SS Mont-Blanc
 Mont-Blanc in 1899 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Mont Blanc |
| Namesake | Mont Blanc |
| Owner |
|
| Port of registry |
|
| Builder | Sir Raylton Dixon & Co, Middlesbrough |
| Yard number | 460 |
| Laid down | March 23, 1899 |
| Launched | March 25, 1899 |
| Completed | June 1899 |
| Maiden voyage | November 1900 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | collision and explosion, December 6, 1917 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | cargo ship |
| Tonnage | 3,279 GRT, 1,919 NRT |
| Length | 97.5 m (320.0 ft) |
| Beam | 13.7 m (44.8 ft) |
| Depth | 4.7 m (15.3 ft) |
| Installed power | 247 NHP |
| Propulsion |
|
| Armament | in WW1: 2 × naval guns |
SS Mont-Blanc was a cargo steamship that was built in Middlesbrough, England, in 1899 for a French shipping company.[1] On Thursday morning, December 6, 1917, she entered Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada, laden with a full cargo of highly volatile explosives. As she made her way through the Narrows towards Bedford Basin, she was involved in a collision with Imo, a Norwegian ship. A fire aboard the ship ignited her wet and dry cargo - 2,300 tons of picric acid, 500 tons of TNT, and 10 tons of guncotton. The resultant Halifax Explosion killed about 2,000 people and injured about 9,000.
Building and owners
[edit]The Raylton Dixon & Co shipyard built Mont-Blanc in Middlesbrough, England, as Yard Number 460 for the Société Générale de Transport Maritime (SGTM). She was a typical three island-style general cargo ship. Mont-Blanc was built to the same set of plans used to build the New Zealand steamship SS Whangape, a sister ship launched a few months after Mont-Blanc.[2] The SGTM registered Mont-Blanc at Marseille.[3] Her code letters were KHTN.[4] She was launched on 25 March 1899 and completed that June.
Mont-Blanc was a tramp steamer. In 1906, a ship-owner called E. Anquetil acquired her and registered her in Rouen. In 1915, she passed to another Rouen ship owner called Gaston Petit. On 28 December 1915, the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT) acquired her, and registered her in Saint-Nazaire.[3]
Final voyage to Halifax
[edit]She was chartered to carry a complete cargo of miscellaneous types of military explosives from New York City to France in November 1917. Mont-Blanc was not an especially old vessel, but was a relatively slow, common tramp steamer, typical of many wartime freighters.[5] She left New York City on December 1 to join a convoy in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She arrived from New York late on 5 December, under the command of Aimé Le Medec.[6] The vessel was fully loaded with the explosives TNT, picric acid, and guncotton in the hold, with barrels on deck containing the high-octane fuel benzole, which itself consisted mainly of the highly volatile and easily ignited hydrocarbons benzene and toluene.[7] She intended to join a slow convoy gathering in Bedford Basin readying to depart for Europe, but was too late to enter the harbour before the submarine nets were raised.[6] Ships carrying dangerous cargo were not allowed into the harbour before the war, but the risks posed by German submarines had resulted in a relaxation of regulations.[8]
Francis Mackey, an experienced harbour pilot, had boarded Mont-Blanc on the evening of 5 December; he had asked about "special protections" such as a guard ship given the steamer's cargo, but no protections were put in place.[9] Mont-Blanc started moving at 7:30 am on 6 December, heading towards Bedford Basin.[10][11][12] Mackey kept his eye on the ferry traffic between Halifax and Dartmouth and other small boats in the area.[13] He first spotted the outbound SS Imo when she was about 1.21 kilometres (0.75 mi) away and became concerned as her path appeared to be heading towards his ship's starboard side, as if to cut him off his own course. Mackey gave a short blast of his ship's signal whistle to indicate that he had the right of way, but was met with two short blasts from Imo, indicating that the approaching vessel would not yield her position.[14][15][16] The captain ordered Mont-Blanc to halt her engines and angle slightly to starboard, closer to the Dartmouth side of the Narrows. He let out another single blast of his whistle, hoping the other vessel would likewise move to starboard, but was again met with a double blast in negation.[17]
Sailors on nearby ships heard the series of signals, and realizing that a collision was imminent, gathered to watch as Imo bore down on Mont-Blanc.[18] Though both ships had cut their engines by this point, their momentum carried them right on top of each other at slow speed. Unable to ground his ship for fear of a shock that would set off his explosive cargo, Mackey ordered Mont-Blanc to steer hard to port (starboard helm) and crossed the Norwegian ship's bow in a last-second bid to avoid a collision. The two ships were almost parallel to each other, when Imo suddenly sent out three signal blasts, indicating the ship was reversing its engines. The combination of the cargoless ship's height in the water and the transverse thrust of her right-hand propeller caused the ship's head to swing into Mont-Blanc. Imo's prow pushed into the French vessel's No. 1 hold on her starboard side.[19][9]
The collision occurred at 8:45 am.[20] While the damage to Mont-Blanc was not severe, it toppled barrels that broke open and flooded the deck with benzol that quickly flowed into the hold. As Imo's engines kicked in, she quickly disengaged, which created sparks inside Mont-Blanc's hull. These ignited the vapours from the benzol. A fire started at the water line and travelled quickly up the side of the ship as the benzol spewed out from crushed drums on Mont-Blanc's decks. The fire quickly became uncontrollable. Surrounded by thick black smoke, and fearing she would explode almost immediately, the captain ordered the crew to abandon ship.[21][20] A growing number of Halifax citizens gathered on the street or stood at the windows of their homes or businesses to watch the spectacular fire.[22] The frantic crew of Mont-Blanc shouted from their two lifeboats to some of the other vessels that their ship was about to explode, but they could not be heard above the noise and confusion.[23] As the lifeboats made their way across the harbour to the Dartmouth shore, the abandoned ship continued to drift and beached herself at Pier 6 near the foot of Richmond Street.[24]
At 9:04:35 am, the out-of-control fire aboard Mont-Blanc finally set off her highly explosive cargo, causing the Halifax Explosion.[25] The ship was obliterated and a powerful blast wave radiated away from the explosion at more than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) per second. A temperature of 5,000 °C (9,030 °F) and a pressure of thousands of atmospheres occurred at the centre of the explosion.[26][9]
Aftermath
[edit]All of the crew survived, except for one sailor who may have died of blood loss after being hit by debris from the blast,[27] 20-year-old gunner Yves Quequiner.[28] Casualties included about 2,000 known dead and some 9,000 injured. More than 1,600 houses were destroyed by the explosion, with another 12,000 damaged. The explosion blew the