A city destroyed: The Halifax Explosion, 100 years later in 360-degrees

that December morning is cool and clear you know those sorts of mornings Halifax is buzzing with life people heading out to factories and shops kids walking to school it's a pretty busy city the first world war still rages and Halifax is an important hub and far from danger at least that's what everyone thought just moments after sunrise out there in the shipping channel the SS Mall block is arriving the plan is for it to join a convoy of ships bound for France on board are explosives meant for the Allies at the same time the SS FEMA is preparing to make its way to the harbour from a bait we're in an anchored overnight it too is on an urgent mission carry green to Belgium the war there had left people literally starving to death across the hall right there a big Belgian relief sign that's supposed to act as a signal to the German submarines not to attack but the emo won't even make it to the open ocean [Music] out of the blue a steamship cuts across the emos path in a hurry the pilots agree to pass each other on the right side to avoid a collision that probably seemed sensible but they were breaking the rules of navigation and the email is now in the path of oncoming traffic remember that cargo ship the Mont Blanc it is gingerly moving its way between two ferries in these busy waters there's no way the passengers can note the nearby ship is full of explosives you see typically a ship like this would carry a flag warning of its dangerous cargo but it's wartime a warning flag would just invite a torpedo attack so there isn't one the email still in the wrong shipping lane is suddenly facing a tugboat towing too long Cole bar jism the quick-thinking tug captain turns back towards Halifax but it's too late BMO is a bit trapped it can't correct its course which means the worst it is now right in the path of that explosives lady Mom Blog did the captain see the danger right away you see by law this is the moment when both should reverse their engines but they don't the Montblanc knows it has the right-of-way and is staying the course the emo signals that it won't you likely very scared the two captains cut their engines but the momentum keeps the ships moving forward so imagine this the Montblanc can't steer to the right if it does it might run aground the whole ship might explode instead the captain makes the only decision he has left to steer the Montblanc towards Halifax right in front of the emo and listen to this that is the sound of the emos engines subtly being thrown into reverse too late though the ship ends up pivoting in place and rips into the side of a mob block the gash is 3 meters up that opens up several barrels of flammable benzoyl that spill all over the deck and off the side metal lines against metal that creates Sparks and the fires start right away crawling along the deck of the explosives heavy mont blanc the captain knows how bad this could be and orders his crew to abandon ship as they flee rowing furiously towards the dartmouth shore those crew members are waving and shouting at nearby ships just trying to warn everyone to get away no one seems to understand their warnings maybe it's the wind and the distance and the panic maybe it's because they're yelling in French pretty dramatic scene the ship on fire crowds start to gather to run to the port to look firefighters show up they have no idea what the Mont Blanc is carrying below deck one compartment holds guncotton two others are filled with tea and tea and stored throughout is something called picric acid that's an extremely dangerous chemical used in the warheads of artillery shells it's even more powerful than TNT basically the Mont Blanc is a massive bomb waiting to explode 9:04 a.m. it happens in an instant all buildings within 800 meters are destroyed sixteen hundred people are killed right away nine thousand are injured the acrid smell of smoke and explosives chokes the city all these years later the Halifax Explosion remains one of the worst disasters in Canadian history all that loss from small moves tiny decisions on a clear December day

Channel: CBC News

Views: 445,272

Rating: 4.6317344 out of 5

Keywords: halifax explosion, halifax, nova scotia, vr, 360 video, 360 degree, cbc interactives, interactive

Id: OSuX9RvLq54

Length: 5min 38sec (338 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 01 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/ShooterDiarrhea]

From Wikipedia

The death toll could have been worse had it not been for the self-sacrifice of an Intercolonial Railway dispatcher, Patrick Vincent (Vince) Coleman, operating at the railyard about 750 feet (230 m) from Pier 6, where the explosion occurred. He and his co-worker, William Lovett, learned of the dangerous cargo aboard the burning Mont-Blanc from a sailor and began to flee. Coleman remembered that an incoming passenger train from Saint John, New Brunswick, was due to arrive at the railyard within minutes. He returned to his post alone and continued to send out urgent telegraph messages to stop the train. Several variations of the message have been reported, among them this from the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic: "Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbor making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys." Coleman's message was responsible for bringing all incoming trains around Halifax to a halt. It was heard by other stations all along the Intercolonial Railway, helping railway officials to respond immediately.[73][74] Passenger Train No. 10, the overnight train from Saint John, is believed to have heeded the warning and stopped a safe distance from the blast at Rockingham, saving the lives of about 300 railway passengers. Coleman was killed at his post as the explosion ripped through the city.[73] He was honoured with a Heritage Minute in the 1990s and inducted into the Canadian Railway Hall of Fame in 2004.[75]

[u/DaConm4n]

Would have been cool if they had a bird's eye view of the explosion too.

[u/TheCanadianBastard]

Wasn't it the biggest none nuclear explosion?

[u/[deleted]]

[removed]

[u/myislanduniverse]

It took me way too long to realize I could rotate the video around! Cool!

[u/crypto_meme]

The sixty symbols video on this topic is way better

[u/5_sec_rule]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion#/media/File:Mont_Blanc_Anchor_Site_1.JPG

[u/zydricpurdy]

dont forget the icing on the cake. There was a bad blizzard that halifax the day after this happened

[u/SouthCoast360]

Hey guys! Something I can contribute to.

Ive been uploading some 6K 360 videos as bit of a test of my home town, Albany in Western Australia.

They work for me in googlecardboard on my phone playing back at 4K on youtube, I don't have a video editor yet so I cant do timelapses or anything fancy, but it would be nice if anyone could give me some feedback.

I heard youtube has trouble playing back anything about 4k? It has 8K as an option but its really chunky for me. If anyone can play higher than 4K would be good to know!

All the video are shot with an insta360 Pro.

Im really enjoying this new hobby! https://www.youtube.com/user/craftymethod