The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic will hold a book launch exactly 98 years and 2 days after a massive explosion, caused by two ships colliding, destroyed Halifax’s north end and left nearly 2,000 people dead and 9,000 injured. The result was the largest human-made explosion prior to the detonation of the first atomic bombs in 1945.
The book about the disaster is Aftershock: the Halifax Explosion and the Persecution of Pilot Francis Mackey by Janet Maybee.
On December 6, 1917, harbour pilot Francis Mackey was guiding Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship loaded with wartime munitions, into Bedford Basin to join a convoy across the Atlantic when it was rammed by Norwegian vessel Imo.
Who was to blame? Federal government and naval officials found in Pilot Mackey a convenient target for public anger. Charged with manslaughter, he was imprisoned, villainized in the press, and denied his pilot’s license even after the charges were dropped. A century later he is still unfairly linked to the tragedy.
Through interviews with Mackey’s relatives, transcripts, letters, and newly exposed government documents, author Janet Maybee explores the circumstances leading up to the Halifax Explosion, the question of fault, and the impact on the pilot and his family of the unjust, deliberate persecution that followed.
The book launch takes place December 8 at 7:00 p.m. at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, 1675 Lower Water Street, Halifax.
If you don’t know the story of the 1917 Halifax Explosion, the online Canadian Encylopedia tells a good account of it.
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