Explosion In December 6, 1917

Courtesy of Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Halifax, MP207.1.184/270,M90.61.15, 40459.tif http://maritime.museum.gov.ns.ca Materials From www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca NON-FICTION: Christian Science War Time in Activities, by the Christian Science Amazing Medical Stories, by War Relief Committee. : Halifax Harbour George Burden & Dorothy Grant, 79- Christian Science Publishing Society, December 6, 1917 84. Fredericton, N.B.: Goose Lane 19__ . Editions, 2003. Cinders and Saltwater: The Story INTRODUCTION: Autobiography, by Benjamin of Atlantic Railways, by Russell, 264-273. Halifax: Royal Shirly E. Woods, 178-180. Halifax: The morning of Tuesday, December Unable to control the blaze, and fully Print and Litho, 1932. Nimbus, 1992. 6, 1917 dawned clear and aware of the dangerous cargo, the unseasonably warm in Halifax. The Mont-Blanc crew abandoned ship, Behind the Headlines! From Moose Crime Wave: Con Men, Rogues harbour was busier than usual, and the vessel drifted toward the River to Shangri-la, by Ralph Kelly and Scoundrels from Nova teeming with ships whose schedules Richmond Pier on the Halifax side. Morton, 15-17. Halifax: Nimbus, Scotia’s Past, by Dean Jobb, 57-66. were dictated by the commerce of Shortly after nine a.m., as hundreds 1986. Porter’s Lake: Pottersfield, 1991. . Halifax Harbour watched from the shoreline and from served as a gathering point for ships windows, the Mont-Blanc exploded The Bicentennial of the Halifax Darkest Hours: The Great Book of being escorted by convoy to , in a ball of fury, laying waste two Fire Department: 1768-1968: 200 Worldwide Disasters From and it was bustling with activity. and a half square miles of the city, Years of Firefighting, prepared by Ancient Times to the Present, by killing close to 2,000, wounding Pearl Connelly, 22-26. Halifax: Jay Robert Nash, 227-228. New Shortly before nine a.m., two ships 6,000, and leaving 25,000 homeless. McCurdy Print, 1968. York: Pocket/Simon & Schuster, began their opposing journeys in the Dartmouth’s north end, including the 1977. harbour’s confines. The Mont- Mi’kmaq community of Turtle “Big Bang Theories: Remembering Blanc, a munitions ship loaded with Grove, was also devastated. the with Dartmouth’s Day of Anguish: The close to three thousand tons of Townhouses and a TV Movie,” by Explosion, December 6, 1917, by material, was steaming Much has been written about the Robert Plowman, The Coast. Harry Chapman. Dartmouth: into the harbour while the Belgian Explosion, examining the October 23, 2003, 11-12. Dartmouth Museum Society, 1992. relief ship, Imo, was approaching circumstances before and after the the Narrows on its way out of collision. What follows is an Canadian Disasters, by René “The Day Halifax Blew Up”, by Halifax. For reasons unknown, both extensive list of related materials Schmidt, 27-30. Richmond Hill, Ont.: Kenneth MacGillivray in the In the ships headed for the same point in currently in the collection of Halifax Scholastic-TAB, 1985. Face of Disaster: True Stories of the crowded harbour and were Public Libraries. A brief description Canadian Heroes from the unable to correct their positions in of other sources in the community is Catastrophe and Social Change, Archives of Macleans, ed. by time to avert disaster. The Imo also included. Also, an annotated list Based Upon a Sociological Study of Michael Benedict, 242-253. collided with the Mont-Blanc. The of websites is available at the Halifax Disaster, by Samuel : Penguin Books, 2000. collision spilled a number of barrels