On December 6 , 1917 , a massive explosion boom across Halifax Harbor , a primal Nova Scotia interface and a major center field for naval ships in North America during World War I. A French cargo ship carry eminent explosive , include TNT , jar with a Norwegian steamship , take up a fire that lit up the Gallic vessel . The accident do what would become the world ’s biggest non - nuclear blowup . An entire neighborhood along the haven was flattened to the ground .
Now , 100 years later , the spotlight is back on another possible victim of the explosion . AsCBC Newsreports , a still - unidentified closed book shipwreck discovered in 2002 may be linked to the event , too .
Researchers do n’t know much about the copper - clad , steam - powered schooner find out at the bottom of Halifax Harbor during a geological view of the sea floor . Its remains are half - inter under silt and nautical lifespan more than 90 substructure below the control surface of the weewee , around 330 feet aside from the Halifax shipyard . The experts who have studied the ship since its initial discovery have yet to even identify its name .
There are no records of the ship ’s sinking , leading researchers like marine geologist Gordon Fader , who helped find the shipwreck , to believe it sank during the explosion . Had it gone down after the outcome , there likely would have been some disk of it in newspapers . And the ship was , by all write up , a rather expensive vas , possibly one that go to either the British USN or a very wealthy possessor . It was made with high - quality copper and establishment and build for speeding , intend its sinking would have cost someone a hefty glob of money .
If the ship ’s sinking feeling did go unheralded in the aftermath of the monumental Halifax blowup , research worker have two potential leads : There were two ship consider to be lose in the blowup that were never found , called theSt . Bernardand theLola R. But the description of those ship do n’t quite match up with what ’s lying at the bottom of the harbor . A yr and a half of enquiry give no further data .
Since the last report came out in 2004 , the hunt for its individuality has retard . We may never recognize the identity of the mystery ship . But as raw technology becomes available for studying underwater remains , we can at least hope to harvest some fresh clues .
[ h / tCBC News ]
