BX December 14, 1917

S.S. “Canada” Was but 500 Yards From Big Explosion – But Not a Man Was Seriously Wounded, Force Going Over Their Heads – James G. Matthews Tells of His Experiences in the Great Disaster at Halifax – Removed Explosives From Magazines as Fire Crept Close

A graphic description of his experiences in the Halifax explosion and fire has been forwarded by Mr. James G. Matthews, a wireless operator in the navy, to his mother, Mrs. George S. Matthews, of this city. He writes:

Dear Mother,

I suppose that you are anxiously waiting to hear now how we got on yesterday during the terrific explosion. I was going to write to you last night, but had a hard day of it and was too tired, so will tell you just what I can remember now. 

I was down below in Mr. Dooley’s cabin (he is the O.I.C. of our wireless), and was just brushing my uniform as I was to leave for the mail in a few minutes. Most of our officers were up on the deck and I heard one of them remark that there was a ship on fire a little piece up the stream. The next moment we were all carried off our feet by the force of the explosion and it seemed as though our ship had been hit by a torpedo. I don’t remember very clearly just what really did happen for the first few minutes, but I remember seeing Mr. Dooley going through the door of the cabin, so I beat it too. The explosion lifted the ship up about three feet and the whole ship trembled just like a leaf. I then went up on deck and helped lower the life boats and get away the rescue parties.

Each boat left the ship in charge of an officer, and so I was sent ashore with a party of five seamen. The first thing that we did was to put out the fires in the buildings of the dockyard, and then Mr. Fields, one of our officers, with another party of men, and our party went to the magazines to help clear the large supplies of high explosives which were stored there. By this time the whole northern section of the city was one mass of flames and the fire was heading right along toward the magazines. Outside a few Imperial men who were already at work, the “Canada’s” men were the first there. There were three magazines to be emptied, and the fire was already as close as Mr. C. Watt’s house, from our place (about 200 yards), and it was beginning to get warm around the buildings. Mr. Fields took his men into one magazine to help the Imperial men, and the party I was in charge of went into the second magazine, and here we started to work. The explosion had brought the roof down and part of the wall, so we set to work and knocked the rest of the wall down and cleared a path to the water front, where we carried the shells, as they weighed over 100 pounds each. After we got fairly well started we were joined by another bunch of seamen, and I was glad somebody came along, as it was getting to be all that I could do to lift the shells. We were told that we would be called as soon as the fire got too close but luckily that time never came. Once there was a scare, as somebody hollered that the magazines were going, and immediately everybody turned and fled, but an Imperial lieutenant off one of the ships stopped them and they returned to their work. From there, after they were nearly emptied, I took the men I had with me and pulled down a wooden fence that was running along near the magazines, and then went as a search party through the different houses and buildings that were leveled.

The loss of life was something awful and some of the sights are indescribable. The first house we searched through we came across a woman who was apparently in bed when the explosion occurred. Although she was dead there was a small kitten with her which didn’t seem to be hurt in the least, so one of the sailors took it for a keepsake. We worked all morning hunting out the wounded, and I think I must have seen hundreds wounded, and hundreds who were dead, and most of them so mangled that it would be impossible for anyone to identify them. The scenes were so horrible that one of our men went out of his head and has to be kept on board, but today he is much better. In the afternoon I was sent out on guard duty with three men, and then last night all the officers went ashore on a search party, taking with us a first aid kit and some good drinking water, so you see we were fairly busy, but I was afraid that the little that we did was nothing to what was really needed.

How our ship escaped so luckily, no one on board can explain as we were not more than the length of the pavement on Dufferin Avenue (about 500 yards) from the ship that blew up. The presence of mind of the first lieutenant, Mr. Julien undoubtedly saved the men, as he told or rather ordered them to lie flat on the deck, and so the men missed the deluge of steel which swept our decks with the second explosion, which came a very few seconds after the first. No one on board was seriously hurt, but few had minor bruises and scratches inflicted by bits of flying glass and splinters of steel.

One explanation as to how we escaped so luckily is that we were so close to the ship that blew up that the main force of the explosion went over our heads, and it seems that that is really what happened, as buildings and boats for miles back of us suffered from flying steel plates, etc., while we seemed to get hit with only small pieces. Nearly every other ship in the harbor had a number wounded, and some had quite a few killed, and yet we were closer than lots of them.

The cause of the explosion was as follows:  The French steamer, Mont Blanc, was proceeding up the harbor carrying a cargo of T.N.T., one of the highest forms of explosives known, and also a deck cargo of benzene, and as she drew near the narrows entering into the Bedford basin she was met by the Belgian relief steamer Imo. In some unexplainable manner the Imo violated the rules of the right of way, and a collision was the outcome of the mistake. The deck cargo of benzene is said to have ignited first, due to the force of the impact, and shortly after the explosion took place. Most of our officers were on the bridge or deck at the time and were watching the fire, little knowing what was coming as the Mont Blanc flew no signals to let the other ships know what the cargo consisted of, and by some miracle all escaped without serious injury.

When the relief work started there was hard work to find places for the wounded, and the hospitals had suffered from the explosion as well as the other buildings, and in some cases the patients who were already in the hospitals had to be removed to there quarters. As luck would have it, there was an American ship in port which was being fitted out for a hospital ship and it was immediately turned over as an emergency “hospital,” and it was not long before it was well filled. I was aboard her today with Mr. Dooley trying to identify any of the dead, and the sights were enough to kill a person.

A few scattered facts about the explosion are: The shock was felt in Sydney, which is 240 miles from here by water. The explosion was reported to be heard over 60 miles to sea. There was approximately 4000 tons of “T.N.T.” exploded. The “Canada” was the first boat to send away her boats after the explosion, and was also the first ship to have men in the magazines.

“It never rains but it pours.”  This was borne out Saturday when Halifax and the vicinity were subjected to one of the worst snow storms that have visited here in the last 45 years, to add to the terrible suffering and misery which had only the day before fallen upon the city. The snow was accompanied by a regular hurricane, and it was only with difficulty that anybody was able to face it, and yet there must have been hundreds who were still amongst the ruins and hundreds of others who had no shelter. To add to the concussion which had already occurred in the harbor, some of the hulls of the ships which were not altogether destroyed broke loose from the moorings and were driven by the high wind down amongst the other ships as they lay at anchor. This would have been serious enough but to happen on a night like it did was the limit the snow being so thick that it was impossible to see very far ahead, and so we spend a very restless night, nobody going to bed. 

Today the snow is piled up everywhere and the search parties are placed at a serious handicap, as the wreckage in most cases is buried in snow. There are a few small fires still burning, but all danger from the fire spreading is past, and the work of sheltering, clothing, feeding and looking after the wounded and the homeless is being rushed with all possible speed. This afternoon we have seen trains coming in from all directions, bringing with them food, medical and clothing supplies and all the doctors and nurses available.

Too much praise cannot be given to the American sailors who were in port at the time, or who came after hearing the explosion. There was system to their work and everyone seemed to know exactly what to do, and how to do it. I saw them working alongside the party I had and they took their work seriously and left nothing undone. That night they patrolled the streets to stop all looting, etc., and the next day were busy doing picket duty and they certainly deserve credit for what they have done.

Well mother, I could go on for days telling about it, but must stop with what I have said, and believe me I am mighty thankful that I am alive to be able to tell it. Hoping you received my telegram and am not worrying about me, your loving son,

Jim