiled all the water beneath and around the
Mont Blanc
, leaving the harbour floor momentarily exposed. The shockwave pushed a wall of water away from the destroyed ship with such force that when the water reached the shore the wave could have been up to 60ft (18m) above the high water mark. By comparison, the tsunami that hit the Fukushima nuclear power plant after the Japanese earthquake in April 2011 was about 49ft (15m) high. The wave swept several streets inland, finishing off any houses that had survived the initial explosion, washing away debris, and carrying away the dead and dying. The waveswamped Richmond Station, wrecking the building and killing Vincent Coleman. On the shore, firemen who had had their clothes ripped off their bodies by the force of the blast, and the flesh burnt off their arms by the searing heat, now disappeared under a mountain of water. When the flood finally receded back into the harbour basin, it took with it many
Mont Blanc
âs cargo detonatedwith a force equivalent to 3 kilotons of TNT, a record the explosion retained until 1945. People felt the shock of the explosion as far away as Cape Breton Island, at the eastern tip of Nova Scotia, some 130 miles (200km) distant. In the town of New Glasgow, 80 miles (130km) from Halifax, homes and other buildings shook like the town had been struck by an earthquake. Ten miles (16km) away, windows in Sackville and Windsor Junction shattered.
A city in ruins
The
Mont Blanc
was completely obliterated within a fraction of a second. The explosion tore her hull and superstructure into superheated iron shards of varying size, which were thrown almost 1,000ft (over 300m) into the air before they started raining down, still white hot, all over Halifax and Dartmouth. Cowering in the woods on the Dartmouth side, one of the
Mont Blanc
âs crew was killed by such falling debris. Later, people would find twisted shrapnel identified as once being part of the ship over 2.5 miles (4km) away. The
Mont Blanc
âs anchor, which weighed 1,140lb (more than half a ton), landed 2 miles (3.2km) away. The barrel of one of her deck cannons was carried even further, eventually crashing back to earth 3.5 miles (5.6km) from where the ship had exploded.
The blast hit them so fast they wouldnât have had time to realise what was happening.
By the time the
Mont Blanc
âs cargo detonated, hundreds of people â including dozens of firemen â were standing along the shoreline. The blast hit them so fast they wouldnât have had time to realise what was happening. Up to 1,500 people within a mile radius of the explosion died instantly.Hundreds more, further from the
Mont Blanc
, were blinded, some by the flash of the explosion, others because they had been watching the burning ship from behind glass windows, and the explosion smashed all of the windows in Halifax, spraying those behind them with flying shards.
The shockwave from the explosion travelled at 23 times the speed of sound â over 25,000ft (almost 8,000m) per second. It created a wall of highly compressed hot air that smashed through everything in its path, just like after a nuclear blast. The pressure wave destroyed (or left on the verge of collapse) every building across 500 acres adjacent to Pier 6. Nearly 1,630 homes were demolished in a moment, and another 12,000 beyond them severely damaged. The blast made stone churches crumble as if they were built of childrenâs building blocks. It snapped centuries-old trees like twigs, bent iron railings like pipe cleaners and hurled vehicles through the air like toys.
The blast made stone churches crumble as if they were built of childrenâs building blocks.
The explosion generated so much heat that it flash-boiled all the water beneath and around the
Mont Blanc
, leaving the harbour floor momentarily exposed. The shockwave pushed a wall of water away from the destroyed ship with such force that when the water reached the shore the wave could have been up to 60ft (18m) above the high water mark. By comparison, the tsunami that hit the Fukushima nuclear power plant after the Japanese earthquake in April 2011 was about 49ft (15m) high. The wave swept several streets inland, finishing off any houses that had survived the initial explosion, washing away debris, and carrying away the dead and dying. The waveswamped Richmond Station, wrecking the building and killing Vincent Coleman. On the shore, firemen who had had their clothes ripped off their bodies by the force of the blast, and the flesh burnt off their arms by the searing heat, now disappeared under a mountain of water. When the flood finally receded back into the harbour basin, it took with it many
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