THE BIG BANG

                                       A Horror Never Forgotten

           While riding in Nova Scotia from one town to the next our guide explained about Nova Scotia’s Big Bang during WW II. A similar thing happened in Bergen, Norway in 1944.

Halifax’s good harbor was teeming with warships transporting troops, supplies, and munitions to Europe in 1917. The French ship Mont Blanc had been refitted inside with wood to enable her to carry munitions. On that day among her munitions was 400,000 pounds of TNT.

The captain was cautious, strictly enforcing a no smoking policy among his crew. The men were not even allowed to carry a book of matches. He did not want any possibility of a spark.

  The Belgian ship, Imo, unable to keep up with her convoy was diverted to Halifax to join another. Each evening a submarine net was dropped across the harbor entrance and since the Imo did not make it into the harbor before the net was dropped she was forced to remain outside the night of December 5. 

 On the next fateful morning the Mont Blanc was heading out of the harbor as the Imo was sailing into the harbor. In the Narrows, appropriately named, at the head of the harbor, the Imo maneuvered a bit off track to go around a tug boat, then found herself in the path of the Mont Blanc. Horrified, both ships immediately went into reverse, which swung their bows into each other. That spark set the Mont Blanc on fire.

Since the Mont Blanc crew was aware of their cargo, the lifeboats were lowered immeiately. The crew hurriedly headed the life boats toward Dartmouth on the opposite shore as they watched the ship drift toward Halifax.

A fellow crossing the bridge on his way home from a night shift saw the fire. He immediately turned around and telegraphed an incoming train full of troops to stop and not continue on to Halifax as something big was happening in the harbor. Fortunately the train got the wire and by stopping probably saved hundreds of lives.

The crew in the lifeboats was shouting to the people on shore to go back and head over the hill. But the crew was French and no one understood what they were saying. Once on shore one quick thinking sailor grabbed a baby out of the arms of a mother as he ran up the hill. Needless to say everyone chased him, and that single act saved many lives.

Many people in the city were standing at their windows watching the burning ship. Just twenty minutes after the ignition, the ship exploded into the largest man made explosion ever made before Hiroshima. Windows were blown out of buildings for miles. The barrel of one of the ships cannon was hurled three miles away, and a half-ton anchor shank landed two miles in the opposite direction.

Between 1800-2000 people were killed instantly. Another 9000 people were injured. Because of the chaos that followed it was difficult to get an accurate count as the injured were quickly removed to a hospital out of town. The whole north end of Nova Scotia was destroyed.

The wire sent to the troop train continued on to Boston, and within two hours after the explosion a medical relief train was ready to roll. Supplies and building materials followed. Tents were set up on the Common to house the many who found themselves homeless. A massive international relief effort took place and the city was rapidly rebuilt.

In gratitude for the help Boston rendered during that awful time, Nova Scotia still, decades later, sends a large spruce tree to Boston every holiday season for public display.