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"Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbor making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys." -The last message of Patrick Vincent (Vince) Coleman.

The city of Boston sent so much support that we sent them back a giant 100ft spruce tree for Christmas, which to this day we still send every year as a sign of our friendship and gratitude. Kind of sad you forgot this part, it's one of the happier points of it all.

Bonus fact: The explosion also killed the logging industry in Halifax, one of the main industries prior to the war. The blast peppered the tree's with shrapnel and munitions. Mills stopped purchasing logs from the area due to the damage the shrapnel was causing to the saw blades.

I remember CBC had a "heritage minute" about this. It was of the telegrapher trying to get that message out to the trains, he gets an affirmation response right before the explosion.

I teach Canadian history to ESL learners in preparation for citizenship, and this is one of the most comprehensive explanations for the explosion I've seen. Thank you for rocking this one!! I'll definitely be sharing it in future classes.

As a Haligonian I'm well educated on the issue, Just here to cheers to Simon for featuring my hood!

I live 90 minutes from Halifax. I have seen that anchor thrown across the harbour into Dartmouth! Boston is Halifax's sister city, because after the explosion Bostonian's were some of the first responders to arrive! Every year we send a giant Christmas tree to Boston city hall to thank and commemorate them for their help!

My mother is from a Nova Scotia, during the Halifax explosion, almost my entire family was killed by that blast. The generation before my mother, there were 13 brothers and sisters, each of which had at least 10 children, and all of which were killed on that fateful day, nearly wiping outs the entire family. Luckily, my distant family lived on the outskirts of Halifax, and were able to survive the explosion, even though they did lose all of their homes, but if it were not for them, I wouldn’t be here right now. It’s funny how you can feel such powerful strong emotions for people that you never met, but people who are blood relatives. The last time I was in Halifax a few years ago I went to the cemetery, and was absolutely floored when I noticed that almost half of it’s, we’re all related to me. There I stood in the middle of a cemetery I have never been to before, surrounded by dead people I’ve never met before, but begin to weep uncontrollably, almost as if I could feel their pain, it’s really hard to put into words the emotions that came in to play when I stepped foot on to that cemetery. It was indeed A tragedy unlike anything our country has ever seen before, and the biggest pre-atomic explosion in human history at the time. I’m just glad that they’re finally beginning to talk about it, so that my family, and the thousands of others that were killed, are not forgotten, and are remembered, so thank you for this video, all those that died that day deserve to be remembered, because one way or the other they were victims of World War I, as had the war not been going on this would’ve never happened, this was the price Canada paid for doing everything we could to help in the war effort, please don’t ever forget it. And a big thank you to the people of Boston, who literally put their entire lives on hold, and headed on mass to Halifax, to help treat the wounded, and begin rebuilding the city via countless donations from all over Boston, we owe them so much, and they have my eternal gratitude.

I appreciate that you mentioned the fate of the local Miꞌkmaq and residents of Africville. Double tragedies that haven't been addressed properly.

being a resident of Halifax, let alone living in the narrows (nearly inline with where the explosion took place, 300m from the blast point) and a big Simon fan, I approve of this topic, didn't realize it was this internationally known,

when i was 12 years old i found a rusty live pineapple grenade from the magazine explosion. i decided to take it home and show my mom. chaos ensued after that and bomb squad was called . got a few radio interviews from that one and contributed a few gray hairs to my moms head im sure. fun stuff

Ships: "Well I'm not going to move out of the way!" Ships 10 minutes later: "Shit quick move out of the way!"

And in recognition of the help sent to us by the good people of Boston, we send them a large Christmas tree to be lit in the city since I believe 1971.

Halifax local here, thanks for covering this! Extra points for mentioning some of the injustices like Africville.

Watching this in Halifax! 🙌

I lived in Halifax in the 90's. In most of the older cemeteries, particularly one downtown you can see tombstones blackened and pushed away from the harbour by 45 degrees or more. The first help arrived from Boston. In honour of this every Christmas Nova Scotia sends its largest Fir tree to Boston which is used at city hall. There are plenty of documentaries on the Explosion, Simon could only touch on some of the details in a 16 min video, most documentaries are at least an hour long.

My father was named after my Great Uncle who died in the Explosion. Had a Grand Uncle who was blinded from glass during the explosion. That tragic event birthed the Canadian Institute for the Blind. Also, created the United Church of Canada. There are several good books on the Event and the cities history.