www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca . Henry Prince. New York: n.p., 1920. of benzol, and the leaking fuel “Death in Halifax,” by Edmund caught fire. As the fire intensified, Christ Church, Dartmouth, Nova Gilligan. (An excerpt from Reader’s black smoke billowed skyward. Scotia: 1817 to 1959, by Charles Digest, condensed from The Walter Bayer, 58-67. n.p.: 1960. American Mercury, February 1938). December 6/The Halifax Solution: Final Report of the The Halifax Catastrophe: Forty “Halifax Explosion-A Great An Alternative to Nuclear War, by -Halifax Health views showing extent of damage in Disaster- December 6, 1917.” In Leslie Choyce. Porter’s Lake: Commission with Appendices: Canada’ historic city as the More Tales Told Under the Old Pottersfield, 1988. October 1919 to October 1929. of a terrific explosion on Town Clock, by William C. Borrett. Halifax: The Commission, 1932. Thursday, December 6, 1917, Halifax: Imperial, 1943. Devastated Halifax: Views of the which killed 1,500 men, women, Greatest Disaster in the History of Four Years Work of the and children, injured 3,000 and “The Halifax Explosion and Going the American Continent, Caused Massachusetts - Halifax Health rendered 6,000 homeless, causing to Siberia.” Cape Breton’s by the Explosion that Followed the Commission: A Progress Report, property damage of nearly Magazine, Issue 34, 7-12. Collision of the French Munition by B. Franklin Royer. Halifax: The $50,000,000. Halifax: Royal Print Ship “Mont-Blanc” and the Commission, 1923. and Litho, 1917. The Halifax Explosion and the Belgian Relief Ship “Imo” in : Inquiry Halifax Harbour, December 6th, “Garden City Blossoms,” by Mark Halifax, Cornerstone of Canada, and Intrigue, by John Griffith 1917. Halifax: G.E. Weir, 1917. Campbell. East Coast Living. 4.2. by Joan M. Payzant, 136-138. Armstrong. Vancouver: U.B.C. Halifax: Metro Guide Publishing, Burlington, Ont.: Windsor Press, 2002. Disaster Canada, by Janet Looker, 1997. Publications, 1985. 232-240. Toronto: Lynx Images, The Halifax Explosion: December 2000. Great Canadian Disasters, by Halifax, December 6, 1917: A 6, 1917, compiled and edited by Frank Rasky, 143-165. Toronto: Photo-Documentation of the Graham Metson. Toronto: McGraw- Disasters that Made History, by Longmans Green & Co., 1961. Halifax Explosion, researched by Hill, Ryerson, 1978. Webb Garrison, 76-80. Nashville: Graham Metson. West House Abingdon, 1973. Great Halifax Explosion, Museum: Halifax, 1977. The Halifax Explosion: Surviving December 6, 1917, by Joan the Blast that Shook a Nation, by Edwardian Halifax: Postcard Horwood. St. John’s: Avalon, 1976. The Halifax Disaster, by Ernest Joyce Glasner. Canmore, AB: Glimpses of an Era, 1900-1920, by Fraser Robinson. St. Catherine’s, Altitude Publishing, 2003 Dan Soucoup, 78-81. Halifax: The Great International Disaster Ont.: Vanwell, 1987. Nimbus, 1998. Book, by James Cornell, 229-231. “Halifax in Ruins: Streets Littered New York: Scribners, 1976. The Halifax Explosion, by Kate with Dead; French Munition Boat “The Explosion - A Child’s Story,” Carmen. : Canadian Library Collides in the Harbour with a by Darren Brackley in Shunpiking. Grim Visions: Arthur Lismer and Association, 1981. Belgian Relief Ship and Blows Up; December 1997, 5. the Halifax Explosion, by Alan Two Spare Miles a Burning Ruin,” Ruffman. Halifax: Mount Saint “The Halifax Explosion,” by in the Times Series (Times of Explosion, Dec. 6, 1917: 75 Years: Vincent University Art Gallery, Charles Bruce Fergusson. Journal Halifax). Vol. 4, No. 2 ( 2002). A Special Project of the Daily 1990. of Education. (February, 1968): News. Dartmouth: