I was in Halifax a couple weeks ago and walked out to the harbour in the early morning and snapped off these photos with my point and shoot.

It looked like a cold day to be heading to sea.

On the way to the airport the driver had a book on the great Halifax explosion.

The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in "The Narrows" section of the Halifax Harbour. About 2,000 people were killed by debris, fires, or collapsed buildings and it is estimated that over 9,000 people were injured.^[2] This is still the world’s largest man-made accidental explosion.^[3]

At 8:40 in the morning, the SS Mont-Blanc, chartered by the French government to carry munitions to Europe, collided with the unloaded Norwegian ship Imo, chartered by the Commission for Relief in Belgium to carry relief supplies. Mont-Blanc caught fire ten minutes after the collision and exploded about twenty-five minutes later (at 9:04:35 AM).^[4] All buildings and structures covering nearly 2 square kilometres (500 acres) along the adjacent shore were obliterated, including those in the neighbouring communities of Richmond and Dartmouth.^[2] The explosion caused a tsunami in the harbour and a pressure wave of air that snapped trees, bent iron rails, demolished buildings, grounded vessels, and carried fragments of the Mont-Blanc for kilometres.

I spent a half hour reading about different experiences, who was to blame and how the entire city was levelled. The best story being of a boy, who ran down to the waters edge with his mates to watch the burning ammunition ship. When it exploded, he was thrown 500 feet and lived. A fascinating story. It also marked the beginning of a strong relationship with Boston. A few days after the disaster, a train showed up, unannounced and filled with American doctors and nurses.

Halifax is a beautiful place, I will need to come back when this is open …..