Again, you have just shown why I love your content so much. As a Canuck, you warmed my heart with the honest, sometimes uncomfortable past that needs to be showcased just as much as the good that was done. Living in the area has been a learning of history and I would not trade it for the world. I did want to let you know, that since 1968, my dear friends' father and the company that he worked for has sent a giant tree to the city of Boston as a thank you because they were the first to respond with help and aid after the explosion. When you get to be part of history, no matter how small, it makes you feel.... well honoured. As with my tag line from where I live... Hugs from Halifax

As a Haligonian I just want to say I think you did a great job on this video. Well done

Thank you for doing a video about a Canadian city! Halifax is gorgeous, my husband also used to live there. You should do one about Louisburg, it has some awesome history as an early French settlement, and played a key role in the early wars between he French and English. It was taken by general Wolfe. Twice. The same way. By dragging cannons through impassible swamps. Please do a video about Louisburg!

Burned into my memory. "Coleman! There's no time! The Train is coming in towards Pier 6 I've got to warn them! C'mon Vince! C'mon! There are 700 people aboard i've got to stop it! C'mon C'mon acknowledge!" Oh those Heritage Minutes.

3 things. 1This explosion was an inspiration for the Manhattan project. 2 My great grandfather was a surgeon, he operated for 36 hrs on a kitchen table. He had to decide who could be saved and who he would let die. 3 Also there was a jogger who was decapitated his body was found 50 yards from his head.

Great video, I'm from Halifax, and had family members who survived the explosion. My grandfather was blown off his bicycle on hos way to school, my great uncle lost an eye, he worked as a guard on one of the trains in Halifax.

What a fantastic video. Thank you Simon and crew! On my Dad's side, his parents were both Irish immigrants who landed in Halifax. Grandad came for work as a coal miner, Granny's family were IRA and on the run from the British. Both served in the Royal Canadian Army during WWII- Grandad was front line infantry, Granny was a drill sergeant. They had settled in Glace Bay but after the war found their way to Montreal where my father was born. Like so many Canadians, Halifax is the point of entry for my family's origin story (except for on my mom's side, who is half Northern Irish and half Odawa First Nation). Halifax is a beautiful city, and I recommend anyone traveling through Nova Scotia to spend some time there.

As someone living in Halifax for 10+ years, I've spent much time learning about the city's history. I am really happy that you mentioned Africville and the Mi'kmaq communities affected by the explosion, and how the black and Indigenous communities were and still are treated by Nova Scotia.

I literally work on the Halifax waterfront , you can see where the explosion happened from my work... it’s a beautiful city now

I went to the Alexander Keith's brewery and they have pictures of all of the coffins brought into handle all of the bodies from the explosion on the dock. The volumes of coffins was astounding. Halifax is my favorite place in the world with the beautiful harbour front and being surrounded by so many small fishing villages. I spent many summers in Bedford and it's a beautiful place. If you can go see the citadel and York Redoubt I would definitely encourage it.

My great grandfather was an electrician whom helped rebuild Halifax. Lived there my self for a while. Beautiful province.

I watch all of your videos on all of your channels on the car or while doing dishes. I just moved to Halifax ahead of schedule because of covid, so I've been watching your videos most days. How exciting that your latest is about my new city!!

1:15 - Chapter 1 - Birth of a port city 2:35 - Chapter 2 - Wartime halifax 4:05 - Chapter 3 - Prelude to disaster 7:35 - Mid roll ads 9:05 - Chapter 4 - The explosion 12:40 - Chapter 5 - Reconstruction 14:10 - Chapter 6 - Recovery

Keeping with the theme of Canada and WWI, Vimy Ridge is certainly an interesting chapter in history and spot of French soil.

Whenever Simon says "Dartmouth" I think Trailer Park Boys

I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia...thanks so much this video....the story isn’t as known as it should be.... thanks once again

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” ― Voltaire

To any other Canadians here, do you remember the old "Heritage Canada" video short on tv which was about 2 minutes and was about the explosion and the railway worker Simon mentioned that saved so many lives at the cost of his own by staying to get the message to the inbound train? I always liked that video and many others.

Never thought my city would end up here...

