WW1 Life on the Home Front – Rations
The following images are taken from an 8-page booklet printed in 1917 and issued by the Food Controller for Canada. These booklets were distributed to Canadian citizens at home — urging them to co-operate in saving food. Some of the suggested dinners might seem a bit odd to us in the present day.
The Halifax Explosion
by Brian Lee Massey
On the morning of December 6th 1917 the Belgian relief ship Imo collided with the French Munitions Vessel Mont Blanc in Halifax harbor. The impact cut a 10 foot deep hole in the hull of Mont Blanc and ruptured some of the drums of benzole (gasoline) which were lashed to her deck. As the 2 ships pulled apart a shower of sparks ignited the benzole which was now pouring down into the #1 cargo hold which was full of lyddite, a sensitive and powerful explosive. Within seconds the entire bow of the ship was engulfed in a mass of flame and billowing black smoke. With no other alternative the Captain of the doomed vessel ordered his crew to abandon ship and make for shore. 21 minutes later at precisely 9.06am the Mont Blancs cargo of some 2750 tonnes of explosives detonated in the greatest man made explosion in history until the invention of the atomic bomb.
The shock wave produced by the blast ripped through two square miles of the city. It destroyed every thing in its path and killed between 1600 and 3200 men women and children and injured over 9000 more. 13000 buildings were destroyed or severely damaged and 6000 people were homeless. The noise of the blast was heard in P.E.I. over 178 kilometers away. The explosion had practically vaporized the Mont Blanc and small red hot fragments of the ship continued to rain down on the surrounding countryside for several minutes, part of one of her anchors weighting half a ton was thrown over 2 miles.
Within minutes of the explosion fires started by over turned stoves began to break out among the ruins. Many injured people who had survived the explosion burned to death in the wreckage before they could be rescued. Fire fighting teams were sent in on special trains from Truro, Amherst, Moncton and Windsor and within 24hrs they had the fires under control. The rescue of survivors and treatment of the injured was slow in coming as the civil authorities were completely unprepared for such a catastrophe and much of the early work was done by sailors from ships stationed in the harbor. The Academy of Music and many other public buildings were thrown open to house the homeless. 500 tents were erected on the common and these were occupied by troops who surrendered their barracks to house the homeless. Morgues were improvised and these were soon filled to capacity with the dead. And as if to add insult to injury the next day a sever winter storm blanketed the ruined city in three feet of snow further increasing the suffering of the survivors and hampering the rescue of those still trapped in the ruins. In the next few weeks there would be a heartfelt outpouring of supplies and money from all parts of Canada and the US. The Red Cross sent tones of supplies and the city of Boston sent a shipload of food. In time over 30 million dollars would be raised and the ruined city would be rebuilt.
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