The Town That Died: A Chronicle of the Halifax Explosion

by Michael J. Bird

A fact filled account of the greatest disaster to befall a Canadian city.

Genres: History, Canada, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Patricia English · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time keeping my attention on the book. It was a very interesting story, it was just how it was written I think for me. I would say I did not realize just how bad the Halifax explosion was, or before that , did not even know it had happened. Should be something taught in school.

So not for me, but probably a great book for others, especially people who love history.

[Margaret McLane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely unforgettable.
This historical incident SHOULD be the next MAJOR DISASTER STORY MOVIE BLOCKBUSTER:

Reasons why:
* It occurred during wartime.
* It was true.
* It was an international incident..therefore it will have great international appeal
* The relief effort involved at least 4 countries.
* There was serious drama:
- People gave up their lives heroically, to save others
- The legal inquiry afterwards was drama laden.
* There are several personal stories/ eye-wittness accounts that are followed through the story.
* Nova Scotia was a place to which migrated many LOYALISTS - persons loyal to the English King - the loosing side- during the American (USA) revolution. An under-told part of US history.
* * The film industry now has the technical ability to do a great job with computers, etc.

STEVEN SPIELBERG, GEORGE LUCAS, RON HOWARD, where are you? !!

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced and a bit breathless about the awful destruction when a boat carrying munitions explodes in one of the narrowest and busiest harbors in the Americas.

[Barbara Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. It was fast moving and kept my interest from beginning to end. Parts of it very sad but amazing how some people survived.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many people in this age of man-made destruction are not familiar with the first, the largest, man-made explosion in the world before Hiroshima, in the somewhat isolated Maritimes of Canada. This is the story of how on Dec. 6, 1917, the town of Halifax was decimated.

The late Michael J. Bird wrote this account of the explosion in 1962. Since then there have been several editions, the edition I read was printed in 2011.

Several books have been written both about what led to this disaster, and also used as a background for a few novels. How could such a huge event happen in Halifax? World War I was still going on, ships were the only option for transporting supplies from North America and Halifax was the closest outgoing port to Europe. This book is the best I've read on the subject, utilizing official reports and records of the event as it happened, as well as eye-witness testimony.

The explosion itself gave the appearance of what we would later see as the atomic bomb, a mushroom cloud over twelve thousand feet high. The explosion not only blew buildings down, windows shattering, and stripping the clothes from people in the path of the wind blast, but also caused a tsunami. Most of Halifax and Dartmouth on the other side of the harbour, were flattened in minutes, then came the fires. A number of factors come into play to cause this. A ship weighed down with ammunition and gasoline and a ship coming out of the harbour collided, causing the friction of the steel to spark and start a fire on the ammo ship.

This book reads very well, and is well documented. It is factual and yet personal in a way. The feelings of fear, miscommunication, confusion, and trauma, along with heroism and the flip side of looters, brings the human perspective into play. The nervousness of the captain of the ship with ammo and his desperation trying to avoid a collision is alive with tension. Hundreds of bodies, more than 3,500, were never identified and are buried in a mass grave and many more died in the harbour. Hundreds were blinded by either the flash or from flying shards of window glass. I recommend this book on the basis of its facts and realism of a casualty of a war being fought on another continent.

[Jay Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like really intense history with generous helpings of human drama, this is a book that will satisfy both. The explosion and fire in Halifax Harbour in December, 1917, destroyed one-fourth of the town when two ships collided, one filled with war-destined explosive material and the other a Belgian Relief ship. Thousands died on ship and on land. Homes were destroyed, eye injuries from flying glass were ubiquitous, as were fires that killed many trapped in their collapsed houses. A blizzard the next day complicated matters and rescue efforts were quickly overwhelmed.

The author spent over a year researching the explosion and interviewing many first and second source residents of Halifax. Details of the ships, ship movement in the harbour and narrows, and details of the locations of houses and who occupied them are all included. He also includes court transcripts of the trials held after the event to determine which ship was at fault and to what extent the captains, boat pilots, and others were also culpable. A brief account is told of how Canada came to be involved in WWI and Halifax's role in the war. There are pictures included, many of them exclusively loaned to him for the book.

I found this to be an interesting and fast read, but a little overwhelming as the depth and breadth of the tragedy unfolded before my eyes. If you have an interest for the details but also want the stories (a young girls working in a cotton mill is nearly the only survivor on her floor, a child is blinded and taken to hospital unidentified until her father finds her days later after being told his wife and children had all burned to death in their home while he was at work, and more), you will find a lot in this book to think about and you will not come away disappointed.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing first-hand account of the Halifax explosion and aftermath from many differnt views - Captains, business owners, mill workers, students, etc.

Provides a very clear understanding why Halifax ships a Christmas tree to Boston MA every year.

