San Franciscans are hardly strangers to natural catastrophes. Our quakes of ’06 and ’89 of the last century are well documented, and most of us are reconciled to the idea that another big shake will occur in our lifetimes.
Curse of the Narrows
by Laura M. Mac Donald
Illustrated. 356 pp.
Walker & Company
$26
By Patrick Burnson
Published: December, 2005
San Franciscans are hardly strangers to natural catastrophes. Our quakes of ’06 and ’89 of the last century are well documented, and most of us are reconciled to the idea that another big shake will occur in our lifetimes.
Acts of God, notwithstanding, living near a great harbor poses other risks, too. This chilling account of the devastation visited upon Nova Scotia 88 years ago is a case in point.
"A perfect storm" — now the clichéd explanation of every apocalyptical coincidence — it was not. But the fact that a commercial vessel loaded with high explosives entered a narrow channel just as an outbound ship crossed its path is a blueprint for disaster.
MacDonald gives us a careful and engaging narrative that traces the historical forces at work here, as well. 1917 was the year The United States entered World War I, and North American security was less than vigilant when arms shipments first got underway.
Halifax was a bustling international seaport at that time, providing cargo carriers with a variety of trade services. The only real impediment to business was the winter weather, which could be harsh in the extreme. A major snowstorm was threatening, in fact, when the biggest conventional explosion to detonate in the midst of a civilian population occurred.
Nearly 2,000 people lost their lives - a ship named the Mont Blanc collided with the Imo in the channel known as "The Narrows." McDonald only needs to recite a few statistics for readers to understand the full scope of this tragedy:
"The Mont Blanc, with 2,925 tons of explosives in barrels and kegs, packed in hermetically sealed holds inside a superheated hull, was now the most powerful bomb the war and the world had ever produced. It waited to explode long enough for residents to come to the harbor or their windows to witness the spectacle (voyeurism that, because of flying glass, would cost many survivors their eyesight)."
A tsunami and chemical rain claimed even more lives, and then, Halifax was dealt another blow just days later — a snow blizzard.
The author, who was raised in Dartmouth, just across from Halifax Harbor, then spends considerable time telling us about the heroic rescues efforts staged by a Boston volunteer strike force.
Much has changed in the maritime world since then, including more vigilant enforcement of international hazardous cargo transport laws, but this cautionary tale will resonate with anyone living in a harbor-based city.
As "Doctor Atomic" makes its operatic debut in San Francisco, there’s renewed interest in the research done by J. Robert Oppenheimer. It is worth noting this event was a major part of the scientist’s research on a cataclysmic explosion’s aftermath.
