A disaster waiting to happen!
Today's blog is about a
disaster that occurred almost 105 years ago in a faraway place that left a great impact on the
world at the time and a local family greatly.
RICHARD LIONEL PICKERING
Richard was born in Newtown
in March 1885, the third of six children of James Evers Pickering and Rosa
Ellen (nee Sutton). Not much is known about Richard but what is available is that
during WW1 he was a married man living in Liverpool England and in 1917 was an
officer on board the Royal navy ship performing merchant duties, the HMS Curaca.
In December of that year, he was in the wrong place at the worst possible time.
Halifax during WW1 was (and
still is) the primary port on the east coast of Canada in the province of Nova
Scotia. It was an ice-free port and dock, and its waters did not freeze even during
the harshest of Canadian winters making it an ideal port in the North Atlantic
for year-round operations.
By 1917 it had become a key base for Atlantic convoys. The population grew due to the military and associated persons and millions of tons of cargo passed through Halifax. Wheat, coal, foodstuffs and ammunition were funneled into the port by the Canadian Intercontinental Railroad. They were then placed aboard merchant vessels with the ultimate destination being the battlefields of Europe. Halifax was also a troop embarkation point with thousands of Canadian, Commonwealth and American service personnel passing though the city to or from the fighting. During this time Halifax was a virtual fortress with gun emplacements and observation points everywhere as well as nets laid in the harbour entrance to ensnare any U-boats that may be lurking deep in the water.
On the 6th of
December 1917, the merchant ship Imo, was on its journey to New York and
clearly marked “Belgian Relief”
advising of its purpose. In that harbour on that day was the French munitions
ship Mont-Blanc which was carrying high explosives and volatile substances such
as TNT, benzol, etc. Normally munitions ships were barred from entering Halifax
but with the Admiralty taking direct control they were allowed entry to the
Harbour. The Mont-Blanc was making its way up the eastern side and directly
ahead of her was the Imo. Both crews frantically signalled and whistled at each
other and took evasive action, but it became apparent the vessels were on a
collision course. The Imo crashed into Mont-Blanc’s starboard bow at 8.45am creating
a gash in her hull, generating sparks. Those sparks ignited volatile picric
acid and the ship burst into flames.
Mont-Blanc in 1899 - Wikipedia
Damaged Imo - Wikipedia
The explosion Halifax - Wikipedia
For 20 minutes the Mont-Blanc burned, whilst the captain ordered the crew to
take to the lifeboats. During this time a crowd of onlookers, including
children on their way to school, lined the dockside. The crippled burning Mont
Blanc drifted towards Pier 6 with homes, businesses, other vessels, a sugar
refinery and the Royal College of Canada lay in its path.
At 9.04am the Mont-Blanc exploded. Debris, shrapnel and chunks of the ship
rained down like hail over the city. The ships anchor, weighing several tons
was blasted across the port, into the city landing 4km away from the epicentre!
The Imo was tossed onto the shoreline, crashing down and causing great damage. The
blast could be felt up to 200 kms away. Black rain drifted over Halifax and
surrounds as carbon particles fell from the sky.
Spectators, sailors, and others nearby were either killed by the blast
wave, the obliterating 18 metre high tsunami or from being tossed and thrown
sky high.
All but one of the crew of the Mont-Blanc survived whilst there only a few
casualties from the Imo.
Over 1.600 people were killed instantly and 9,000 were injured, more than
300 of whom later died. Every building within a 2.5 km radius, some 12,000, were
destroyed or badly damaged, Hundreds of people watching the fire from their
homes were blinded when windows shattered when the blast wave occurred.
Overturned stoves and lamps started fires. Factories were destroyed and 55
railway workers were killed at the Richmond Railway Yards.
Loss of civilian life could have been worse were it not for the self-sacrifice
of Patrick Coleman, a railway dispatcher who warned incoming trains to halt
immediately saving countless lives; he died at his post.
Rescue work commenced immediately but hampering the effort was a severe
snow storm that set in the next day making life worse for those thousands of
people without any means of shelter.
As for Richard Lionel Pickering, at the time of the disaster he was the
second officer on the HMS Curaca which was engaged in loading horses at nearby
Pier 8 and killed (like so many others onboard vessels in the harbour) while
standing on the bow of the ship.
A report was released in February 1918 in relation to the legal enquiry into the
cause of the disaster, blaming the captain of the Mont-Blanc, her pilot and the
Commander in charge of the harbour’s defences as responsible for the collision.
Charges of manslaughter and negligence were brought against the men, but the
Nova Scotia Supreme Court found no evidence to support these claims. All had their
charges dropped and after the war it was ruled that both the Mont-Blanc and the
Imo were equally to blame for the collision. No party was ever convicted for
any crime or persecuted successfully for any actions leading up the explosion.
I’m sure all of this would have been a bitter blow to the Pickering family
who suffered greatly during the war years, losing 3 members of the family to
the war effort.
Richard is commemorated on his grandfather, James Pickering’s grave which
is located in the old Wesleyan section of the Cemetery. Besides Richard, his
cousins, Frank Hessell and Roland Taafe, were both killed in the fighting in
Pozieres in July and August of 1916. The family really did give their share “For
King and Country”.
The references I have used for this blog include Ancestry.com; Official
Commonwealth War Graves Commission site; Wikipedia; the Canadian Encyclopedia
and Roots Web amongst others.
The Halifax explosion effects were studied by Oppenheimer in strength calculations
for the atomic bomb.
The Halifax explosion was one of the world’s worst man-made disasters of
modern times. I find it hard to imagine the scale of destruction, let alone the
moment of the blast wave impact.
RIP Richard Lionel Pickering
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until next week
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