1917 Halifax Explosion...

THE WILMINGTON DISPATCH, Wilmington, North Carolina, December 6, 1917

* The Halifax Harbor explosion (1st report)
* Mont-Blanc

This 8 page newspaper has a  three column headline on the front page: "HALIFAX WRECKED BY EXPLOSION  OF A MUNITIONS VESSEL" with subheads. (see photos)

Usual browning with some margin wear and tear but no text loss, otherwise good. Should be handled with care.

 

wikipedia notes: The Halifax Explosion was a Canadian disaster which occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, at 9:04:35 a.m. local time in Nova Scotia's Halifax Harbour.

The waterfront areas of the City of Halifax and its neighbouring community of Richmond, along with the waterfront area of the cross-harbour Town of Dartmouth were devastated when the Frenchmunitions ship Mont-Blanc collided in a narrow section of the harbour with the Norwegian ship Imo chartered to carry Belgian relief supplies.

The Mont-Blanc was inbound to the harbour that morning while the Imo was outbound. At the time, two-way passage by vessels through the narrow section of the harbour (called "The Narrows") connecting the Atlantic Ocean and outer harbour with the Bedford Basin was unrestricted, so long as vessels followed established collision regulations.

In the aftermath of the collision, Mont-Blanc caught fire and exploded, killing about 2,000 people and injuring thousands more. The explosion caused a tsunami, and a pressure wave of air that snapped trees, bent iron rails, demolished buildings, grounded vessels, and carried fragments of the Mont-Blanc for kilometres.

This was the largest artificial explosion until the first atomic bombtest explosion in 1945 and still ranks highly among the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions.