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This was the largest artificial Explosion until the first Atomic Bomb Test Explosion in 1945 and still ranks highly among the Largest Artificial Non-nuclear Explosions . EVENTS On December 1 1917 ''Mont-Blanc'' a 3121- Ton Freighter , nearly 100 m long, departed New York City as part of a convoy bound for Halifax. On board it carried: On December 5 , ''Mont-Blanc'', captained by Aimé Le Médec, arrived at the examination point at McNabs Island and was waiting to be let into the harbour, but was too late. Halifax harbour had two antisubmarine nets that were closed for the night at sundown. These nets prevented both submarines and surface ships from entering or exiting. At the same time ''Imo'', captained by Hakron From, was to sail for New York, but its coal supplier arrived late and they, too, missed the sunset cutoff time. The next morning, s. The force of the blast triggered a tsunami that reached up to 18 meters above the high-water mark. ''Imo'' was lifted up onto shore by this tsunami. Over 2.5 km&2 of Halifax was levelled and windows were shattered as far as Truro, Nova Scotia , 100 km away. An anchor from the ''Mont-Blanc'' was found 5 km from the harbour. The disaster resulted in approximately 2,000 deaths (as many as 1,000 died instantaneously), 9,000 injured (6,000 seriously) and — according to one conservative estimate — roughly US$30 million (in 1917 dollars) in damage. Some 1.3 km&2 (325 acres) of urban/town area were destroyed, leaving 1,500 people homeless. A detailed estimate showed that of those killed, 600 were under the age of 15, 166 were labourers, 134 were soldiers and sailors, 125 were craftsmen, and 39 were workers for the railway. Many of the wounds were also permanently debilitating, with many people partially blinded by flying glass. The large number of eye injuries led to great efforts on the parts of physicians, and a collaborative effort managed to greatly improve the treatment of damaged eyes. The novel '' Barometer Rising '' (1941) by the Canadian writer Hugh MacLennan is set in Halifax at the time of the explosion and includes a carefully researched description of its impact on the city. EXTERNAL LINKS
BIBLIOGRAPHY ''Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Explosion 1917'', Laura M. MacDonald, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2005. ISBN 0-00-200787-8. MEDIA ON THE HALIFAX EXPLOSION
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