Everyone has obsessions:  mine are centered around entertainment and art but my husband is obsessed with disasters.   There’s history in these tales and often the tragedy of hubris and the indelible courage of the fallen and the survivors.  Disaster stories are all about humanity at our best, how we recover from the worst and I think that’s why my husband likes them.  Consequently, I’m always on the lookout for a disaster story he may not know.  A few years ago, I learned of the Halifax Explosion and found the book Shattered City.   If disaster tales are your cup of tea, this is a book for you.

It was December 6, 1917, ninety-seven years ago last Saturday, and two ships were both in a hurry.  The Imo, a French ship was late leaving Halifax’s harbor with relief supplies for Belgium while the SS Mont Blanc was trying to get into port with a full load of explosives.  They collided and spilled fuel on the Mont Blanc set that ship on fire.  The crew abandoned ship and the Mont Blanc drifted, unmanned, toward the town.

In those days, the fanciest houses were set close to the water and they got a view of the burning Mont Blanc.  It was early morning and as the explosives on board started to burn, sparks shot into the air, making the Mont Blanc look like a floating 4th of July display.   Crowds gathered at the wharf and the town’s only fire engine showed up, expecting to protect the wharf-side buildings.  Then, at 8:45 the ship exploded.

Sixteen hundred people died immediately and every building within a mile and a half radius was wiped out or horribly damaged.  The water was momentarily blown out of the harbor and the rush back created a tsunami.  The force blew the injured Imo to the opposite shore and Mont Blanc‘s anchor two miles inland through the air.  Until the atomic bombs, this was the biggest explosion on record.

The Halifax survivors must have thought they’d been sent straight to hell. Remember it was December and all the houses had stoves and furnaces going to keep out the cold.  The blast knocked over all of those stoves and the collapsed houses began to burn. Because the entire fire company had died at the edge of the wharf (with their fire engine) no one could put out the fires.  All the window glass blew out, blinding and maimng people who thought they were watching from a safe distance.  Then, in a final insult to injury, Halifax got hit with a blizzard.

The book Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion and the Road to Recovery  covers all this and more, from the little girl who survived fire and cold because an ash-bucket landed on top of her to the rumors of a German attack that filled the city after the disaster.  (Remember, WWI was still going on then and Halifax knew they might be a target)  The fallen are remembered as well as the group of people who did everything they could to heal the survivors and the town.  It’s a really good story.

It’s good to remember why things go wrong as well as when things go right.  It’s the least we can do for the victims and it can teach us where we need to take care.  Shattered City is a book well worth reading on these cold December nights.  It’s pays respect to the lost souls of Halifax.