Daily News, 25-31. The Halifax Explosion: Realities 1992. Ground Zero: A Reassessment of and Myths, by Alan Ruffman. the 1917 Explosion in Halifax “Halifax Explosion,” by Thomas H. Halifax: Geo-Marine Associates, Explosion in Halifax Harbour, Harbour, by Alan Ruffman and Raddall. In Atlantic Anthology, ed. 1987. December 6, 1917: The Salvation Colin D. Howell. Halifax: Nimbus, Will R. Bird. Toronto: McClelland Army’s Relief Operations, by 1994. and Stewart, 1959. Halifax, : The Great Ralph Pilgrim. Halifax: n.p., 1994. Harbour, 14. Halifax: John Halifax and Its People 1749-1999, “The Halifax Explosion,” by Evelyn Quinpool, 1941. 54-45. Halifax: Nimbus, 1999, 54- Richardson. Nova Scotia Historical 56. Quarterly, 1977, 305. Halifax 09:06 December 6, 1917: Historic Halifax in Tales Told “The Inquiry into the Halifax Miracles and Mysteries: The A Photo-Documentation of the Under the Old Town Clock, by Explosion of December 6, 1917: Halifax Explosion, December 6, Halifax Explosion. West House William Coates, 186-192. Borrett. Legal Aspects,” by Janet F. Kitz. 1917, by Mary Ann Monnon. Museum: Halifax, 1977. Toronto: Ryerson, 1948. Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Windsor, N.S.: Lancelot, 1977. Historical Society, 2002, 64-78. Halifax: Warden of the North, by History of Canadian Architecture, More History with a Twist, by Thomas H. Raddall, 250-256. by Harold Kalman, 660. Vol. 2. Don “Just One Big Mess” the Halifax Bruce Nunn, 116-119. Halifax: Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, Mills, Ontario: Oxford, 1994. Explosion, 1917 [video recording]. Nimbus, 2001. 1948. National Film Board of Canada, The Morning of Armageddon. Hugh MacLennan: A Writer’s 1993. [video recording]. Star Screen Halifax’s North End: An Life, by Elspeth Cameron. Toronto: Group; SMA Distribution, 1993. Anthropologist Looks at the City, University of Toronto Press, 1981. Like a Weaver’s Shuttle: A by Paul A. Erickson, 54-64. (Reminiscences though out.) History of the Halifax-Dartmouth A Name for Himself: A Biography Hantsport: Lancelot, 1986. , by Joan M. Payzant and of , by Joyce “The ’s Heaven to Me,” Lewis J. Payzant, 144-147. Halifax: Barkhouse, 1-7. Toronto: Irwin, Halifax’s Other Hill: Fort by Barbara Fuller. Halifax Nimbus, 1979. 1986. Needham from Earliest Times, by Magazine. Halifax: Jan 1982, 44. Paul A. Erickson, 26-34. Halifax: The Little Dutch Village: Historic “Names of the Identified Dead in the Dept. of Anthropology, Saint In My Time: A Memoir, by Halifax West, , Fairview, Explosion at Halifax, 6 December Mary’s University, 1984. Thomas H. Raddall, 30-41. Toronto: by Devonna and Don Edwards, 43, 1917," by Leland H. Harvey, in McClelland and Stewart, 1976. 44, 81. Halifax: Nimbus, 2003. Nova Scotia Genealogist, Summer, Heart Throbs of the Halifax (Reminiscences) 1998, 94-112. Horror, by Stanley K. Smith. “The Halifax Explosion” (ballad) in Halifax: Weir, 1918. In the Privy Council on Appeal Maritime Folk Songs, compiled by Naval Service of Canada: Its from the Supreme Court of Helen Creighton, 208-209. Toronto: Official History. Vol. 1: Origins Helen Creighton: A Life in Canada between the Ship “Imo” Ryerson, 1962. and Early Years, by Gilbert Folklore, by Helen Creighton, 24- (Southern Pacific Whaling Norman Tucker, 229-233. Ottawa: 28. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Company, Limited, Owners), The Medical Services, by Andrew King’s Printer, 1952. 1975. (Defendant), Appellant and La MacPhail, 327-329. Ottawa: The Compagnie Generale Trans- Department, 1925. 