The Halifax Explosion - Nearer My God To Thee

[24chancer]

any more pics of mont blanc?

[sivadoc]

My grandmothers father was onboard IMO and survived. A professor named Joe Scanlon made a documentary about this incident, i think. Thanks!

[warhawkmedia]

i wanted to see the explosion -.-

[samurai2828]

EMBED disabled... ?? Why??

[katherinemch]

Intense! Makes me wonder what we're doing hoarding such evil stuff ...yet we never learn.

[kasteman1]

I'm just now seeing this for the first time. Incredible. To me it has a striking resemblance to the Hinckley, Minnesota firestorm of 1894. Not a concussion blast, but a mile high wall of flames just 23 years before this video. It sounds like a long time ago, but I bet it had a different tone for survivors that knew about both of these.disasters

I hope I've inspired someone to check it out the Hinckley fire. I

There's just so many forgotten super-tragedies out there.

[MrDakns]

@kasteman1 I didn't know of the Hinckley disaster.The 800 souls lost certainly rest in peace with the 1950 (official) that died in the Halifax blast.

[immabored1]

i like the map of bad damage and serve damage a few fires

[jgriffin2005]

My Grandma survived this explosion. She had scars all over her neck from glass shards. French door she was standing in front of shattered when the ship in the harbour exploded. They had her for dead, but she survived...thank God. If she hadnt my dad would never have been born as so I would not have either. She died in 1998 on her 100th birthday.

[equarg]

I read about this fact in a book ( a few pages of "random" history)..I was shocked. I never head of this before! I knew ever year Halifax ends a X-mas tree to the people of Boston every year..But I did not know why...May the victims RIP.

It was the largest Man made disaster in North America...Until 9/11/01.

Truly we are the most destructive beings on this earth...how do we save ourselves...from yourself?

[SvenTviking]

Whats really sas is that at the same time, on the Western Front, more people were dieing every day than this.

[EComp86]

we nuked our selves! damn still makes me sad.

[mycokerulesyayD]

this is actually so hard to watch,I'm from halifax N.S and it's my home town man,jsut to see they way it was then and the following day a snowstorm blows over and freezes the ones left for dead,is hard to watch. it's actualyl really REALLY sad. T_T

[OneWingedHeron53]

I'm studying this in history. We saw a video of it, well not exactly a video. Just a slideshow, narration video thing. Everyone was watching as well, just imagine all the people screaming and panicing. Windows shattered and tore people's eyes. Wonder if they all got deaf? Being so close to an explosion, if death had not taken them.

[bable4u]

Omg there is somethin creepy bout that song made me cry in the titanic movie to now I'm just thinking bout that floating picture frame kinda wierd this is so sad though

[meljpetra]

In Memory of Halifax, N.S. - Nov.6th/1917 !

[High0Duck]

Its sad to think of all the people that died! Like, I'm not sure if all you guys have brothers or sisters, but I'm pretty sure most of you have parents. Imagine, you're out of town, and you hear the blast, you come running but a soldier comes up to you and says "Sorry, but did you live over there?" You say yes and the soldier says "Everyone in that part of town was killed." You then realize your whole family was over there. You now have a little idea about how sad that was. SAD :(

[NovaScotiaCanadian]

now imagen if you were a soldier on the front and had a wife and kids at home thinkin there safe and you get the news of what happened and that your family was killed. That would hurt

[TeamRedz]

wouldnt it be kinda mean if the soldier just said, ur families dead. lol he should say, i'm terribly sorry but everyone there had died

[ganski72]

Isn't it crazy to think that this was the largest man made explosion on earth until the nuclear bomb was created.

[1j0k3]

What's crazy is the americans looking at the devastation caused by the explosion knowing an A bomb would cause an even greater amount of destruction, and still went forward with their plan to nuke Japan, not once, twice. Tells a great deal about how little humanity those bastards had. Fucking ww2

[TheEasyreader]

Much of the photography done during the time of the explosion was done by G.W. MacLaughlan, military photographer for the city of Halifax. His work is also available through the National Film Board. I can only imagine how his heart hurt for his city as he documented history. He was my great grandfather and one of Canada's earliest film makers.

[pepperytime]

My family was there that day- my grandparents, my mother and aunt, both infants- their house collapsed- they survived but my grandmother lost an eye. Later they emigrated to Boston.

[mrcanadaoso]

RIP to the 2,000 unfortunate people who all died that day in the explosion, they are all walking in glory in heaven

[wwedukesfan]

i live in halifax well in new glasgow the town bye it

[lasaro25]

This is a good summary of events and augments the piece I am reading about in a novel - amazing devastation... those poor people...

[naflodi]

Someone needs to invent trafics lights for mariners.

[wonderboy1987]

...and all started on 28th of june 1914 in Sarajevo...

[MeggieRunner]

Great Video..... truely a sad sight.

[grabba73]

all wars suck.only dumb people kill other people. smart peoples help others. Happy Easter

[absentmindedprof]

At 10:00 P.M. the day of the explosion a relief train was dispatched from Boston, Mass. with supplies and relief workers, including doctors and nurses. Delayed by wintery condiitons, the train arrived 30 hours later. To this day Nova Scotia presents Boston with a Christmas tree in gratitude. Every time I wee that tree, I say a prayer for all the victoms of that tragic day.

[absentmindedprof]

Uh, see, not wee. (I wish we could edit posts. I hate typoes.)