OH CANADA! The house I live in was built in response to the Halifax explosion. The shockwaves of the explosion were strong enough to bust windows in the town of Truro 100km north. (Heard on the centennial anniversary CBC radio special from a local at the time.) Another odd fact is that the Canadian National Institute of the Blind, a social welfare program to help visually impaired people nationwide, was founded to help the large influx of blind people blinded by the explosion. As well as I am Mi'kmaq and have heard the story many times how this was the first major explusion of our people away from European settlements in the area, and are are almost forced to live on reservations to this day.

My grandfather was there, and told me he saw a man get decapitated by a piece of shrapnel. The city of Lynn, MA, filled with emigrants from Nova Scotia working in the shoe mills, sent massive amounts of relief supplies. In appreciation, every year since Halifax sends the city of Lynn a large Fraser Fir to be the Christmas tree in the town commons.

you also forgot about how halifax and Boston, Boston authorities learned of the disaster via telegraph that day , and quickly organized and dispatched a relief train around 10:00 PM that night, to assist survivors. In December 1918 Halifax sent a large Christmas tree to Boston as a token of thanks to the citizens of Boston for their help in recovery from the 1917 Halifax Explosion. The Christmas tree tradition began again in 1971, and every year since then the people of Nova Scotia have sent a large evergreen tree to Boston. The tree is lit in the Boston Common throughout the Christmas season.

"the crew rode for shore lest the burn or they drown, they cried 'save your souls' as they ran through the town, but their warnings were nothing but strange foreign sounds, for the townsfolk no French had they learned"

In modern times, we tend to relate explosive destructive power to the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. However, at the end of WW2, to convey the destructive might of the atomic age, they bombs explosive power was related to people through the destruction at Halifax. Everything prior to ww2 and post Halifax used the Halifax explosion as a measure of destructive might.

As far as I know this was the most powerful explosion prior to the detonation of atomic bombs. It is not very well-known outside of the maritime provinces but the maritime museum here in Halifax keeps an extensive catalog of items thrown kilometers and shrapnel-embedded objects. I would be curious to learn more about the anti-submarine nets and how they were deployed.

Hello from Halifax! so cool to see a video about my city.

I live in Halifax, born in Cape Breton. love this channel. Love seeing a local story. There's a church you can you a figure outline burned in the glass of a window from the explosion

Simon would you be willing to do an episode on Africville? My grandfather grew up there and the bulldozed it

love seeing my city talked about, thanks Simon!!

This is the most detailed retelling i've heard, this even beat my Halifax school history class, didnt they have to develop new medical procedures to deal with the amount of glass injurys?

I'm going to tell my family story for this. My great-grandmother, who lived in Tufts Cove, Dartmouth, went outside to watch the fire burning. She was holding her four week old baby(my grandmother) in her arms. A man(later found out to be one of the crew of the Mont Blanc) came frantically running up the hill, screaming in french. My great-grandmother didn't understand, so, the frenchman, in an effort to get her to follow him, grabbed the baby and ran. Of course, my great-grandmother ran after him. That act likely saved both of them as the spot they were standing got hit by debris.

DUDE i watch all your videos. its WILD you made one about my little home town!

Halifax represent! I live in dartmouth and I always love hearing Halifax mentioned in history.

shout out from NB, Canada

Very cool episode on my hometown! A note on the WWII explosion, the area surrounding Magazine Hill in Dartmouth, where the explosion occurred has been undeveloped for decades since, as they've never swept the debris field for unexploded ordinance. A highway is currently being developed through the area, and ordinance experts are assigned to work with surveyor and construction crews to check before anything that can go boom gets dug up.

Yo I live in Nova Scotia! I was so excited when I saw this because we never get talked about.

It's so crazy to have a video about the place where you live! Great stuff!

Any Canadian growing up in the 1990s and 2000s would remember Vince Coleman, as there was a Canadian history short about the Halifax Explosion and him shown during commercials. On a side note, ever since 1971, The Boston Christmas Tree has been gifted to the city every year by the people of Nova Scotia for their prompt assistance in the rescue and recovery efforts in the wake of the Explosion.

I see my fellow Haligonians posting too. So great to see the city featured. Thanks for including the info on both Africville and the Mi'kmaq Community. Another point about Africville and the explosion is that the community was relatively protected from the blast due to a hill that protected them from the full force of the blast. So, as a result many survivors ended up there for help in the aftermath - which they received. However, when the time came for the residents of Africville to get the help they deserved, they did not receive support (as you mentioned). Great episode! Thanks 😊

It's weird seeing a video about somewhere so close to me

ay my boy i live like what 20 min away from the halifax i might just go down later to the waterfront see whats goin on maybe even get a beer

Glad you brought up Africville and the Miꞌkmaq. Definitely a lesser known part of Halifax history which shouldn't be forgotten.

I was just reading about this yesterday and thought man Simon should do a episode about this

Weird coincidence this was posted 3 weeks prior to Beirut's devastating explosion in 2020

Every Canuck of a certain age has seen the Heritage Minute on CBC

Nice to see my city in one of these :)

Now do St. Johns, Newfoundland was it's own contry at one point, and theirs a LOT of history there

My great aunt was a baby in her crib at the time of the explosion. When she was pulled out. She had a few scratches. That was all.

As someone who was born and raised in Halifax. I appreciate you doing this on Geographics. It's a story we are taught in school. But not so much in the rest of Canada. Not at all outside Canada.

I am from Nova Scotia and this story is well known to everyone who is from here, I loved how you showed it but you missed two important parts that I think people will find interesting. The first, one of the first places to help Halifax was the city of Boston (this is soooo important to Nova Scotians), they sent a relief train at 10:00 pm to help, a mear 13 h after the explosion. Still to this day, we remember what Boston did for Halifax and Nova Scotia and to thank them, Nova Scotia sends a Christmas tree to Boston (absolutely massive one) every year. The bond between Nova Scotia and Boston is extremely strong and we cherish it. Second, even though most of Halifax was destroyed, the Old Town Clock on Citadel Hill (a clock on an old British fort) was not destroyed. It has been pictured with buildings destroyed all around it and is considered one of the most iconic symbols of Halifax. That clock is something I found growing up to be very interesting about this story. I hope that people find those interesting, there is so much history about the Halifax explosion and still to this day we spend so much time in school learning about this and hearing about this event, except, this is the first I am hearing of the memorials.

Haligonian here, nice to see this event get the Geographics treatment.

I've been to Halifax once, I was doing a roadtrip across the east coast of Canada. I bought a lil bit of 'wacky tabaccy' when I landed in Toronto, but because of Canada's liberal weed policy it I ran out in Nova Scotia, I just looked for the closest dispensary on my phone using Tim Horton's wifi and found out Halifax had the closest one. Chronic Re-Leaf I believe it was called. Bought some Rockstar Haze and Gorilla Glue. I was surprised of the quality, I haven't seen dank that good in years (And I live a 2 hour drive from Amsterdam). And that's the story of my only 5min long visit to Halifax, Completely irrelevant? Yes! But game recognizes game so I wrote this just to compliment any one here from Halifax for their superb dank.

As another who grew up dartmouth and living in Halifax, the video was very well put together. Only other interesting factoid the viewers may have connected with was the amount of support we received from Boston, and how we still thank them yearly with the "best" Christmas tree

I live about 100 miles, 161 kilometres, from Halifax, Nova Scotia so, of course, I've heard the stories of the explosion many times. I just wanted to thank you for presenting it in such a respectful, concise and accurate manner. Halifax is quite the city now and manages to combine modern and historic worlds. It is well worth visiting if you ever have the opportunity. Thanks again, I enjoy all of your work.

Seeing my work on the pic of a Geographics just took two weeks off my life...

Haligonian representing. RIP to the shooting vics from a few months ago.

Well isn't this eery , with Beirut happening just 3 weeks after. 2900T vs 300T TNT equiv

As a Canadian, thank you so much for making a video about the Halifax Explosion. I honestly think that the Halifax Explosion is one of the most overlooked disasters in terms of war casualties. The thought that it was the biggest explosion before Hiroshima just boggles my mind.

Just read the title, and immediately thought about the Mont Blanc-Imo collision. By hell was I not wrong.....

Ayyyye! Favourite host covering my favorite city? Nicee

Thank you for this Simon . I was born and raised in Halifax and it is still my home. I've heard and re-heard this story countless times throughout my life. It was taught in school, featured in local and national media and even some of the oldest members of my family told me about their experiences on that day when I was a child . Your presentation is clear , factual and entertaining. Well done sir.