[Amy Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up in Canada I saw the Canadian Heritage Moments on tv constantly, the one about the Halifax explosion always left me the most emotional, I felt so much horror for Vincent Coleman the man who telegraphed to stop the trains and got blown up doing so instead of just running away to safety. So when I came across a book on the subject I thought it would be interesting and it is, in that morbid way that Titanic and other disasters are.

The beginning of the book is a kind of slow as it sets the scene, introduces some of the people and gives a good timeline of everything that happened up until that bratty Imo ship comes churning up the channel behind the Mont Blanc and rams into it, starting the fire that causes the explosion. Once you get to that part the book it's very fascinating and full of panic, action, terror and grisly and gritty victims. I didn't ever know what caused the explosion or what really happened so this was a very educational read. I can't believe the things some of the survivors had to see and go through, if you have a weak stomach don't read this book, but it is morbidly fascinating. I didn't know that directly after the explosion it became a blizzard and that there was more explosions caused by fires later on, what a true disaster!

The later part of the book is about fixing things up and legal trials, I skipped that stuff.

Definitely worth reading for the main part of the book! Very intense and hard to put down!

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned about the horrific Halifax Explosion during a recent trip to Nova Scotia, and I wanted to find out more about it. This was the single most powerful man-made explosion until the Hiroshima atomic bomb, and it happened when a munitions-laden ship bound for Europe during the First World War collided with another ship in the narrows of Halifax Harbor. The resulting fire caused the munitions to explode, destroying ships in the harbor as well as homes, businesses, schools, and other buildings on shore. It is not known how many people perished--some think around 2,000 but it may have been over 3,000. The book is full of great information. I enjoyed the personal stories of some of the survivors. The only complaint is that the people were a little hard to keep straight. It would have helped if the author had put in reminders of who the people were each time they were reintroduced in the narrative. Still, I was able to satisfy my curiosity about this event.

[Neville · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing story (factual). I had to check the internet to see if this did happen as I had never heard of this disaster.

SS Mont Blanc was a French based ship required to transport a large quantity of explosives back to Europe in 1917. Mont-Blanc was under orders from the French government to carry her cargo from New York City via Halifax to Bordeaux, France. The Mont Blanc was laden with high explosives, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin. A fire on board the Mont-Blanc led to a massive explosion that devastated the Richmond district of Halifax.

The inquiry into the accident and then the following disaster seemed to be mishandled from the beginning with preconceived ideas about who was to blame right from the beginning.

The book is well worth the read if you are into factual history.

[Mootika · Rating 4 out of 5]

A neat little book that recounts the events of the greatest man-made explosion before Hiroshima. I picked it up at the gift shop of The Citadel, a Parks Canada National Historic Site in Halifax, Nova Scotia. While historical, the story is told from a personal perspective, allowing you to try to live the event through the eyes of various characters. Black and white photos and maps are included. Very sad, but interesting.

Bookcrossing details for this copy:
Journal Entry 2 by swmmr at Bell's Eccentric Cafe/Brewpub in Kalamazoo, Michigan USA on Thursday, July 11, 2002

Release planned for Wednesday, July 17, 2002 at Bell's Eccentric Cafe/Brewpub in Kalamazoo, Michigan USA.

The book will be left on the glass case under the bulletin board, located to your left after you enter the pub. ***RELEASE DATE is sometime between July 11th and July 17th - whenever I'm there next :)

[David Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the tale of the explosion on December 6, 1917, of the Mont Blanc and the destruction of Halifax. It is told primarily through the words of those directly involved, gathered through extensive interviews and documents written in the immediate aftermath.

The cover of the book tells us that this was the world's greatest man-made explosion before Hiroshima. The cover doesn't tell us that it was followed the next day by a blizzard. The book covers the event itself and a bit of the rescue and recovery during the subsequent days. We do get some sense of the size of the relief effort, but the focus is on the explosion and not much detail is provided of the additional hardships caused by the weather.

I'd say it falls somewhat short of a scholarly work, as it lacks any source notes, bibliography, or index. It does include a number of photographs.

[Tyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book on the Halifax disaster, I recently finished The Great Halifax Explosion (TGHE) which I enjoyed even more and highly recommend. The Day a Town Died was much more brief and focused on the Naval response rather than civilian response TGHE covered in detail. It also read more like a textbook with details especially the difficult to decipher military dispatches while TGHE is a much more complete story with the feel of a novel and follows many more characters in much greater detail. Also another complaint is the title. Halifax do not die that day. In fact one of the main threads and points of TGHE is that Halifax rebounded much in the same way it did when hit with other economic setbacks in its history.

[Kathy Stevenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably not the best book to read during a global pandemic! This book provides an account of the greatest disaster Halifax has ever experienced: two ships collided when attempting to pass in the harbour. Unfortunately, one of them was packed to the hilt with explosives to be used for the WWI effort. The resulting explosion affected buildings and people more than 2 miles away. Nearly 2000 were killed and more than four times that number were injured many severely. I wanted to read more about the personal stories of survival and rebuilding and there were those, but a good portion of the book was made up of correspondence between shipping companies and other officials as well as an account of the enquiry.

