Halifax Explosion: Munitions Blast Kills 1,900
A Belgian relief ship loaded with 2,300 tons of picric acid, 200 tons of TNT, and 35 tons of benzol collided with another vessel in Halifax harbor. The crew abandoned ship. Twenty minutes later, the blast vaporized everything within half a mile and flattened nearly two square miles of the city. Windows shattered 60 miles away. A tsunami followed. One child was found alive in the rubble three days later, blind. The explosion remained the largest man-made detonation until Hiroshima — and it happened because a relief ship carrying Christmas supplies for Belgian war victims was also secretly packed with enough high explosives to obliterate a harbor.
December 6, 1917
109 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on December 6
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Colonel Thomas Pride barred over 140 moderate members from the House of Commons, purging the legislature of those who favored reconciliation with Charles I. Thi…
Two hundred and thirty-one members of Parliament arrived at Westminster that December morning. Only 154 made it inside. Colonel Thomas Pride and his musketeers …
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