Shattered City

the long version

In December 1917 Halifax was alive with excitement. The streets were filled with troops, and the city, far removed from the bitter fighting in Europe, was reaping all the advantages of war. On the morning of December 6, however, the bloodshed came to Halifax with a vengeance when a French munitions ship and a Belgian relief vessel collided in the harbor. The munitions vessel drifted into the North End and exploded, killing more than sixteen hundred people instantly, wounding more than nine thousand others, and damaging or destroying approximately twelve thousand buildings. The complete devastation covered an area of 325 acres, and hardly a window in the city was left intact. The statistics are astounding enough, but the testimonies from survivors are even more astonishing. - Back cover.