The great Halifax explosion : a World War I story of treachery, tragedy, and extraordinary heroism

The "riveting" (National Post) tick-tock account of the largest manmade explosion in history prior to the atomic bomb, and the equally astonishing tales of survival and heroism that emerged from the ashes

"Enthralling. ... Gripping. ... A captivating and emotionally investing journey." --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

After steaming out of New York City on December 1, 1917, laden with a staggering three thousand tons of TNT and other explosives, the munitions ship Mont-Blanc fought its way up the Atlantic coast, through waters prowled by enemy U-boats. As it approached the lively port city of Halifax, Mont-Blanc's deadly cargo erupted with the force of 2.9 kilotons of TNT--the most powerful explosion ever visited on a human population, save for HIroshima and Nagasaki. Mont-Blanc was vaporized in one fifteenth of a second; a shockwave leveled the surrounding city. Next came a thirty-five-foot tsunami. Most astounding of all, however, were the incredible tales of survival and heroism that soon emerged from the rubble.

This is the unforgettable story told in John U. Bacon's The Great Halifax Explosion: a ticktock account of fateful decisions that led to doom, the human faces of the blast's 11,000 casualties, and the equally moving individual stories of those who lived and selflessly threw themselves into urgent rescue work that saved thousands.

The shocking scale of the disaster stunned the world, dominating global headlines even amid the calamity of the First World War. Hours after the blast, Boston sent trains and ships filled with doctors, medicine, and money. The explosion would revolutionize pediatric medicine; transform U.S.-Canadian relations; and provide physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who studied the Halifax explosion closely when developing the atomic bomb, with history's only real-world case study demonstrating the lethal power of a weapon of mass destruction.

Mesmerizing and inspiring, Bacon's deeply-researched narrative brings to life the tragedy, bravery, and surprising afterlife of one of the most dramatic events of modern times.

Author Notes

John U. Bacon has won numerous national writing awards & now freelances for "Sports Illustrated", "Time", "ESPN Magazine", & the "New York Times", among others.

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Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1917, was a major stopping place and reshipment point for war supplies shipped to Europe. Thousands of ships carrying war material passed safely through the harbor on their way to France and Great Britain. On December 6, 1917, two cargo ships collided in the narrow channel that connects the harbor basin to the Atlantic. One ship, the Mont-Blanc, was heavily laden with aviation fuel, picric acid (a high explosive), guncotton, and dynamite. The result was the largest explosion in history, until that time, which devastated Halifax and much of the port infrastructure. Some 2,000 Haligonians died and 9,000 were wounded. Bacon (Three and Out; Endzone) treads familiar territory, as there are several books on the subject, but his respectable narrative, drawn from well-documented stories, details the lapses in procedure and judgment that led up to the catastrophe, describing both the victims' accounts and the enormous outpouring of aid from both Canada and America. VERDICT An accessible narrative useful to all World War I collections in which the event is not otherwise covered.-Edwin Burgess, Kansas City, KS © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Part I A Forgotten Story
Chapter 1 A Century of Gratitude	p. 3
Chapter 2 Under Cover of Darkness	p. 5
Part II O Canada
Chapter 3 "Why Aren't We Americans?"	p. 21
Chapter 4 Waking Up Just in Time	p. 31
Part III The Great War
Chapter 5 As Near to Hell	p. 43
Chapter 6 Halifax at War	p. 55
Chapter 7 Life and Death on the Western Front	p. 61
Chapter 8 Halifax Harbour	p. 69
Chapter 9 "It Can't Be Any Worse"	p. 75
Chapter 10 "The City's Newer Part"	p. 83
Chapter 11 Wounded Inside and Out	p. 92
Part IV A Dangerous Dance
Chapter 12 Two Ships	p. 105
Chapter 13 December 5, 1917	p. 118
Chapter 14 A Game of Chicken	p. 124
Chapter 15 "Look to Your Boats!"	p. 140
Chapter 16 Box 83	p. 150
Chapter 17 "Oh, Something Awful Is Going to Happen"	p. 158
Part V 9:04:35 A.M.
Chapter 18 One-Fifteenth of a Second	p. 167
Chapter 19 Parting the Sea	p. 175
Chapter 20 Blown Away	p. 181
Chapter 21 They're All Gone	p. 193
Chapter 22 The Panic	p. 205
Part VI Help
Chapter 23 No Time to Explain	p. 225
Chapter 24 Ready to Go the Limit	p. 238
Chapter 25 A Steady Stream of Victims	p. 244
Chapter 26 Blizzard	p. 255
Chapter 27 Lost and Found	p. 262
Chapter 28 The Last Stop	p. 270
Chapter 29 The Yanks Are Coming	p. 276
Chapter 30 A Working Sabbath	p. 281
Chapter 31 "It's Me, Barbara!"	p. 288
Chapter 32 Small Gifts	p. 292
Chapter 33 A Toast to Allies	p. 303
Part VII Rebuilding
Chapter 34 The Missing and the Dead	p. 309
Chapter 35 The Inquiry	p. 315
Chapter 36 Christmas, 1917	p. 319
Chapter 37 Orphans	p. 325
Chapter 38 "Don't Stare"	p. 331
Chapter 39 The Trials	p. 338
Chapter 40 The Wholesome Discord of a Thousand Saws	p. 346
Part VIII Facing the Future
Chapter 41 New Lives	p. 355
Chapter 42 The Accidental Doctor	p. 359
Chapter 43 The Lasting Impact	p. 366
Chapter 44 The Reunion	p. 372
Acknowledgments	p. 375
Source Notes	p. 379
Bibliography	p. 393
Index	p. 399

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