Fun fact: The SS Imo was previously a white star line ship. White star line is the company behind the Titanic or Olympic Class liners. The imo is also now wrecked in the Falklands

"Every listening of Shaggy's Mr Boombastic is followed by a moment of silence..."

"Who's responsible for this??!" "Meh... Just blame Germany. I mean, we're going to be blaming them for everything else once the war is over anyway, so..."

I'm a fairly new subscriber and I'm from Dartmouth, we learned about the Halifax explosion in school and took multiple trips out into Halifax to view the memorials, one of the cooler but also darker ones is a window of a church in Halifax, it has the shadow of a woman imprinted on the window said to have been burnt on from the explosion, they say they have changed the window multiple times and yet the shadow still remains. There are some cool stories to come out of such a horrific incident I've heard a few from survivors that have since passed, overall really good coverage, nice to hear the place that no one knows about mentioned a few times lol, keep up the good work

Love the videos ! Up to date all the time !, could we maybe see more videos based around Canada? :)

where i live now would have been leveled by this.

novascotiastrong

Exceptionally well done. Born and raised in Halifax. It is so rare to find a story done on something you have intimate knowledge of done with such care and zero errors. Kudos

Great episode. Kind've wish these were a little longer. @Geographics between this channel and your others I really envoy your content and learning about things and events I otherwise wouldn't have even known have happened. Keep up the great work and yaa (little longer please these are great to listen to and watch).

Simon you would make a seriosuly great National Geographic narrator. They have no idea what they're missing out on.

actually, the crew of the Mt. Blanc was heard by many on shore ... they only spoke french ... in an English-speaking city.

Nice one, Simon! Hello from Halifax!

I asked for this yesterday!!!!! And here it is! Thank you Simon!

When you're from Halifax

Hey neat! I live here!

After the explosion, my hometown of Boston sent a lot of materials to help Halifax rebuild, and ever since then, Halifax sends us a Christmas tree every year! It's really sweet!

I had a relative living in Halifax at this time. His account of the explosion is fascinating.

Halifax - the original "Boom Town!"

I've been watching too much business blaze now geographics Simon just feels weird

I have some Interesting stories... First the house my family lives in now survived the Halifax explosion. When we moved in you could still see the cracked walls where the explosion pushed on corner of the house up. The house itself dates to 1880. Second, My Great grandmother survived the explosion. She was looking out the upper window of her home and saw the ships on fire. She picked up her less than a year old son into her arms. The explosion happened the plate glass flew in at her, she had bent over to protect her baby, the window cut her forehead, back of her neck and all of her arms. She walked outside and sat down on her door step holding her baby in shock. Two soldiers came by and attended to her. She was crying and thought her baby was dead, because of all her blood that was on him. He was in shock from the explosion and wasn't moving or crying. She couldn't hear what they were saying to her and she wouldn't let them see her baby. When she finally could hear them. They took the baby and found out he was perfect and not a scratch on him! Her motherly instincts had saved him. He crib where he was lying just seconds before was covered in large shards of glass. He would have been killed for sure. ( He grew up and was killed in action in the Second World War) She lived to be in her 90's and whenever she scratched her arms or the back of her neck... powdered glass would come out of her skin. Thirdly, My grandmother was 5 years old when the second explosion happened. She told us stories about how people from the North End of Halifax were moved to the COMMONS ( a large open area by Citadel Hill) to be protected from any blasts that could come from the Ammunition magazine being on fire. She as the youngest of 9 children at the time and told about how her mother was mad at her children for running around in the tall grass of the field. But my grandmother's funniest story of this night was about a poor blind man, who was put into a hollow hole to keep him safe. He kept saying he wanted out but no one would let him out. My grandmother told us many things about the Halifax explosion and would tell us which seniors at her work were affected by it. You would see purple scars on their bodies from the burns they received. Or who was deaf or blinded. Or missing limbs. She also told of one man who was at work when the explosion happened and when he finally figured out where his home actually was... poor soul, he could only find body parts of his wife and 6 children, which he could fit into one large black pot. One of her uncles and her grandfather were undertakers, they worked both with the victims of the Explosion and from the Titanic a few years later. The town clock at City Hall, the side that faces North was blasted and melted stopped at 9:05 when the explosion happened... you can still see the clock face now. It will forever be that way in memory of this Disaster.

Thanks