Ninety four years ago today, in 1917, at about 8:40 in the morning two munitions ships, The SS Mont-Blanc, a cargo ship from France, loaded with wartime explosive, accidentally collided with The SS Imo, a Norwegian ship, also loaded with explosives. The Mont-Blanc exploded shortly after. The resulting fire injured over 9000 people, and killed around 2000. All buildings within 2 kilometers of the harbour were levelled.
The explosion caused a tsunami in Halifax Harbour. It remains reportedly the world's largest man-made accidental explosion. As if that weren't enough, it was followed shortly after by a blizzard, dumping snow on the remains of the city and further slowing rescue work.
Among the first to offer assistance and aid was the state of Massachusetts, offering ship loads of doctors and nurses, followed by trainloads of people and supplies. Total relief aid from Massachusetts alone totalled
$750,000 US. In 1917, that was an amazing amount of aid.
Each year, to show our appreciation, the people of Nova Scotia ship to the city of Boston the biggest and finest Christmas tree available. This years tree was donated by Ken and Donna Spinney of Central Argyle, Yarmouth County. The 2011 Tree Lighting was held December 1st.
Happy Quilting!
Maggie
1 comments:
Yep, that'll make you cry. I swear, every time I watch the vignette on TV about the Halifax explosion it sends shivers. My youngest had a project on it a couple of years ago so we lived with the details for a couple of weeks in our home. Just scary.
I didn't know about the Christmas Tree though, now that'll make you cry too! What a wonderful thank you.
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