The Halifax Explosion, History's Largest Explosion Before Nuclear Bombs

By Mark Oliver | Edited By John Kuroski

Published September 13, 2017

Updated December 9, 2021

Devastating images of the Halifax Explosion, a cataclysm so great that some victims were blinded simply by looking at it.

Sifting Through The Ruins Of The Halifax Explosion

Funeral Services For The Halifax Explosion

1 of 34

Everything within a half-mile of the explosion was completely obliterated.

December 6, 1917City of Toronto Archives

2 of 34

A massive smoke cloud ripples upward above the Halifax Explosion.

December 6, 1917Nova Scotia Archives/Flickr

3 of 34

Farther from the harbor, the homes of Halifax lay in ruins.

December 6, 1917Nova Scotia Archives/Flickr

4 of 34

Two survivors sift through the ruins of what was once their home.

December 6, 1917Wikimedia Commons

5 of 34

Tufts Cove School, located in the nearby city of Dartmouth, is every bit as destroyed as the homes in Halifax.

December 6, 1917Wikimedia Commons

6 of 34

Soldiers move onto the scene, trying to rescue anyone they can from under the rubble and debris.

December 6, 1917Library and Archives Canada

7 of 34

The dead are laid out on a sled and dragged away.

December 6, 1917Library of Congress

8 of 34

American Red Cross workers help carry a wounded man to a makeshift hospital set up nearby.

December 6, 1917Library of Congress

9 of 34

A tent city set up for the survivors of the explosion.

January 5, 1918.Wikimedia Commons

10 of 34

Volunteers tend to the wounded inside of a makeshift hospital set up in a commercial building.

Circa December 1917 to January 1918.Wikimedia Commons

11 of 34

A child, injured in the explosion, recuperates in a hospital bed.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

12 of 34

The badly burned legs of a young child caught in the fire.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

13 of 34

Women from Africville, the black district of Halifax, make their way through the rubble.

December 1917.Nova Scotia Archives/Flickr

14 of 34

The ruins of the Halifax Harbor.

December 6, 1917.Nova Scotia Archives/Flickr

15 of 34

A pair of boats starts to move once more amid the devastation of Halifax Harbor.

December 1917.Library and Archives Canada

16 of 34

The ruined heap of the SS Imo, one of the ships that caused the explosion, lies lifelessly in the water.

January 1918.Nova Scotia Archives/Flickr

17 of 34

St. Joseph's Convent, a church and a school, in ruins after the devastation.

January 26, 1918.Nova Scotia Archives/Flickr

18 of 34

Crushed hens struggle for air inside of a ruined hen house.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

19 of 34

Rescue workers sift through the debris and devastation.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

20 of 34

Two women look at the debris, hoping something of the life that went up in flames can still be recovered.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

21 of 34

The people start to rebuild.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

22 of 34

A Knights of Columbus building has been converted into a hospital to manage the massive numbers of wounded poeple.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

23 of 34

Nurses help the wounded inside of a temporary hospital.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

24 of 34

A family stands vigil over their wounded child's bed.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

25 of 34

The Army and Navy Brewery company after being torn in half by the blast.

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. December 1917.Nova Scotia Archives/Flickr

26 of 34

A building destroyed in the explosion.

December 1917.Wikimedia Commons

27 of 34

A home lies in ruins.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

28 of 34

Workers sift through the ruins of peoples' homes.

December 1917.Library and Archives Canada

29 of 34

A church destroyed in the explosion.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

30 of 34

Caskets for the recovered dead are laid out for burial.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

31 of 34

A crowd gathers to watch the funeral for the 2,000 who died in their city.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

32 of 34

Workers prepare to rebuild their city.

December 1917.City of Toronto Archives

33 of 34

The people of Halifax start to rebuild their city.

January 26, 1918.Nova Scotia Archives/Flickr

34 of 34

The Halifax Explosion: 33 Photos Of History’s Worst Explosion Before Nuclear Weapons

View Gallery

"Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbor making for Pier 6 and will explode."

These were the last words of Vince Coleman, the train dispatcher who met his end on December 6, 1917, in the Halifax Explosion. Seconds later, the ship would explode and set off the 3,000 tons of explosives inside. It would be the biggest and most devastating explosion in history until the invention of the nuclear bomb.

The Halifax Explosion started when two ships collided in the harbor of the Nova Scotian capital of Halifax. A Norwegian ship, the SS Imo, had slammed into the SS Mont-Blanc, a French ship filled to the brim with TNT, picric acid, benezole, and guncotton.

The collision cracked open the barrel of benezole, dousing the ship in flammable chemicals. Then the SS Imo's engine kicked in, setting off a spark that would kill thousands.

All 3,000 tons of explosives then went off at once, burning with a heat of more than 9,000 °F. In seconds, the flames eviscerated every building in a half-mile radius, while a brutal shockwave tore through the rest of the city, traveling more than half a mile per second and shaking the city to its bones.

The inferno tore through Halifax, burning so bright that some were blinded just from looking at the light of the explosion. Others were trapped inside their homes by the roaring fires around them. They had no way to escape from the smoke that slowly choked them and the flames that left nothing but ashes in their wake.

"The sight was awful," one witness said. "People hanging out of windows dead. Some with their heads missing, and some thrown onto the overhead telegraph wires."

By the end, the Halifax Explosion had ended 2,000 lives and seriously injured at least 9,000 more.

As horrible as it was, though, it would have been worse if it wasn't for that one final message from Vince Coleman. He stayed at his post to make sure the train bound for the harbor wouldn't come in. He gave up his chance for one last mad dash for survival to save the lives of the 300 people on board that train.

"Guess this will be my last message," Coleman said as he watched the flames burn through the hull of the SS Mont-Blanc. "Good-bye boys."

After this look at the Halifax Explosion, find out about the devastation of the Mt. Pelée volcanic disaster and the most devastating disasters of the 21st century.

author

Mark Oliver is a writer and teacher, and father whose work has appeared on The Onion's StarWipe, Yahoo, and Cracked.

editor

John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.

Citation copied

COPY

Oliver, Mark. "The Halifax Explosion: 33 Photos Of History’s Worst Explosion Before Nuclear Weapons." AllThatsInteresting.com, September 13, 2017, https://allthatsinteresting.com/halifax-explosion. Accessed May 6, 2025.