Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion and the Road to RecoveryNimbus, 1989 - 212 pages In December 1917 Halifax was alive with excitement. The streets were filled with troops, and the city, far removed from the bitter fighting in Europe, was reaping all the advantages of war. On the morning of December 6, however, the bloodshed came to Halifax with a vengeance when a French munitions ship and a Belgian relief vessel collided in the harbor. The munitions vessel drifted into the North End and exploded, killing more than sixteen hundred people instantly, wounding more than nine thousand others, and damaging or destroying approximately twelve thousand buildings. The complete devastation covered an area of 325 acres, and hardly a window in the city was left intact. The statistics are astounding enough, but the testimonies from survivors are even more astonishing. - Back cover. |
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Archie arrived asked aunt Barbara Orr Barrington Street Bedford Basin bells blast blind body boys British brother building Burchell Camp Hill Canadian Captain Chebucto Road child Christmas church clothing collision crew Crowdis damaged Dartmouth dead December December 17 devastated area doctors dollars Driscoll Eileen Ryan engine Ethel explosion father fire funds girl Grove Presbyterian Halifax Explosion Halifax Harbour Halifax Herald Halifax Relief harbour HMCS Niobe HMS Highflyer hospital Hydrostone injured Johansen killed later lived lost MARITIME McNabs Island Medec medical-social service Middleham Castle Millicent Mont Blanc months morning mortuary mother naval newspaper North End Nova Scotia orphans Pattison pension Pier received relief commission relief committee repairs reported Richmond Richmond School sailors shelter ship shore social worker soldiers St Joseph's Stella Maris survivors Swetnam took Truro Upham volunteers wife William William MacTaggart Wyatt