CK100VDA will memorialize the "Great Halifax Explosion" of December 6, 1917.
During World War I, a French munitions ship, the Mont Blanc, was in Halifax Harbor loaded with barrels of benzol on deck and 2,900 tons of high explosives in the hold when a Norwegian-Belgian relief ship struck her. (A later inquest said both ships were to blame.) The benzol caught fire and 20 minutes later the entire ship exploded.
2,000 people were killed, 9,000 were injured and much of Halifax was flattened. Nearly all structures within 2,600 feet, 800 meters, were flattened, including the entire Richmond community on the north side of Halifax. This is said to be the largest manmade explosion before the atomic bomb. The boom could be heard 100 kilometers away.
CK100VDA will be on the air December 2-10. "VDA" is the callsign of the HMCS Niobe which was moored in the harbor at the time. Aboard her, wireless operator George Harris radioed the news of the disaster.
A commemorative QSL card will be available. If you want one direct, send an SAE with 3 USD or appropriate Canadian postage to:
Helen Archibald - VA1YL, 25 Canard St. RR#1, Port Williams, NS, B0P 1T0, Canada.
During World War I, a French munitions ship, the Mont Blanc, was in Halifax Harbor loaded with barrels of benzol on deck and 2,900 tons of high explosives in the hold when a Norwegian-Belgian relief ship struck her. (A later inquest said both ships were to blame.) The benzol caught fire and 20 minutes later the entire ship exploded.
2,000 people were killed, 9,000 were injured and much of Halifax was flattened. Nearly all structures within 2,600 feet, 800 meters, were flattened, including the entire Richmond community on the north side of Halifax. This is said to be the largest manmade explosion before the atomic bomb. The boom could be heard 100 kilometers away.
CK100VDA will be on the air December 2-10. "VDA" is the callsign of the HMCS Niobe which was moored in the harbor at the time. Aboard her, wireless operator George Harris radioed the news of the disaster.
A commemorative QSL card will be available. If you want one direct, send an SAE with 3 USD or appropriate Canadian postage to:
Helen Archibald - VA1YL, 25 Canard St. RR#1, Port Williams, NS, B0P 1T0, Canada.