SS Mont-Blanc
| History | |
|---|---|
 France
|
|
| Name: | Mont-Blanc |
| Namesake: | Mont Blanc |
| Owner: | Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (French Line) |
| Port of registry: | Saint-Nazaire, France |
| Builder: | Sir Raylton Dixon & Co., Middlesbrough, Great Britain |
| Launched: | 1899 |
| Identification: |
|
| Fate: | Completely destroyed by explosion of ammunition cargo on 6 December 1917 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | General Cargo |
| Tonnage: | 3121 gross tons |
| Length: | 98 m (320 ft) |
| Beam: | 13.7 m (44.8 ft) |
| Depth: | 4.7 m (15.3 ft) |
| Installed power: | Steam, coal fired |
| Propulsion: | Triple expansion steam engine, single screw 247 ihp (184 kW) |
| Armament: | Two defensive cannons |
SS Mont-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 the Norwegian ship, SS Imo. A fire aboard the French ship ignited her cargo of wet and dry picric acid, TNT, and guncotton. The resultant Halifax Explosion levelled the Richmond District and killed approximately 2,000 people.
A classic three-island style, general cargo steamship, Mont-Blanc was a tramp steamer, carrying diverse types of cargos around the world. The ship changed owners several times and was registered at first in Marseille, then Rouen and finally Saint-Nazaire, France. In World War I, Mont-Blanc was purchased from Gaston Petit on 28 December 1915 by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique CGT (The French Line), the French state-owned corporation that had taken charge of much of France's wartime shipping.
She was chartered to carry a complete cargo of miscellaneous types of military explosives from New York to France in November 1917. Mont-Blanc was not an especially old vessel but was a relatively slow, common, three-island type tramp steamer, typical of many wartime freighters. She left New York December 1 to join a convoy in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She arrived from New York late on 5 December, under the command of Aimé Le Medec. The vessel was fully loaded with the explosives TNT and picric acid, the high-octane fuel benzole, and guncotton. She intended to join a slow convoy gathering in Bedford Basin readying to depart for Europe, but was too late to enter the harbour before the nets were raised. Ships carrying dangerous cargo were not allowed into the harbour before the war, but the risks posed by German submarines had resulted in a relaxation of regulations.
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Wikipedia