The Halifax Explosion: A Burning Munitions Ship, a Dispatcher’s Last Message and the Biggest Blast Before the Atom Bomb (1917)
On 6 December 1917 a French ship packed with nearly 3,000 tonnes of explosives caught fire after a collision in Halifax Harbour. Crowds came to watch. A train dispatcher stayed at his key to warn the railway. At 9:04:35 a.m. the ship exploded.