The Halifax Explosion was a disaster that occurred in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on the morning of 6 December 1917. SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship laden with high explosives, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin. A fire on board the Mont-Blanc led to a massive explosion that devastated the Richmond district of Halifax. 1,782 people were killed, largely in Halifax and Dartmouth, by the blast, debris, fires, or collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured. The blast was the largest human-made explosion at the time, releasing the equivalent energy of roughly 2.9 kilotons of TNT (12 TJ).
The 1947 Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred on Wednesday, April 16, 1947, in the Port of Texas City, Texas, United States, at Galveston Bay. It was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history and one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions. A mid-morning fire started on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp and detonated her cargo of about 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate. This started a chain reaction of fires and explosions in other ships and nearby oil-storage facilities, ultimately killing at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City fire department.
SS Richard Montgomery was an American Liberty cargo ship built during World War II. She was named after Richard Montgomery, an Irish officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War.
USS Mississinewa (AO-59) was the first of two United States Navy ships of the name. She was a T3-S2-A1 auxiliary oiler of the US Navy, laid down on 5 October 1943 by the Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, Inc., Sparrows Point, Maryland; launched on 28 March 1944; sponsored by Miss Margaret Pence; and commissioned on 18 May 1944. Mississinewa was commanded by Captain Philip G. Beck. The ship is named for the Mississinewa River of eastern Indiana.
Sitakund was a Norwegian motor oil tanker owned by Tschudi & Eitzen was sailing from Wilhelmshaven to Libya on 20 October 1968, when three explosions occurred, one of which tore a large hole in the side of the vessel. Sitakund burst into flames. Three crew members died in the explosion and subsequent fire, while the remaining 31 crew were treated in hospital for burns.
USS Weight (ARS-35) was a Weight-class rescue and salvage ship acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her task was to come to the aid of stricken vessels. This narrative provides a detailed account of such a task conducted under battle conditions.
SSMont-Blanc was a freighter built in Middlesbrough, England in 1899 and purchased by the French company, Société Générale de Transport Maritime (SGTM). On Thursday morning, 6 December 1917, she entered Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada laden with a full cargo of highly volatile explosives. As she made her way through the Narrows towards Bedford Basin, she was involved in a collision with SS Imo, a Norwegian ship. A fire aboard the French ship ignited her cargo of wet and dry 2300 tons of picric acid, 500 tons of TNT, and 10 tons of guncotton. The resultant Halifax Explosion levelled the Richmond District and killed approximately 2,000 people, and the injured may have been approximately 9,000.
Esso Brussels was a commercial oil tanker built for the Esso Oil company in 1959. She was involved in a collision in 1973 in which thirteen of her crew perished. She was rebuilt and sailed under various other names until being scrapped in 1985.
Over the years, a number of ships have foundered off Southport. For the purposes of this article, the Southport area shall be considered as Southwards from Lytham St Annes to Freshfield.
Acushnet – a steel-hulled revenue cutter – was launched on 16 May 1908 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; sponsored by Miss Alayce Duff; and commissioned at Baltimore on 6 November 1908. She saw service as a United States Revenue Cutter Service cutter, a U.S. Navy fleet tug, and as a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. She was taken out of service 8 January 1946.
Sea Witch was a MARAD Type C5-S-73b container ship built at the Bath Iron Works shipyard for American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines. She operated in the Atlantic trades for five years. So engaged on the evening of June 1, 1973, the vessel was involved in a disastrous collision with the oil tanker Esso Brussels in lower New York Harbor and was damaged so badly that she was removed from active service.
SS Imo was a steamship that served in passenger and freight trades and later as a whaling supply ship. Christened SS Runic, she was bought, sold and renamed numerous times during her career. In 1917, Imo was under Norwegian registry chartered by the Belgian Relief Commission to bring supplies to war-ravaged Europe.
SS Wandle was a British coastal collier owned and operated by the proprietors of Wandsworth gas works in south-west London. She was a flatiron, meaning that she had a low-profile superstructure, hinged funnel, hinged or telescopic mast and folding wheelhouse to enable her to pass under low bridges on the tidal River Thames upriver from the Pool of London. She was in service from 1932 to 1959 and survived a number of enemy attacks in the Second World War.
Stella Maris was a steamship built in 1882 as the Royal Navy gunboat HMS Starling and converted to steam tug in 1905. Stella Maris played a major role in the events of the Halifax Explosion in 1917.
'Sugar Lighters in the Johnstone River, Queensland' In the early days of settlement at Geraldton [now Innisfail], the Johnstone River had a sand bar at the mouth and several shallow stretches in the river. This caused difficulties for shipping. Large ships had to either anchor at the mouth of the river and wait for a suitable high tide so that the bar could be crossed or anchor in Mourilyan Harbour to the south. The problem of large ships being unable to enter the river made it difficult for bags of sugar from the district sugar mills to be transported to southern refineries. To overcome this problem, shallow draft steam ships and lighters [often called sugar lighters] were used to carry the bags of sugar down the Johnstone and out to meet larger ships standing off the coast. or in nearby ports, mainly Cairns. These larger ships then transported the cargo to its destination. These small ships became known as "The Mosquito Fleet".
SS Binnendijk was a Dutch steel cargo ship lost off Portland Bill in the English Channel in 1939. The ship has become locally known as 'The Benny' and its wreck remains a dive site.
Erg was a vessel built and owned by Halifax Steamship Ltd. in 1915. She was used to ferry workers across the harbour to vessels under repair during the Second World War. Erg was sunk in the Halifax Harbour three times and is currently located in the Bedford Basin.
MV Roger Blough is a ship built in 1972 by American Ship Building Company in Lorain, Ohio. She serves as a lake freighter on the Great Lakes. The ship is owned by Great Lakes Fleet, Inc. and is named for the former chairman of U.S. Steel, Roger Blough.
In June 1966, the British oil tanker MV Alva Cape caught fire twice in New York Harbor, first in a collision with tanker SS Texaco Massachusetts, and next while unloading cargo, and was subsequently scuttled offshore. Thirty-tree people were killed in the collision, the resulting spill of its cargo of naphtha and major fire that ensued. Four more were killed about two weeks later while the emptied tanks were being inerted with carbon dioxide in a misguided attempt to make the damaged vessel safe for transport.
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