The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism

Posted on 19 July 2019 by John U. Bacon

From the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author, a gripping narrative nonfiction account of the world s largest manmade explosion before the atomic bomb In December 1917, a freighter carrying 3,000 tons of explosives sailed from Brooklyn bound for the trenches of World War I en route, a cataclysmic disaster awaited.Entering World War I s fourth demoralizing year, the Allies hoped to break the grueling stalemate by sending thousands of fresh American troops and munitions than ever to the trenches of France Before the French freighter Mont Blanc set sail from Brooklyn on December 1, 1917, with a staggering 3,000 tons of explosives, the captain banned his crew from lighting a single match, and secured the volatile cargo with copper nails because they don t spark when struck For four harrowing days, the floating powder keg bobbed up the Eastern seaboard, plowing through a wicked snowstorm and waters infested with German U Boats, which had already torpedoed a thousand Allied ships that year alone On December 6, the exhausted crew finally slipped into Halifax Harbour just as the relief ship Imo was rushing to leave At 8 45 a.m., the Imo struck the Mont Blanc s bow, knocking over barrels of airplane fuel Fire swept across the decks, sending the Mont Blanc s crew scurrying to their lifeboats, while Halifax longshoremen, office workers, and schoolchildren walked down to watch it burn.At 9 04 35 a.m., the Mont Blanc erupted, leveling 2.5 square miles of Halifax, killing 2,000 people, and wounding 9,000 all in one fifteenth of a second.In this definitive account, bestselling author John U Bacon recreates the recklessness that caused the tragedy, the selfless rescue efforts that saved thousands, and the inspiring resilience that rebuilt the town Just hours after the explosion, Boston alone sent 100 doctors, 300 nurses, and a million dollars The explosion would revolutionize ophthalmology and pediatrics transform Canada and the U.S from adversaries to allies and show J Robert Oppenheimer, who studied Halifax closely, how much destruction an atomic bomb could inflict on a city Bacon brings to light one of the most dramatic events of the twentieth century, exploring the long shadow the world s first weapon of mass destruction still casts on our world today.The Great Halifax Explosion includes 25 black and white photos. Read The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism – kino-fada.fr This non fiction is an account of a tragedy which occurred in Halifax, Canada, at the end of the fourth year of the Great War I had never heard of this man made explosion before, so after reading several wonderful reviews by my GR Friends, I decided I wanted to learn what actually happened in 1917 in Halifax The Author did amazing research into the disaster, describes all the minute details, but I feel his main aim is to make modern readers aware of the tragic fate of thousands of ordinary This non fiction is...The detonation..took one fifteenth of a second, five times faster than the blink of an eye The epicenter of the explosion instantaneously shot up to 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit, about six times hotter than molten lava The explosion started in the gigantic steel casement of the cargo hold, which had been packed tight and was far too small to contain such an exponential expansion The blast shot outward in all directions at 3,400 miles...This past November, a 53 foot tall white spruce Christmas tree was chopped down in Nova Scotia by burly Canadian lumberjacks, their beards thick, curly and smelling vaguely of maple syrup, and then shipped down to Boston for their annual holiday lighting ceremony on Boston Common This gifting of a coniferous evergreen has occurred every year since 1971 Why Surely Boston should be able to afford their own Christmas trees And if the expense is too great, shouldn t the smarty pants at Harvard, This past November, a 53 foot tall white spruce Christmas tree was chopped down in Nova Scotia by burly Canadi...On December 6th, 1917, the SS Mont Blanc slowly made its way into Halifax Harbor to wait to join a convoy to Europe It was filled full with TNT, picric acid, gun cotton and aircraft fuel and destined for the French Army Unfortunately, the SS Imo, was on its way out of the harbor and on the wrong side of the channel The two ships softly collided some fuel dislodged and started to spill into the hold below As the two ships scraped by each other, sparks hit the deck and lit the fuse for the On December 6th, 1917, the SS Mont Blanc slowly made its way into Halifax Harbor to wait to join a convoy to Europe It was filled full with TNT, picric acid, gun cotton and aircraft fuel and destined for the French Army Unfortunately, the SS Imo...An amazing book about a horrific incident that is practically forgotten in the 21st centuryone of the largest man made disasters in history that never should have happened The setting is Halifax, Nova Scotia, one of the world s greatest natural harbors The time is WWI and the traffic in the harbor is crowded with ships moving from North America to Europe, carrying men, relief supplies, and explosives All ships carrying explosives into the sheltered harbor are to fly a red flag which An amazing book about a horrific incident that is practically forgotten in the 21st cent...This account of the horrific explosion of 6 million pounds of high explosives in Halifax, Canada s harbor is