Credit River - SS Mont-Blanc Traditional Cache
Hidden : 7/7/2013
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
4 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


Credit River - Shipwreck Series

SS Mont-Blanc
 6 December 1917



There are many shipwrecks around the world. Some very famous and others not so. Each however has it’s own story to tell. As you travel along the Credit River doing this series of caches, we have highlighted a number of these shipwrecks. During low water levels on these parts of the Credit River, you need to be careful in a canoe or kayak so as you don’t wind up in your own shipwreck. Besides the many large rocks along the way, there are also some other obstacles such as dams which should be avoided. All of the geocaches in this series have been placed by tubing, inflatable boat or on foot by walking in the water along the Credit River. Whichever way you choose to search for these caches, use caution and common sense
More information about this series can be found here: Credit River - Shipwreck Series

SS Mont-Blanc

Canada’s deadliest non-natural disaster wasn’t even remotely weather related: it was the 1917 Halifax explosion. Mankind wouldn't make a bigger explosion until the invention of nuclear weapons. As it was, the 2.9 kiloton explosion flattened Halifax and could be heard as far away as Montreal. Aside from the staggering death toll, thousands of people were made homeless and a substantial chunk of the city’s industry was wiped out. The damage, adjusted for inflation, is estimated to have been the equivalent of a half a billion dollars in today’s terms, and the explosion left its mark in Canadian history: Only the Spanish flu and the Newfoundland Hurricane of 1775 had higher Canadian death tolls.

The SS Mont-Blanc was a freighter built in Middlesbrough, England in 1899 and purchased by the French company, Société Générale de Transport Maritime (SGTM). On Thursday morning, 6 December 1917, she entered Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada laden with a full cargo of highly volatile explosives. As she made her way through the Narrows towards Bedford Basin, she was involved in a collision with the Norwegian ship, SS Imo. A fire aboard the French ship fire ignited her cargo of wet and dry picric acid, TNT and guncotton. The resultant Halifax Explosion levelled the Richmond District and killed approximately 2000 people.

Mont-Blanc's crew abandoned ship before the explosion and all survived, except for one sailor who died from loss of blood after being hit by debris from the blast, 20 year old gunner, Yves Quequiner.

Mont-Blanc was completely destroyed and scattered by the explosion. The blast ripped through her hull and cargo at more than 1,000 metres per second. 5,000°C and thousands of atmospheres accompanied the moment of detonation at the centre of the explosion. Steel fragments from her hull and fittings landed all over Halifax and Dartmouth, some traveling over four kilometres. Today several large fragments, such as one of Mont-Blanc's cannons and her anchor shank, are mounted where they landed as monuments to the explosion. Others are on display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax which has a large collection of Mont-Blanc fragments; many recovered from the homes of survivors.

The wrecked remnants of one of Mont-Blanc's lifeboats was found washed ashore at the foot of Morris Street on December 26, 1917. Name boards from the boat were salvaged and collected by Harry Piers of the Nova Scotia Museum and are today part of the collection of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Pnzb'q ghor unatvat va n zhygv gehaxrq gerr, arne gehax.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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