num_pages: 418
description: From the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author a gripping narrative-nonfiction account of the worlds largest manmade explosion before the atomic bomb. In December 1917 a freighter carrying 3000 tons of explosives sailed from Brooklyn bound for the trenches of World War Ien route a cataclysmic disaster awaited . . .Entering World War Is fourth demoralizing year the Allies hoped to break the grueling stalemate by sending thousands of fresh American troops and more munitions than ever to the trenches of France. Before the French freighter Mont-Blanc set sail from Brooklyn on December 1 1917 with a staggering 3000 tons of explosives the captain banned his crew from lighting a single match and secured the volatile cargo with copper nails because they dont spark when struck. For four harrowing days the floating powder keg bobbed up the Eastern seaboard plowing through a wicked snowstorm and waters infested with German U-Boats which had already torpedoed a thousand Allied ships that year alone. On December 6 the exhausted crew finally slipped into Halifax Harbourjust as the relief ship Imo was rushing to leave. At 8:45 a.m. the Imo struck the Mont-Blancs bow knocking over barrels of airplane fuel. Fire swept across the decks sending the Mont-Blancs crew scurrying to their lifeboats while Halifax longshoremen office workers and schoolchildren walked down to watch it burn.At 9:04:35 a.m. the Mont-Blanc erupted leveling 2.5 square miles of Halifax killing 2000 people and wounding 9000 moreall in one-fifteenth of a second.In this definitive account bestselling author John U. Bacon recreates the recklessness that caused the tragedy the selfless rescue efforts that saved thousands and the inspiring resilience that rebuilt the town. Just hours after the explosion Boston alone sent 100 doctors 300 nurses and a million dollars. The explosion would revolutionize ophthalmology and pediatrics; transform Canada and the U.S. from adversaries to allies; and show J. Robert Oppenheimer who studied Halifax closely how much destruction an atomic bomb could inflict on a city. Bacon brings to light one of the most dramatic events of the twentieth century exploring the long shadow the worlds first weapon of mass destruction still casts on our world today.The Great Halifax Explosion includes 25 black-and-white photos.
language: English
title: The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism
publisher: Mariner Books