The Halifax Explosion

[Duncan Frissell]

At 10:11 AM 8/5/96 EDT, Paul J. Bell wrote:
>"picric acid is indeed more powerful than TNT.  it was the primary explosive
>used in WW-I. it was also the primary cargo on a ship, i think it was the
>"Montblac", that exploded in Halifax harbor and nearly wiped-out the city. this
>was in the 1917 - 1919 timeframe.
>
>	-paul
>

The Mont Blanc carried quite a lot of fun stuff.  "Stored in the holds, or
simply stacked on deck, were 35 tons of benzol, 300 rounds of ammunition, 10
tons of gun cotton, 2,300 tons of picric acid (used in explosives), and
400,000 pounds of TNT."  Thursday December 6, 1917.  The greatest
conventional explosion produced by mankind.

See:

http://ttg.sba.dal.ca/nstour/halifax/explode.htm

Governments shouldn't be trusted with high explosives.  They can't be
counted upon to handle them properly.

>From 1889-1989 the governments of the world murdered 160 million people.
>From 1889-1989 the private individuals of the world murdered fewer than 20
million people.

See Death by Government by R. J. Rummel
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1560001453/1372-7724803-532789

DCF