Norwich bulletin., 1917-12-19
FACTS AND COMMENT

FACTS AND COMMENT f The@ most hideous single disaster
 due to the great war was undoubtedly
 the destruction caused at Halifax when the Belgian relief ship Imo of NOrwe- gian registry coilided with the French ammunition ship Mont Blanc in the
 narrow neck of the upper harbor. The | cargo of the Mont Blanc consisted of 9 900 tons of explosives nearly A ar ter of which was TINT, the highest ex- plosive known; but the immediate l cause of the explosion was the deck 1 lead of benzine that she carried The I bow of the Imo broke open the con | ta;ners the benzine flowed down to 1 the fireroom and disaster was not to their cargo the crew took to the boats and rowed for their lives. Once l ashore. they continued their flight at i top speed to the woods. Twenty min ton let go and the force of the explo- sion Ievcleo two square miles of the city of Halifax. The shores of the 1 harbor slope rather steeply to tbe building received the full force of the explosion. The north end Of the city.
 where the destruction was greatest, consisted of sniaI: frame houses occu- l whom the activities of the war had 1 brought in large numbers to Halifax.
 These houses were instantly reduced 1 to l1indiing wood and the hres that l bYo oke out in 8 hundred places at once l rendered escape impossible. For tre l thousand and more dead it was all l over in instant but the living found themselves III a-city without heat, light
 or power, for the gas tanks. power l plants and wires were all put out of commission. Added to that hardly pane of glass was left in the whole city and many chimneys were rem dered unsafe. To complete the misery, a blizzard followed with two feet of snow, haInpering the rescue work and delaying the relief trains that were speeding from Boston and other Amer jean cities. Then came a warzc spel. i,with a, torrent Of rain. only to be sue ceeded by a cold wave and another storm. The helpless condition Of the 1 stricken thousands can be left to the ina ginatien of those who have felt 1 the rigors of a winter on the North | Atlantic coast
 l Before the war Halifax had a popu-
 lation of something under 50,0o0 but 1 tlat figure has since doubled Being the nearest available American port ! to Europe, the British government has built there huge piers. shipyards and ! warehouses. All neutral shipping bound for European ports puts in here I for examination before being allowed 1 proceed. ana a i1iSe proportion O1 ] Canada's 40e oe0 troops that have all | ready seen service in Europe have been shipped from this port. The i lower harhor is mile wide and six
 miles long, while the upper harbor.' called Bedford basin, is connected with l this by the narrow channel in which 1 the disastrous collision took place. | The cause of tho eoiiision is even
 now the subject of an admiralty in vestigation. There was plenty of sea l room and the Mont Blanc had signaIed that she would keep to starboard.
 whe. there was an apparent misunder- i standing between the pilots, and the i Irno kept to the port side with the i reslilt that tlse collision took place. i The IElo's helm srnan. John Jolfansen, 1 is bein gdetained as a spy suspect. At the hospital where he was under going treatment he had acted queerly
 and had apparently tried to escape more tEan once so that a military i was turned over to the military au- i thorities until his previou activities could be investigated.
 The damage that may be done by a ! l. eacherous steersman emphasizes the
 importance of tho patrol work that , the govcrnnis mt has been doing on the
 Great Lakes. where ninety vessels,
 large and small guard this alI-imper- tant water route. My this thousand mics of unsai.ed seas ore. wheat and
 coal are brought to the many manu-
 facturing plants of the niddle west l including the great Pittsburgh dis trict. There are three crucial points
 at any one of which trouble insignifi-
 cant in itself might easily stop ship ping on the entire rouse. These poin:s are the -Soo,' the Detroit and tie St. Clair rivers. Night and day channels, vessels captains, engineers. crews in fact, everyone and everything, is un- ! der the watcIlfui eyes of secret service
 men. Six hundred arrests have been i made and many plots frustrated. In tne harbor of Detroit chartered tug
 was secretly outfitted with thrae- ! inch gun, a crew was mysteriousiy fs- sembled and all was ready for a try at
 commerce raiding in the heart of the contine nt, but the would be raider was promptly sunk before she cleared fhe harbor. In the Livingston cut on the l sot. Clair river secret service men dis
 covered and followed trail leading to
 a cave, in which there had been set charge of dynamite sufficient to blow into the channel the whole rocky side Of the cut They removed the fuse and set an ambush but the piotters must have been tipped off. as they were never caught There have been more 1 than one attempt to blow up the great
 locks at the Soo, and exceedingly in- genious plans have been laid to which the vessels are guided into these basins With small syringe con-
 cealed in the hand vital though i'm perceputible damage has been done to | these hawsers on the Duluth docks in | the knowledge that 1t would not be discovered until the lines should rnys-
 teriousiy part at the locks and allow
 the vessel to crash into the great
 gates. At one time three vessels col lided and sank in the Detroit river, causing a thirty -six hours blockade. In the St. Marys river below the Soo the Saxonia and the Pentecost- Mitchell managed to sink each other end to end
 i'll particularly narrow channal. Here too. prompt work and wise foresight | brought 1t about that another channel
 was at once cl1arted. Spies have been
 taken from engine rooms and pilot