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Halifax Explosion
Halifax Explosion
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The Halifax Explosion The Halifax Explosion was the most powerful pre-nuclear man-made explosion. It took place on during World War One in Halifax due to a collision of two ships. This disastrous event was the worst disaster in Canadian history, killing about 2000 people. The two participants, SS Mont-Blanc and the Norwegian ship SS Imo were both doing their part for the war effort, the former transporting explosives to the Western Front, the latter helping the Belgian refugees. The two ships met in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was the early morning of 6th December 1917, and just before 9 am, a small collision at 1 mph speeds occurred between the two. This collision, despite its scale, ignited benzole fastened to the deck of Mont-Blanc.
Word spread, and soon there was an audience as well. At 9:04 am, the fire had reached the holds and all 2,653 tonnes of explosives went up in a massive explosion. The explosion ripped through the city, killing 2,000 people and wounding another 9,000. Buildings were flattened within 2,5 km and some heavy pieces of Mont-Blanc were flown up to 5 km away. Hardly a window, tree or rail in the city was left intact. The explosion also vaporized water in the harbour and the water from the sea rushing in created a tsunami, which destroyed a Mi´kmaq community. During the first minutes after the explosion, the people believed that a German air raid was happening and the military took in defensive positions. This soon turned out to be false information. Today, the victims are remembered with memorial throughout Halifax. Picture: View of the destruction towards Halifax Harbour
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire not only affected the city of New York, but also the rest of the country. It forever changed the way our country would look at safety regulations in factories and buildings. The fire proved to America what can and will happen if we over-look safety regulations and over-crowd buildings. Unfortunately, 146 lives are taken before we fully understand this concept.
In the story “The shattered Sky”, the author, Kristin Lewis, helps the reader understand what it was like to live through the 1917 Explosion in Halifax Harbor. Lewis does this by grabbing the reader's attention and telling a particular story of someone who witnessed this tragic event. The author paints a picture which gives the reader a good understanding of what’s going on.
The boat was experiencing mechanical failure so the captain was going at 12 knots. This was against the advice given to him telling him to drive at 15 knots as to avoid and out speed russian submarines. Then at 9:16 the Wilhelm Gustloff was hit by 3 torpedoes. The ship had life rafts for 5000 people but most of the safety equipment was frozen and 9000 people died making it the largest maritime disaster in history beating out the titanic at 1500 people. Although most of the passengers were civilians it is not recognized as a war crime as 1000
On April 19, 1989, an explosion had occurred on the USS Iowa (Fulero & Wrightsman, 2009). One of the gun turrets had exploded killing 47 sailors in the process. The Navy had believed that the explosion was an intentional act of one sailor, Clayton Hartwig. The Naval Investigative Services (NIS) collected data to conduct an investigation. However, the Navy believed it was not appropriate to conduct the investigation, so they sought the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to conduct the investigation.
During the early 1900s industrial fires or accidents were common place; injuries and the loss of life may have outraged a few people but like all tragedies the outrage would pass quickly and it would back to business as usual. One such tragedy occurred on Saturday, March 25th, 1911, it was closing time at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and hundreds of employees were preparing to leave when a fire broke out on the 8th floor trapping Jewish and Italian immigrants, the majority of them young women. One hundred and forty-six people died in futile attempts to escape the burning ten story building. The main doors were during the day kept locked and only one doorway was opened for the hundreds of employees to file out, one by one, as their belongings were searched for pilfered goods. Blanck and Harris, owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, faced no consequences in regards to the unsafe working environment and the death of their employees. David von Drehle, in his book, Triangle, The Fire That Changed America, states that this particular fire changed the political and industrial landscape of the United States; it was no longer ignored by the working masses nor was it quickly dismissed by the public - the public consisted of a huge immigration population from Europe, the “transfer of labor power and brain power” that eventually lead to women’s striking in the garment industry and setting a precedent in New York (Triangle, 3, 4). Several groups like the moneyed, educated elite women, the muckrakers, the Labor Unions, and the political machines that controlled neighborhoods of New York pushed for political, economic, and legal changes to the industrial systems - in a democratic social time of reform – they were like much welcomed rain ...
