The Collision
On the morning of December 6, sometime before 9:00 a.m., the Imo and the Mont-Blanc both entered the Narrows: the Imo going east toward the open sea, and the Mont-Blanc going west to moor up. Harbor rules say ships must pass port to port– left side to left side, but the Imo was veering too far north and was headed directly toward the Mont-Blanc. Captain Le Medec finally steered his ship southward, but Captain From did the same thing at the same time. The collision sent the Mont-Blanc straight toward Halifax.
The impact started a fire on the deck of the Mont-Blanc. Its crew, knowing the chip would blow up at any second, went straight to the lifeboats, without alerting the Harbor Patrol of the dangerous cargo. They rowed north toward Dartmouth, leaving the floating bomb heading for Halifax.
it was An astounding sight: a flaming ship drifting slowly toward shore. people stop to watch. The Mont-Blanc drifted for about 20 minutes until it came to rest against Pier 6 in the Richmond district, the busy, industrial North end of Halifax. As firefighting Crews rushed to put out the fire, the Flames moved closer and closer to the massive stores of TNT on the lower decks.
