MY AMAZING DISCOVERY WHILE AT MASS GENERAL TODAY:THE GREAT HAIFAX EXPLOSION

Curiosity is defined as "a thirst for knowledge.. a lust for learning" and so on. Today, I hit the JACKPOT while visiting the Medical Museum at Mass General. Docent Bill from Pittsburgh way steered me to The Great Halifax Explosion Exhibit. BANG! Paydirt!


I thought Mont Blanc was the name of a writing instrument when in reality it was the name of a French Munitions ship docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was 1917 and World War I had been rumbling since Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914. Halifax, Nova Scotia, was an active port for  ships of all sorts to and from Europe to Canada and the USA. "The port city of Halifax bustled with ships carrying troops, relief supplies and munitions."


History reveals "at approximately 8:45 a.m. The Mont Blanc and the Norwegian vessel IMO collided. The MB was loaded with explosives.. 2,300 tons of picric acid, 200 tons of TNT, 35 tons of high octane gasoline and ten tons of gun cotton." It was a FLOATING TIME BOMB that exploded after crashing with the IMO.


 The explosion was the precursor to the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945.


The aftermath of The  Great Halifax Explosion brought death and destruction and attendant sympathies from around the Globe."1,800 people were killed, 9,000 were injured, 200 were blinded. Accounts report 1,600 homes were destroyed. The shock wave shattered windows 50 miles away and the sound explosion could be heard hundreds of miles away."


Thank you Massachusetts General Hospital Medical Museum for sharing this tragedy with me. Had I not visited this museum, today, and with the behest of Bill I would remain oblivious to The Great Halifax Explosion of 1917! Veritas.


Thanks, again, MGH.


Sincerely yours,


Robert Louis Potvin
A Land Lubber
91p20
Radiology Technician
'The University of Vietnam'
1967 - 1968