1917 Halifax Explosion and Helen Creighton: Canada’s First Atlantique, (Plaintiff), American Response, by Blair Beed. Lady of Folklore, by Clary Croft, Respondent: Record of “Memories from the Bells,” by Halifax: Dtours, Visitors and 18-21. Halifax: Nimbus, 1999. Proceedings: Volume 1. [n.p.], Alice Bardsley, in the Atlantic Convention Service, 1999. 1919. Advocate. December 1984, 41-43. “Helping Unheeded: 1917 Halifax Explosion: 50th Newfoundland’s Relief Effort and In the Wake of the Alderney: “Memories of a Day of Horrors,” by Anniversary. Halifax: n.p., 1967. the Histriography of the Halifax Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, 1750- Harry Chapman. The Beaver. Explosion, 1917", by Malcolm 2000, by Harry Chapman, 194-207. Aug./Sept., 1993, 35-39. No Harbour for War. [video MacLeod in Nova Scotia Historical Dartmouth: Dartmouth Historical recording]. No Harbour for War Review 2, No 2 (1982): 65-68 Association, 2000. “Mi’Kmaw at the Halifax Productions, 1991. Explosion,” by Kenny Prosper. Historic Halifax, by Elizabeth Mi’kmaq-Maliseet Nation News, Pacey, 150-151. (Photographs by 20 December, 2002, 5. Alvin Comiter). Willowdale, Ont.: Hounslow, 1988. “Portrait of a City,” by Hugh The Smoke-Eaters: A History of “Tracing the Halifax Explosion”, A Romance of the Halifax MacLennan in Atlantic Anthology, Firefighting Nova Scotia: 1750- by Tom Mason, in Saltscapes, Disaster, by F. McKelvey Bell. ed. By Will R. Bird, 284-285. 1950, by Mike Parker. Halifax: November 2001- December 2001. p. Halifax: Royal Print and Litho, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, Nimbus, 2002. p. 170-174. 36-40. 1918. 1959. The Story of Dartmouth, by John Views of the Halifax Disaster, Sixth of December, by Jim Lotz. “Portraits of Survivors”, in Cities. Patrick Martin. Dartmouth: the December 6, 1917. Halifax: n.p., Markham, Ont.: PaperJacks, 1981. December, 1988, 35-39. Author, 1957. p. 62-67; 71-72; 515- 1917. 523; 527. “Winter’s Tale,” by Thomas H. Pride of Home: The Working “A Vision of Regeneration”: Raddall in Nearly An Island: A Class Housing Tradition in Nova The Story of Firefighting in Reconstruction after the Halifax Nova Scotian Anthology, ed. by Scotia 1749-1949, by Joann Canada, by Donal Baird. Erin, Explosion, 1917-1921. Halifax Alice Hale and Sheila Brooks. St. Latremouille, 67-74. Hantsport: Ont.: Boston Mills Press, 1986. Public Archives of Nova Scotia, John’s: Breakwater, 1979. Lancelot, 1986. p. 167-171. 1993. Survivors: Children of the Halifax Purcell’s Cove: The Little Place Explosion, by . Halifax: “Visit with Steve Whitty”, by YOUTH FICTION: That Helped Build Halifax City, Nimbus, 1992. Steve Whitty in Cape Breton’s by Elsie Purcell Millington, 23-25. Magazine, Issue 34. p. 64-72. Irish Chain, by Barbara Haworth- Victoria, B.C.: S. Millington, 2000. Thunder in the Sky: The 1917 Attard. Harper Trophy Canada, Halifax Explosion Video. [video White Shirts and Blue Collars: 2002. Report, by Halifax Relief recording]. Global Video Inc., 1992. Industry in Dartmouth, Nova Expedition, December 6-15, 1917. Scotia 1785-1995, Dartmouth, N.S.: Love from Katie, by Paddy Muir. Wright and Potter, 1918. Time In A Bottle: Historic Halifax Dartmouth Historical Association, Dartmouth: James-Stonehouse, Harbour from the Bottom Up, by 1997. p. 59-62. 1991. St. Paul’s in the Grand Parade: Bob Chaulk, East Lawrencetown, 1749-1999, by Sarah Baxter Emsley. N.S.: Pottersfield Press, 2002. p. World Disasters: Tragedies in the Penelope: Terror in the Halifax: Formac, 1999. p. 12-13, 127-128. Modern Age,.. , Ill: Fitzroy Harbour/Book One, by Sharon E. 56-57. Dearborn, 2001. p. 62-63. McKay. Penguin, 2001. T.N.T. by Allan Baddeley. [n.p.], 17 Minutes to Live, by Richard A. 1931. Worse Than War: The Halifax Penelope: Terror in the Boning. Baldwin, N.Y.: Dexter & Explosion, by Mary Pauline Harbour/Book Two, by Sharon E. Westbrook, 1973. Too Many to Mourn: One Murphy Sutow. Tantallon: Four McKay, Penguin, 2002. Family’s Tragedy in the Halifax East, 1992. Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion, by James G. Mahar. Who’s a Scaredy-Cat!: A Story of Explosion and the Road to Halifax: Nimbus, 1998. the Halifax Explosion, by Joan M. Recovery, by Janet Kitz. Halifax: ADULT FICTION: Payzant. Windmill Press, 1992. Nimbus, 1989. The Town that Died: The True Story of the Greatest Man-Made Barometer Rising, by Hugh Yesterday’s Children, by Joyce C. Shipwreck Treasures: Disaster Explosion before Hiroshima, by MacLennan. New York: Doull, Barkhouse. Lancelot Press Ltd., and Discovery on Canada’s East Michael J. Bird. Toronto: McGraw- Sloan and Pearce, 1941. 1992. Coast, by Roger Marster, Halifax: Hill, 1962. Formac, 2002. p. 94-99. Burden of Desire, by Robert MacNeil. New York: Tales/Doubleday, 1992. IN THE REFERENCE Memorial Book Periodical Indexes and Vertical Files: DEPARTMENT: “Halifax Explosion, Databases: Some branches of Halifax Public 1917" (1966): Libraries have vertical files on the Use a periodical or newspaper index City Council Minutes: Explosion. These files contain to locate other articles on the This memorial book, a calligraphic newspaper articles, tour guides, Explosion: The “Minutes of the City Council listing all the known dead , is on brochures, maps, photocopies of of the City of Halifax, Nova display at the Halifax North Branch primary sources and other Canadian Index. (1993-1999). Scotia”, from 1917-1976 reported Reference Department. In 1966 the interesting items. Indexes Canadian magazines and on the efforts to rebuild and rehouse Halifax Relief Commission donated For example: newspapers. Halifax. Each volume has an index $100,000 towards building this in the front. Look for entries under branch as a memorial to the Halifax, N.S.-Explosion Canadian Periodical Index. “Explosion, December 6, 1917" or Explosion. (1920-2002). Indexes Canadian “Halifax Relief Commission”. Halifax, N.S.-Explosion magazines. Newspapers on Memorial City Directories: Microfilm: Readers’ Guide to Periodical Halifax, N.S.-Explosion, 1917- Literature. 1919-present. Indexes Relief Commission Check the McAlpine’s Halifax- Newspapers published hundreds of American and some Canadian Dartmouth City Directories for the magazines. articles after the explosion. Many Halifax, N.S.-Hydrostone District year 1915-1925 to locate families or survivors placed notices inquiring or businesses before and after the identifying the whereabouts of Infotrac Online. Provides access to Explosion. The 1918 City families and friends. Articles on the General Magazine Index (1980- Directory published an alphabetical rescue efforts and relief measures present), primarily American in list of “Names of the Identified can also be found. Look for new content, and CPI-Q (1988-present), IN THE Dead Killed in the Explosion at research or survivor tales around the the online version of the Canadian COMMUNITY: Halifax, December 6, 1917", up-to- December anniversary. In 1992, Periodical Index. date at the time of printing. The The Herald produced a searchable “Halifax Street Directory”, near the database of their Explosion articles, Available via Nova Scotia Archives front, notes afflicted regions as available in the Spring Garden Road www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca and Records “Devastated Area”. Reference Department. ProQuest. 1985-present. Online Management Halifax Herald/Chronicle Herald: access to Canadian newspapers. 6016 University Ave July 1880 to present. Halifax, N.S. B3H 1W4 Available via 902-424-6060 Evening Mail/Mail Star: 1894 - www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca [email protected] present. The Archives has produced a Daily News: 1981-present number of finding aids to assist in searching Halifax Explosion materia material. MG27 has various records, such as telegrams, letters and reconstruction files. MG36 has the Halifax Relief Commission records from the real estate appraisal board, financial steamship CSS , the only fourteen bronze bells, which ring statements, committee minutes, ship still afloat that took part in the every year on the anniversary of property files, and a Canadian Explosion. The Museum’s the Explosion. They were donated Pension Commission Claims Collection includes over 330 by the United Methodist Church Index. These records are worth photographs of the Explosion’s and survivor Barbara Orr checking for the lists of victims destruction and maintains research Thompson, along with the who used relief services or filed files on a variety of explosion financial assistance of the Halifax claims for compensation. topics such as ships involved, the Relief Commission, Halifax railways, and the poetry & music Memorial Bells Committee, and Check the card catalogue, under inspired by the Explosion. Call the federal and provincial the subject heading Halifax 424-7890 for a research governments. Explosion, 1917, for library appointment. books, magazine articles, pamphlets, reminiscences, poetry and newspaper accounts. Fairview Cemetery: Hydrostone District:

The archives also carries Many of the victims were buried in Stroll the Hydrostone District, newspapers on microfilm such as this non-denominational cemetery. rebuilt in Halifax’s North End, the the Daily Acadian Recorder, the A monument was erected near area hardest hit by the explosion. Chisholm Ave to commemorate Daily Echo, the Morning The area is named after the unique the unidentified dead buried there concrete blocks used to rebuild Chronicle and the Nova Scotian. on December 17, 1917. Another Maps and photographs are monument, which once be-longed businesses and residential homes. available for consultation. to the cemetery, can be seen on Completed in 1921, this area is a Bayer’s road. Fairview Cemeteries fine example of early Canadian Maritime Museum of staff have access to a database to urban planning. The Hydrostone locate burials. 902-490-4883. district is roughly from Young the Atlantic: Street to Duffus Streets, bordered 1675 Lower Water Street Mount Olivet by Novalea and Isleville Streets. Halifax, N.S. B3J 1S3 424-7490 Cemetery: [email protected] Both identified and unidentified Websites: The Maritime Museum of the Roman Catholic victims were buried in this cemetery and a Atlantic maintains a permanent For a list of websites, visit exhibit about the Explosion called monument was erected near Olivet Street. To search for burials, call www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca . “Halifax Wrecked.” It features Click on the Resource Lists link. touching personal artifacts from 902-865-6663. the Explosion, fragments of the SS Mont-Blanc itself and the Halifax Halifax Explosion Explosion Remembrance Book. In Memorial Bell Tower: addition, several hundred explosion artifacts are in storage Located at Needham Park, in but available for study by Halifax’s North End, the appointment. Permanently berthed Memorial Bell Tower consists of at the Museum’s wharf is the 1913