Halifax explosion
A reading comprehension
background
• Please watch this clip before you read the article.
It gives some background about the Halifax
explosion.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oaRr6A-gkA
Reading for understanding
• This is a non-fiction Article.
• Read the questions first, open a word
document and copy and paste the questions
into it. Put your word document in HP
format.(name)
• Read the article twice. Use the hi liter feature
• to show where you found the answers to your
questions.
Questions to answer, either in word
document or on paper.(name)
• 1) What was going on in the world at the time
of the tragedy ?
• 2) What happened to Mont-Blanc after the
collision?
• 3) What was the irony of the tragedy ? ( don’t
know what irony means. Check one of the
slides ahead)
The Halifax Explosion
• December 6,1917 is a date
that all schoolchildren in
Nova Scotia most likely
know about. On this day in
Halifax, a 3121-ton French
freighter called Mont-Blanc
was entering th city’s lovely
harbour. It was part of a
convoy of ships that had
come from New York City,
and was on its way back to
France.
• It was filled with munitionsover 2600 tonnes of highly
explosive chemicals such as
nitrocellulose,TNT,wet and
dry picric acid, and benzol.
It was the time of World
War 1.
•
A Norwegian vessel, Imo,
was also in the harbour. It
had been delayed from
leaving the day before.
Because a third shipwas
blocking the right channel,
Photo of the Imo
• the captain of the Imo
decided to leave the
harbour through the
left channel , where the
Mont-Blanc was
coming through.
Despite attempts of
both captains to avoid a
collision, the two ships
collided in the centre
channel. The result was
Photo: the explosion in the Halifax
harbour.
• The largest artificial
explosion before the atomic
bomb in 1945. Mont-blanc
became a fireball that rose
over a mile in the air. The
ship vaporized. The force of
the explosion caused a
tsunami 18 metres high,
throwing the Imo onto the
land. A wave of pressure
snapped trees and
demolished buildings for
kilometres.
Captions for photos, top: overlooking the devastation
of collapsed buildings .Below: hospital
• Over 1000 people died instantly,
another thousand died later, and
6000 people were seriously
injured. Because many of the
residents in Halifax had been
looking at the harbour through
their windows, they were blinded
by flying glass when Mont-Blanc
exploded. The entire north end of
the city was destroyed and 1500
people were left homeless by the
destruction. Even in Truro, which
is many kilometres away,
windows were shattered.
Property damage was estimated
to be over $30 million, which was
a huge amount in 1917.
Summary
• Ironically, the large number of eye injuries led
to medical advances in the treatment of such
injuries.
• Even today, nearly a century later, what
happened at Halifax Harbour on that fateful
day in December ranks as one of the largest
man-made, non-nuclear explosions ever to
occur.
What is Irony ?
• http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp
?id=3756542
Finished ?
• Work on your three questions. Mrs. Guilfoyle has a
hand out for you as well .The questions must be done
before the end of today’s class.
• If you still have time left you may view the links below.
• http://www.cbc.ca/halifaxexplosion/he7_teachers/Doc
uComic_HFDsm.pdf
• http://www.cbc.ca/halifaxexplosion/he7_teachers/ind
ex.html
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3DU95ZLxw8