[SniperViper1000]

typos not typoes

[Gazzy1500]

WW1 sucks.

[hotchickfv]

This explosion crushed my great-grandmother's entire school.

But thankfully, somehow she didn't end up going to school that day because she was late.

if she wasn't late, i wouldn't be here right now.

[shenze11]

she wasn't late, she was skipping..lol...

[dylanob1]

Can't believe this immense tragedy isn't more widely know. Just sums up the fragility of human life and how all our lifes are resting on the wims of fate. "nearer my god to thee" i think is the most moving beautiful tune ever written. It brings home all the feelings evoked by this awful episode, that was all caused when a cargo for war caught fire and brought death and destruction to the innocents.

[YouJussGotCurbed]

my nana heard from pei

[placehood]

stop lieing your nana was deaf

[Methylcloroisothiaz1]

we did this in history today, the explosion was far worse than i could've imagined, u'd think your instinct is to go underwater or run as fast as possible away from it, but alas the citizens as I studied claimed to have starred at it like a fire works demonstration only to find out it explodes 8 seconds later

[lucashuybers]

i live in stewiacke nova scotia,about 60km away

[ArikaCullen]

From those in Canada- thank you Boston for helping everyone in the great time of need, we'll always be thankful to you guys

[momthn]

my moms grandmother lived 3 miles away and it shaterd everything in her house. The sad thing is that my great gandfather was in halifax when it happend. so now i live in halifax for the end of my great gandfather.

[mycokerulesyayD]

.... Beautiful video man,I live in halifax Nova Scotia...

[s1conrad]

Thank you for posting this. The stark images convey the horrors of war. The hymn is heart-wrenching.

[ichmalealsobinich]

A pretaste of Dresden and Hiroshima.

[mycokerulesyayD]

When I seen the thing with the names on it,and How many had died.....I Burst into tears...

[mycokerulesyayD]

I live in Halifax N.S

[helpnot98]

doin essay on it this really helps

[0MGZz]

same here...wasnt the LMO Belgian Ship not a Norwegian?

[danwk7]

The US Civil war was the worst war in american history... I dont think you can compare wars in terms of how hellish they are because they are all unique and all horrible.

[kinkboxer]

No disrespect intended, war is simply hell, and not just for soldiers or civilians, and this war was the first really hellish war, far worse than the US CIVIL WAR ever was. I am sad it happened and wish it hadn't, may they all R.I.P. - BTW I love Halifax, too!

[picassoui]

God Rest Them.

[kinkboxer]

what goes around comes around, tragic as it amy be... live by the sword and U die by the sword, innocent or not... war is hell. Ciao

[kakashigarg]

These were not all soldiers. Yes the ship was a munitions ship because Canada was obligated to fight in Europe. But this was on the shores of a peaceful Canadian city. Filled with innocent people.

Human life is precious, whether it be lost in war or lost because of an explosion in a serene coastal city.

Please do not disrespect my country and my people.

[pizzacutman]

Well said.

[royalcourtier]

@kakashigarg Canada wasn't "obligated" (I think you mean obliged) to fight in Europe. Unlike Yankee occupied North America, British North America fought on principle, and wasn't isolationist or pro-German.

[Cheeriko]

@royalcourtier Yankee occupied North America... -_- Do you mean the U.S.A? Home of Boston who rushed to Halifax's immediate aid and continued to directly assist Nova Scotia for the next FIVE+ YEARS in caring for the survivors? Does the Massachusetts-Halifax Relief Committee or the Massachusetts-Halifax Health Commission ring a bell? Though tragic, this was also an important moment in which Americans rushed to support their Canadian brothers & sisters. How about a little respect for the bond,eh?

[wootsilot]

@royalcourtier fuck you, the british north american act 1867 making canada seperate and no longer british so fuck you. I'm a Canuck not a brit k.

[dead001]

thats soo sad :(

[Hardyman101]

9000 people were injured. Many children.

This happened 90 years ago yesterday, think about it, yesterday was Dec 6, 2007

[curumina1]

unsure if my first comment had posted...wanting to give sincerest condolences to the souls departed...especially all the children, and the thousands injured who bravely endured...to rest, in peace and sing with the angels... Regards from NYC area.

[melissarhine1969]

My Grandmother Dorothy Delarosa Jackson was among the injured, she lost both of her parents,and nearly the entire family of Jackson's of which there were many (uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.)Had she not been in the basement of her school at the time of the explosion she too would have been killed.

Not only did this tragedy take my great grandparents, it took my grandmother Dorothy's youth, she grew up troubled, and haunted by the loss of everyone she had loved

Melissa

[DYBoulet2]

I offer you my sincerest condolences, from one Atlantic Canadian to another.

[pepperytime]

Hi Melissa, my grandparents were also there- their house collapsed on my grandmother and mu mother and aunt who were infants- my grandfather was in a school working- my GM lost an eye.They rarely spoke of that day. They all came to Boston in the 1920's. I am very sorry for the losses in your family. Perhaps our families knew each other. steve noel salem, NH. USA

[STUCASHX]

A heart rending video of an event i did not know about, thank you and well done.

[tcr2006]

You are very welcome.

[CULAVE]

Likewise, I knew relatively little about the event. This video is a well made and sombre reflection of that tragedy 90 years ago today. Condolences from 'a friend' in Britain.