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December 1917: RI Medical Teams Rush to Halifax Disaster Described as the most devastating pre-atomic blast ever recorded

BY MARY KORR RIMJ MANAGING EDITOR

During his long life, , Relief Commission, headed south 1917 was a day Halifax native and through the Narrows, passing to the Rhode Island physician DR. EDWIN G. port side of incoming ships, rather than THOMPSON (1863–1949) would never on the traditional starboard side. forget. The dentist and physician, a The French steamship Mont Blanc, a graduate of Dental’s Col- WW1 munitions transport, was enter- lege and Medico-Chirurgical College, ing the harbor to rendezvous with a mil- was perhaps making his rounds at the itary convoy that would escort it across Roger Williams Hospital when the tragic the Atlantic. The ship was packed with events began to unfold in his home- 2,300 tons of picric acid, 200 tons of town’s harbor, a WWI hub of Canadian TNT, 35 tons of high-octane gasoline, Navy activity. and 10 tons of gun cotton. At about 8:45 a.m., the Imo, a steam- Warning signals and evasion maneu- ship carrying supplies for the Belgian vers proved futile and the ships col- lided. At 9:05 a.m., the ablaze Mont Blanc rammed Pier 6 and exploded, RIMS creating a 60-foot tsunami that swept Dr. N. Darrell Harvey, later president of the over the harbor. Horrified onlookers Rhode Island Medical Society, 1931–1932, were swept out to sea and drowned. led one of the relief teams to Halifax. LIBRARY MUSEUM ARCHIVES NOVA

Explosion caused what has been described as a Main building of the Nova Scotia Provincial Exhibition, Halifax, Canada, damaged in the explosion. “mushroom-like” cloud.

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Victims of the Dec. 6, 1917 explosion at Halifax, Nova Scotia, laid out on sled. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS LIBRARY

Warehouse windows propelled glass nurses led by Dr. Thompson. A bliz- alcohol, compresses and surgical equip- missiles everywhere; 200 lost their zard blanketed the tracks as the train ment. On the scene, the Red Cross set eyes and sight. The event has been forged northward. up 57 makeshift hospitals. The Rhode described as the most devastating pre- According to the Times Island contingent worked in the Ladies atomic blast ever recorded. It killed of , 1917, a second provi- College Hospital, the Halifax Infir- 2,000; leveled thousands of buildings, sional unit was sent from Providence mary and Bellevue. Many remained for and injured tens of thousands. on December 8 with 69 physicians and several months. surgeons, 50 nurses, 6 secretaries, and Upon his return, Dr. Harvey gave Rhode Island relief social workers under the charge of oph- an accounting of the Rhode Island Red On the following day, , 1914, thalmologist DR. N. DARRELL HARVEY Cross Relief Unit at the Halifax disas- at noon, a train chartered by the local of Providence, who also worked at ter to the Rhode Island Medical Soci- chapter of the left Newport Hospital. ety on March 30, 1918 and outlined Providence bound for Halifax, with The train carried a complete steril- relief plans should such a disaster hit a rescue team of 60 doctors and 60 izing plant, a large quantity of ether, Providence. v

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