only one of the stories in this book It s also about the shaky American Canadian relationships from the time of the French and Indian war to the end of WWI It explains Canada s important role in supplying the Allies in WWI and the importance of their very deep marina It reminds us of Halifax s role in recovering and burying bodies from the sinking of the Titanic But the sheer This account of the horrific explosion of 6 million pounds of high explosives in Halifax, Canada s harbor is only one of the stories in this book It s also about the shaky American Canadian relationships from the time of the French and Indian war to the end of WWI It explains Canada s important role in supplying the Allies in WWI and the importance of their very deep marina It reminds us of Halifax s role in recovering and burying bodies from the sinking of the Titanic But the sheer magnitude of the devastation from the explosion will surely bring tears to your eyes So many dead, so many children lost or orphaned, so many people maimed or homeless and so many drowned from the resulting tidal wave A lot is made of Boston s assistance, and to their credit, the city of Boston contributed millions of dollars in aid and sent a force of medical pe...Outstanding non fiction about a disastrous explosion in Halifax in 1917 On December 6, 1917, the freighter Mont Blanc arrived in Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia, laden with six million pounds of explosives destined for the trenches of the Great War in France The Mont Blanc collided with the Imo, resulting in a fire, which eventually caused the explosives to detonate, devastating the surrounding area It was, at the time, the most powerful blast ever unleashed, until eclipsed by the atomic bomb at Outstanding non fiction about a disastrous explosion in Halifax in 1917 On December 6, 1917, the freighter Mont Blanc arrived in Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia, laden with six million pounds of explosives destined for the trenches of the Great War in France The Mont Blanc collided with the Imo, resulting in a fire, which eventually caused the explosives to detonate, devastating the surrounding area It was, at the time, the most powerful blast ever unleashed, until eclipsed by the atomic bomb at Hiroshima John U Bacon tells the story of how this disaster occurred and what happened in its aftermath It is...John U Bacon s thoughtful and detailed approach in his new book THE GREAT HALIFAX EXPLOSION A WORLD WAR I STORY OF TREACHERY, TRAGEDY, AND EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM results in one of the best disaster monographs in recent memory The author s approach is based on empathy and what appears to be a personal commitment to write a clear, concise narrative that is meaningful as it covers all aspects of the catastrophe Bacon begins by laying out the crisis that came at 9 04 am on December 6, 1917, John U Bacon s thoughtful and detailed approach in his new book THE GREAT HALIFAX EXPLOSION A WORLD WAR I STORY OF TREACHERY, TRAGEDY, AND EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM results in one of the best disaster monographs in recent memory The author s approach is based on empathy and what appears to be a personal commitment to write a clear, concise narrative that is meaningful as it covers all aspects of the catastrophe Bacon begins by laying out the crisis that came at 9 04 am on December 6, 1917, then retreats and provides a history of Halifax Once you acquire a sense of the city and its geography, Bacon describes how two ships, the Mont Blanc, and the Imo seemed to come together to play a dangerous game of chicken in the Bedford Basin outside Halifax Harbor, a game that resulted in the deadliest man made explosion up until the bombing of Hiroshima The explosion must be seen in the con...Nearly perfect an excellent study of the Hfax explosion, with emphasis on the way it changed international relations between the US and Canada The countries might not have become the allies they are now if it weren t for that largest man made explosion prior to Hiroshima, happening in the middle of the...I wrote the review below before investigating other books on the explosion I now give this book no stars at all, but I m told it is advisable to show one because of the way people filter reviews It is all taken from the work of others, apart from the fulsome reporting on Bacon s personal hero, Joseph Barss, who spent all of about three days helping as a first aider after the explosion If you want to read a good book about the explosion, get Shattered City by Janet Kitz All the interesting I wrote the review below before investigating other books on the explosion I now give this book no stars at all, but I m told it is advisable to show one because of the way people filter reviews It is all taken from the work of others, apart from the fulsome reporting on Bacon s personal hero, Joseph Barss, who spent all of about three days helping as a first aider after the explosion If you want to read a good book about the explosion, get Shattered City by Janet Kitz All the interesting parts concerning the people of Halifax and the explosion in Bacon s book were taken from that by Kitz, who did all the research and interviews with survivors, and deserves the kudos.If you want tabloid journalism and a cut and paste job done for the centenary of the tragedy, by all means read the Bacon Until this book was nominated for my...

The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism

19 July 2019

John U. Bacon