The Halifax Horror

[Flintlock76]

It was 103 years ago today that the French merchant ship Mont Blanc,  loaded with munitions bound for the Western Allies during the First World War, caught fire after a collision with the Norwegian ship Imo  and exploded in Halifax harbor with the force of a tactical nuclear bomb, devastating the city of Halifax NS.

Why am I bringing this up?  Well, there is a railroad connection to the story, and a Christmas connection as well.  Independent historian (and a nice young man) Mr. Brandon F explains as he tells the story in this ten minute video.

Lest we forget.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6X8CcYD-Og  

 

[BaltACD]

Flintlock76

It was 103 years ago today that the French merchant ship Mont Blanc,  loaded with munitions bound for the Western Allies during the First World War, caught fire after a collision with the Norwegian ship Imo  and exploded in Halifax harbor with the force of a tactical nuclear bomb, devastating the city of Halifax NS.

Why am I bringing this up?  Well, there is a railroad connection to the story, and a Christmas connection as well.  Independent historian (and a nice young man) Mr. Brandon F explains as he tells the story in this ten minute video.

Lest we forget.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6X8CcYD-Og  

The handling of explosive materials in in the first half of the 20th Century was far from safe and secure.  Baltimore Harbor had the Alum Chine disaster of 1913 as the vessel exploded as dynamite was being transloaded from liters while at anchor.  The 1947 Texas City explosion of the sodium nitrate cargo of the SS Grandcamp that spread to the chemical and refinery industries clustered arount the port.

All things considered - things have not been all that safe ever since right up to today.

[Overmod]

BaltACD

Baltimore Harbor had the Alum Chine disaster of 1913 as the vessel exploded as dynamite was being transloaded from a lighter while at anchor.

Some interesting things here.  The guy who supposedly caused the explosion (banging on half-frozen dynamite with a baling hook!) survived, as did someone standing next to him.  Read the interesting details here:

https://cite.case.law/f/219/827/

The 1947 Texas City explosion of the sodium nitrate cargo of the SS Grandcamp that spread to the chemical and refinery industries clustered arount the port.

Not sodium nitrate (or nitrite either) -- ammonium nitrate, as in the recent warehouse explosion in the Middle East.  Don't forget the adjacent High Flyer, which also detonated a few hours later.  Who tries to put out a likely peroxide oxidizer fire accelerated by heat with steam???

And then there are the accidents that were 'helped along' -- like the Black Tom explosion just before Halifax.  Interestingly proven to have been German sabotage ... the Germans themselves apparently confirming it.

 

 

[Erik_Mag]

BaltACD

 The 1947 Texas City explosion of the sodium nitrate cargo of the SS Grandcamp that spread to the chemical and refinery industries clustered arount the port.

My possibly faulty recollection was that the cargo was ammonium nitrate in prilled form. The wax coating on the AN acted as a fuel increasing the force of the blast along with the ship also carrying small arms ammunition. Once the source of the explosion was figure, some bright guys thought that AN had a great future as a blasting agent.

As dicussed on at least one other thread, fire and large quantities of AN don't mix, as was most recently demonstrated in Beirut.

A railroad related incident occurred when a tank car of nitromethane exploded leading to investigation for use as an explosive.

[Overmod]

Erik_Mag

My possibly faulty recollection was that the cargo was ammonium nitrate in prilled form.

You're correct; the pellets had been coated to keep moisture from caking the contents -- but probably not enough to prevent some moisture from affecting the chemistry... one of the reported comments from a surviving stevedore was that the bags had been abnormally 'warm' when loading.   Someone indicated that the use of steam (which would have been appropriate for a fuel fire, but not a wax fire with a large unstable amount of oxidizer present!) accelerated things by generating N20, but I have not worked through the prospective reaction.

Apparently matters progressed to billowing clouds of NO and NO2 coming out of the hatch openings before detonation -- I think I would have been miles away at that point working up to transonic velocity rather than watching the fire...

Wax would have been nice and soft by then, perfect for a little accelerated combustion boost.