I was googling around to find something about Big-Earred Tu, the backer of Chiang kai-Shek, and then looking around for Ching chang-Ching (otherwise known as "Curio Ching"), another prominent backer of the leader of China circa 1927-1949, when I came across this maritime disaster.
I have no idea how that happened.
Anyway.
Halifax Explosion -- 6 December 1917
The devastating explosion in Halifax harbour on December 6, 1917 brought the horrific carnage and destruction of the First World War to Canada's doorstep. The blast, which is said to have been the largest man-made detonation before the invention of the atomic bomb, levelled approximately 2 square kilometres of Halifax and was reported to have been heard as far away as Prince Edward Island.
Halifax harbour was Canada's maritime nerve centre during the First World War. Troop transports, supply vessels and warships all plied the crowded waters around the city embarking and returning from the War effort. On the morning of December 6, 1917, two such vessels, the Imo, a Norwegian vessel employed in the Belgium Relief effort and the French munitions ship Mont Blanc, collided at the narrowest portion of the harbour, just outside of the large Bedford Basin staging area. The Mont Blanc was carrying over 2,500 tons of benzol fuel, TNT, picric acid and gun cotton. It is believed that immediately after the initial collision, the on-deck stores of benzol began to leak and soon ignited. The crew, knowing the danger that they were in, abandoned ship and headed for Dartmouth while the ship drifted towards Pier 6 on the Halifax side. A large group of bystanders, unaware of the volatile cargo, started to gather near the pier to watch the spectacle of the Mont Blanc as it drew closer to the shore.
In an unimaginable flash of light the Mont Blanc exploded, barely 20 minutes after the initial collision. All lines of communication with the city were immediately severed. Over 1,600 people died in the immediate blast with later deaths rising to over 2,000 souls. As in all disasters of this nature, the exact number of those affected will never be known; however, varying accounts argue that up to 9,000 were injured, including approximately 200 to 600 people that were blinded. An outpouring of support came from the rest of Canada, and the world, to assist Haligonians affected by the tragedy.
Read more at
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/firstworldwar/05180202/0518020203_e.htmlThere's lot of stuff about this on the internet, it turns out, including photographs.
Apparently this was the largest man-made explosion ever to occur in the history of the world, until the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
It's not at this link, but it's somewhere else on the internet, a photograph of the explosion taken from 13 miles away; it looked exactly like a nuclear mushroom cloud, and apparently as large.
