Changuinola - Halifax Explosion

[Randi]

I feel a bit cheated here that I did not get the page for 6 December 1917, having got the pages either side! So I guess that date must already have been transcribed three times. Having checked the Forum index, although there is a thread about the incident, it doesn't look like the relevant log pages from one of the other ships ever got posted.

So if this is 7 December:
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ADM5 ... -087_0.jpg

and this is 5 December:
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ADM5 ... -086_0.jpg

then I'm hoping this will be 6 December:
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ADM5 ... -086_1.jpg


Edit: I know it's cheating, but it seems to have worked - pity it's so difficult to read! I have put the page into my PhotoStudio program and this is what I have made out so far:

8.50 Explosion in docks followed by fires
9.15 Cutters away with officers ~ to help ashore
9.50 Stretcher Party ~ ashore
1.00 Landed 18 marines. Gig called away.
1.45 Gig returned
2.40 Cutter - left for shore. Trawler CD15 came alongside
3.40 Trawler left
3 Boats axes lost ashore by rescue party & one ~
8.40 Gig sent out to "Old Colony" with stores for survivors

This all sounds very understated compared to Odessa7's post back in November: "I've been following the HMS Highflyer. The ship's name rang a bell with me and I realized that this vessel was in the harbor when the Mont Blanc exploded in Halifax on December 6, 1917. I forged through two months of log entries until I hit the fateful date. I've never seen a log so full of writing. They lost Commander Triggs and his boat crew, plus two other men on deck. Not to mention the 2,000 dead in Halifax. The log takes up two pages and I've managed to splice it together--how do you post a picture of it here?" Shame the link never got posted!

I've been following the HMS Highflyer. The ship's name rang a bell with me and I realized that this vessel was in the harbor when the Mont Blanc exploded in Halifax on December 6, 1917. I forged through two months of log entries until I hit the fateful date. I've never seen a log so full of writing. They lost Commander Triggs and his boat crew, plus two other men on deck. Not to mention the 2,000 dead in Halifax. The log takes up two pages and I've managed to splice it together--how do you post a picture of it here?

Cdr Triggs and three other men all received the Albert Medal, now the George Cross - half way down http://www.naval-history.net/WW1MedalsBr-AM.htm

Gordon

As HMS Highflyer is now complete, I've managed to find the two pages:

http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ADM% ... 0061_0.jpg
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ADM% ... 0061_1.jpg

but how on earth you can make any sense of what has happened, with the page split in two like that, I don't know.

Use Matteo's http://owtools.scienceontheweb.net/owto ... rFull.html

[Randi]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

This is the Wikipedia page for the Explosion, which mentions both
HMS Knight Templer & Calgarian as being present and helping with medical aid at the time.

To honor the Navy dead, I looked at Naval-History.net. This does not mention the dead on foreign ships nor the horrific death toll on shore of civilians.

AMMUNITION SHIP EXPLOSION AT HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA

Curaca, steamship
ALDERMAN, George E, Bombardier, RMA, RMA 10119

Highflyer, old light cruiser
DOWLING, James, Able Seaman, 222641 (Dev)
JONES, Robert, Engine Room Artificer 1c, 270699
KELLY, Francis, Stoker 1c, K 21331
MURPHY, Joseph, Able Seaman, J 2808
PREWER, Samuel D, Able Seaman, 236276 (Dev)
ROGERS, Edwin B, Stoker 1c, K 33240
RUFFLES, James R, Ty/Lieutenant, RNR
RUSHEN, Claude E, Leading Seaman, 234241 (Dev)
TRIGGS, Tom K, Commander

Margaret (RCN), patrol vessel, Canadian waters
DUNN, William P, Petty Officer, RNCVR, VR 4505

Musquash (RCN), tug/patrol vessel
BREEN, James I, Able Seaman, RNCVR, VR 274
BREEN, Samuel G, Stoker 2c, RNCVR, VR (not listed)
LEMIEUX, Pontleon, 2nd Engineer, RNCVR
PIEROWAY, Edward, Boy, Newfoundland RNR, (no service number listed)
ROBERTSON, Donald, Signaller, RNCVR, VR 1366

