The Halifax Explosion

The Halifax explosion of 6 December 1917 - the greatest man-made disaster before Hiroshima - involved numerous Newfoundlanders who were either resident or visiting there at the time. Newfoundland responded to the tragedy with generous contributions to the relief effort. In addition, a high-level mission - Cabinet Minister J.R. Bennett, with a military aide and a budget of $5000 - was dispatched specifically to rescue Newfoundlanders from the ruins of the stricken city.

No other outside jurisdiction, not Ontario, not Massachussetts, sent similar aid targeted for its own people. They would not have had a large a group in Halifax as Newfoundland did. The incident testifies to Newfoundland's well developed integration within the atlantic region, and was a vivid demonstration of a strong sense of identity and community responsibility in the big Island.

Bennett arrived in Halifax on the 8th day after the terrible blast, surveyed the blackened sadness, and telegraphed the following message back to the Government in St. John's.

Arrived yesterday afternoon. Conditions beyond description. Scarcely a building in the entire city escaped damage. Richmond section North end entirely obliterated, estimated loss of life Two thousand killed and buried in ruins, Two thousand in hospital here, while hundreds in hospitals in surrounding cities. Number of persons injured fully ten thousand. Fully 300 have lost both eyes and facial injuries in most numbers owing to people rushing to windows when first sign of explosion.

Met Executive Committee Relief last night and Lieutenant Governor this morning and issued notice through press that Newfoundland prepared to care for Newfoundland people desiring return home. Am opening a registration office for purpose and will acquaint you of requirements...

All Halifax grateful for prompt assistance given by Newfoundland... Visited Ladies' College, Blind School, Convent Sacred Heart, Deag and Dumb Institute, Mount Saint Vincent College. Found all Newfoundland children uninjured and safely provided for.

I have begun assembling a list to name the Newfoundlanders who were in the Canadian disaster. So far, directly involved involved in that greatest inputs have come chiefly from primary sources such as contemporary St. John's newspapers, and annual reports from regional institutions like Dalhousie University and the School for the Deaf. The list so far indicates about 170 people, of whom 14 did not survive. Many are quite precisely identified, with Newfoundland home addresses.

Among all these personal stories of intense danger, my favourite is that of Captain Yetman of Harbour Grace. His schooner, Hilda R., had sailed in October with a load of saltfish for the Mediterranean. In European waters she was intercepted, shelled and sunk by a German submarine (November 5th). Luckily the 4-man crew was saved alive. Yetman, landed in Spain, had worked his way towards home as far as Halifax, and was strolling out of the King Edward Hotel in the north end when the blast came and the building collapsed. All the other guests with whom he had just eaten breakfast, were crushed in the rubble. Yetman gave his story to a Daily News reporter while changing trains at Brigus Junction - 5 days later, arrived home safely from the hardest-luck fishing voyage there ever was, and never went to sea again.

This still needs a lot of work. For example, I have not yet learned Yetman's first name. Canadian census figures indicate there were several hundred Newfoundlanders dwelling in the immediate vicinity of the explosion, about 3% of the Halifax-Darthmouth population.