The United States, land of the free and the home of the brave, has been through many historical shootings and bombings, Events like the Boston Marathon bombing is a great example of a horrific event that happened to the American soil. The Boston Marathon bombing was a terrorist attack that killed 3 innocent civilians and estimated an amount of 264 other innocent civilians were injured. The Boston Marathon occurred on Patriot's Day, the third Monday of April. The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by several cities in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States(Wikipedia). The Marathon is always held on Patriots’ Day. Also, it is the world’s oldest annual marathon. Amateur and professional runners from all around the world,
The Triangle Factory fire happened during the spring of 1911 in New York City. This tragic fire took the life of 146 factory workers. The majority of these were young women who had immigrated to the United States. These women who worked in the factories faced unsafe and hazardous conditions, often working long hours with not much pay. Being immigrants did not make their jobs any easier and they were often exploited for their race. There was a mindset they were paying for their time in the Land of Opportunity and this caused their wages to be so small.
1906 San Francisco Earthquake Jared E. Gatchalian San Jose State University. 1906 San Francisco Earthquake The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was one of the largest earthquakes in the United States. Even though it only lasted less than a minute, the damage and aftermath of the earthquake were disastrous. These damages were not just from the earthquake, but also from other hazards that occurred because of it. It also had a huge effect on the people living in San Francisco.
In his book Death in the Haymarket, James Green recounted the American labor movement in the late 1800s. Green’s main focus in his book was the bombing of Haymarket, which occurred on May 4 of 1886. Beginning as a peaceful protest promoting the eight-hour work day, a bomb was thrown causing devastating consequences. The Haymarket bombing almost ended the labor movement altogether, with unjustified trials and fear implemented amongst all Americans. However, it is important to know that the Haymarket bombing is not just an isolated event. From starting out with wage cuts, to people going on strike, labor unions starting up, to almost losing the labor movement altogether. The Haymarket bombing
The USA’s new weapon, the Hydrogen bomb, or H-bomb, was one of the most powerful weapons of the time. In 1950, the H-bomb was tested in the Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands (Cold War History). The reaction was so fierce, the explosion wiped the island off the face of the earth, leaving a crater on the ocean floor. The explosion reached a range of 25 square miles and had a mushroom cloud which dropped radioactive fallout on the surrounding areas (The Cold War Museum). This new weapon scared the Soviet Union into creating their own bombs.
“Little Boy” and “Fat Man”, the world’s first two nuclear bombs were dropped in two major cities in Japan: Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 6th and 9th of August 1945. This “experiment” by the United States Government completely demolished the two cities, killing over 150,000 people instantly and nearly 50,000 people died from aftermath as well as radiation.
Chernobyl was the greatest nuclear disaster of the 20th century. On April 26th, 1986, one of four nuclear reactors located in the Soviet Union melted down and contaminated a vast area of Eastern Europe. The meltdown, a result of human error, lapsed safety precautions, and lack of a containment vessel, was barely contained by dropping sand and releasing huge amounts of deadly radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere. The resulting contamination killed or injured hundreds of thousands of people and devastated the environment. The affects of this accident are still being felt today and will be felt for generations to come.
On April 17, 2013, the community of West, Texas, suffered a devastating and heartbreaking event in the evening hours. After a fire broke out inside the West Fertilizer plant, a massive explosion leveled the facility, caused millions of dollars in damage to surrounding buildings, and took the lives of over a dozen people. Sadly, the majority of those killed were volunteer firefighters who had responded to the fire and were unable to retreat to a safe distance before the explosion. Nearly 200 injuries were also reported to have been treated at local hospitals (Wood, 2013). The explosion was said to be caused by the combination of the fire and large stores of ammonium nitrate fertilizer at the plant.
The Halifax Explosion occurred in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. During that time, Halifax was booming, it was military town and had the largest population in Atlantic Canada; 50,000 people. On both sides of Halifax’s harbour, business and industry were booming as factories, foundries, and mills were the demands of a wartime economy. The explosion took place on the morning of December 6, 1917. SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship fully loaded with wartime explosives, was involved in a collision with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin. Approximately twenty minutes later, a fire on board the French ship ignited the ship’s explosive cargo, causing a disastrous explosion that devastated the surrounding areas of the Halifax harbour. Approximately 2,000 people were killed by debris, fires, and collapsed buildings, and it is estimated that nearly 9,000 others were injured. The devastating incident could have been prevented/minimized i if the Monte-Blanc had raised a flag, warning the people of their dangerous cargo, if the...
Todays lecture was “Stitched Together: Workers, Students & the Movement for Alta Garcia”. There were two films shown. One was a short film focusing on the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the second film was on the Movement for Alta Garcia. The overall purpose of this presentation was to show and raise awareness to viewers. Working conditions are extremely punitive and must be put to an end. American Labor Unions and labor laws have also drastically changed overtime.