[Ron Wroblewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

What made this book so real to me was that I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, last October where I learned about this tragedy. I was able to see the narrow channel where the two ships collided which resulted in The most disastrous explosion in the history of mankind prior to the atomic bomb. This occurred in December of 1917 and result in up to 3200 deaths, 9000 injured, 6000 homes lost and 25,000 people left homeless. Over 1600 buildings were destroyed and 12,000 damaged. All this in just a moment. Great read of an historical event. I recently bought a second book on this event which I will shortly be reading.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going to Halifax as a child when my mom went there for work was always a fun adventure. During the days wandering the hotel overlooking the Halifax harbor I discovered the story of the explosion. This book gives a detailed accounting of the explosion and aftermath. Very graphic in parts, it is nevertheless an important accounting of the horrible disaster that befell the area.

[Roger Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

About an explosion on a ship that was docked in Halifax.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, published in 1967, reads like a screen play. I mean this in a good way. The story unfolds from a myriad of perspectives , woven around the narrative of the timeline of the event.

[Terri Anstett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book about something I never had heard of.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and detailed.

[Brett Bosley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, vivid account of the 1917 Halifax explosion (largest man-made blast until the atomic bomb, and remains so), relief efforts, and the subsequent trial. Full of lurid, gruesome detail.

[Gordie Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed telling of the Halifax Disaster.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only real complaint is that I'd have loved more information on the inquiry and the recovery.

[Patti Prevost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly not the best written book I’ve ever read, but fascinating nonetheless. I would be curious as to other books written about this subject.

[Mesha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though this account was written in the mid-90s it reads like it was written in the 50s. The style was clunky and for such an incredible tale it lacked the telling it deserves.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took many sources and put them together to make a narrative composed of facts. The facts are amazing and this event in history was interesting to me. I hadn't ever heard about this explosion before, and since I will be on a mission for my church there, I wanted to learn about it. This book was a good resource for knowledge. It was written like a text book.
Some of the facts are: This was the biggest man-made explosion in the world before the atomic bomb. It killed 2,000 people and wounded 9,000. One hundred people were blinded, and a whole town was leveled. An anchor that weighed one ton was carried a mile away. A ship was lifted up onto the shore of the channel. Glass was blown out of windows as far as three miles away. It was a terrible disaster.
One ship ran into another ship in the channel. One ship was filled too full of explosives and on her way to France for helping with WWI. When the captain of the ship that was filled with the ammunitions saw that fire break out on his ship- he ordered his whole crew to abandon the boat. They rowed like crazy to get out of harms way. They were lucky and none of them died. In court they tried to blame him with the cause of the blast. In my mind it was the captain of the other ship, The Imo,who was at fault. They all died, so no one was left to tell that side of the story. Later the first captain was left off, and he could go back to work. The pilot was also free to work again. Interesting story.

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a vivid description of the collision of two ships in Halifax harbor in 1917. Story listed as the greatest man-made explosion before Hiroshima. The book gives detailed description of the events leading up to the explosion and personal descriptions of the events following as they worked to help the thousands injured and all the dead. It is not a read for the faint at heart. The book ends with a full description of the commission looking for why it happened and who was at fault. Interesting to read how biased the judge was against the Mont Blanc that carried the munitions and in favor of the Imo that really caused the collision by being in the wrong side of the channel. Also how the public blamed the Germans since the started the war and if not for that there would have been no need for the munitions on the Mont Blanc. Most interesting to read of the heroes and people who took advantage of the situation for their greed. Interesting history.

[Carell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the greatest man made explosion before Hiroshima, occurring in Halifax harbour Dec 6,
1917 during WWI. A French ship carrying explosives arriving from New York and a Norwegian ship leaving the Halifax harbour have their date with destiny. Thousands of people were killed, maimed and displaced while heroes and villains appeared in the chaos. This book threads the story of many involved while using letters and reports made at the time. It gives an interesting taste of our early Canadian ancestors who were anti French since Quebecers were resisting the conscriptions and also felt anyone with a German name must be a spy working for the Germans in WWI. The emotions and stressors are palpable. A very good book....I read the 2011 version.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book begins with the background of the events that lead to the Halifax Explosion in 19, 1917. The author does a good job of introducing characters that lived in Halifax on that fateful day, then after the explosion, he relates what happened to each of those individuals. We get a glimpse of how life was on that fateful day and during the first few days following the explosion. At the end, he describes the investigation into the terrible tragedy.

[Elaine Conte · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an account of the Halifx explosion in December 1917 when a ship loaded with WW1 explosives collided with another ship in the Halifax harbour. The resulting explosion decimated the city and killed thousands. Certainly an interesting historical event but I had a hard time getting into the many eye witness accounts and the lists of all the boats in the harbour, what damage they sustained and where they ended up. I gave up on it about 1/3 of the way through.