Niobe (RCN), depot ship Halifax, NS, ex-cruiser
BEARD, Ernest E, Petty Officer Stoker, RNCVR, VR 1731
BROWN, William, Warrant Officer, RCN
BURNETT, Rodney O, Carpenter, RCN, 17017
CARVER, William, Petty Officer, RNCVR, VR 2090
CHICK, Sidney, Leading Signalman, RNCVR, VR 1786
GARDNER, Walter, Ordinary Seaman, RNCVR, VR 5091
KELSEY, Patrick, Stoker, RNCVR, (no service number listed)
LONELY, William, Able Seaman, RN Canadian Reserve, (no service number listed)
MATTISON, Albert C, Boatswain
MCMILLAN, Charles, Leading Seaman, RNCVR, VR 2496
MURRAY, James A, Ty/Lieutenant Commander, RNVR
NICKERSON, Freeman B, Ordinary Seaman, RNCVR, VR 1891
SAUNDERS, Albert, Able Seaman, RNCVR, VR 4066
VEALS, George, Wireless Telegraph Operator, RCN, VR 386
WILSON, Carl C, Able Seaman, RNCVR, VR 1561
YATES, George R, Stoker, RNCVR, VR 5480

Stadacona (RCN), base ship, Halifax
CLEVELAND, George, Boatswain, RCN
HENDRY, Hugh, Petty Officer 1c, RCN, 20416

Vivid, RN Barracks/Base, Devonport, at Halifax
WARE, Silas G, Signalman, RNVR, Wales Z 3969



May they Rest in Peace.

The only known photo (from the Library and Archives Canada) taken at the time of the explosion is here:

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. Information from its description page there is shown below.
Commons is a freely licensed media file repository. You can help

English: This may be the only photograph of the remnants of blast itself reportedly taken 15-20 seconds after the explosion. Indications are that it was taken Bedford Basin, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, from approximately a mile's distance looking southeast. Photographer: unknown.


Although the National Library and Archives Canada description estimates the distance from the explosion as 21 km/13 mi, the actual location and distance have never been firmly established.

However, the height of the blast at its peak was measured at 3,600 metres (11,811 feet or 2.25 miles) on a sextant by Captain W. M. A. Campbell of the Canadian merchant ship, Acadian, approximately 28 km (18 mi) from the harbour approaches. This measurement is consistent with the time-frame of 15-20 seconds at a distance of 1 mile.

Furthermore, documented photographic evidence from the Ron Fralick Collection (photo reference numbers: 16,274 & 16,275 - Maritime Museum of the Atlantic) clearly shows the size, shape and direction of the blast cloud as it passed by York Redoubt and indicates that the original photograph was probably taken from Bedford Basin.

In Canada - from the David Millar Collection (NLAC). In the U.S. - National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Reference #165-WW-158A-15. Original source: Underwood & Underwood. Print only - no negative available.

Reproduction service has been withdrawn in Canada (NLAC). In the U.S., reproductions are available from NARA.
Date 6 December 1917(1917-12-06)

[Randi]

This is Knight Templar's page for 6th Dec. 1917.
Their log for the 7th says that a blizzard blew in - which must have strongly hampered the clean-up efforts.
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ADM_ ... -006_1.jpg

I also looked for those dates for HMS Calgarian - on the 6th, she was still at sea traveling to Halifax from Liverpool, noon position Lat. 44 58 N Long. 55 51 W

They arrived at 8.30am on the 7th, and their first action was to steer around the "submerged wreck" on entering the harbor. That must have been a very sobering sight.
http://oldweather.s3.amazonaws.com/ADM5 ... 0006_1.jpg

The blizzard was just starting; wind reached force 6 by 4pm.

The Changuinola's logs do mention the blizzard overnight on 7/8 December. According to the Wikipedia page, the blizzard actually helped put out any fires that were still burning, so may not have been a totally bad thing.

A quick glance through "The Town That Died" reveals that the crew of the Changuinola did indeed play a significant part in the rescue, particularly Lieutenant E B Thompson, who prevented a mass panic when rumours started that the magazine was on fire. (I see the initials EBT all the time in the logs.)

It turns out the Changuinola was actually closer to the site of the collision than the Highflyer but did not sustain as much damage from debris from the explosion. I guess the Changuinola's log keepers made no mention of the part played in the rescue operation because it happened off the ship. Still, you might have expected them to have mentioned the tsunami in the harbour and having ash etc from the explosion raining down on them.

The Royal Navy (along with the other British armed forces) is known for its understatement or sang froid. Following a fishing boat's unintentional catch:

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/east-centra ... hing-boat/

'The navy bomb squad told the crew to pull the torpedo to deep water and tie it to a buoy so they would be able to find it. The boat then headed back to the harbour.

Once they had investigated, the bomb squad carried out a controlled explosion.

Lieutenant John Keenan said they checked to make sure there were no power cables or other infrastructure underwater and there was no danger to the public.

He said: "There's not going to be any windows broken or anything like that. It's going to be quite safe; it's in deep enough water that a lot of the energy will be absorbed by the water.

"We've done it before and we have standard procedure - we just place the counter-charge, light the fuse and run away." '

(Curse the intrusive ? that replaces copied punctuation!)