Vince Coleman

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The Halifax Explosion
I am going to talk to you about the tragic Halifax Explosion incident which involved my hero, Railway Dispatcher Vincent Coleman. It all started on Thursday, December 6th 1917. The S.S. Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship which was fully loaded with war time explosives accidentally collided with the Belgian S.S. Imo in the Halifax Harbour. Over two thousand people were killed by the explosion and fires and building collapses that happened. Over nine thousand people were injured. This is the world's largest man-made accidental explosion.

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He also tried to tell everyone but they all thought he was crazy! He knew that there was a train coming with hundreds of people on it and he knew he had to stop it, even if it meant his life! He went to a control room and started to work the telegraph to send signals to the train to stop it. Vincent worked in a small wooden station in the middle of the Richmond Rail Yards, located only a few feet from the harbour and its busy piers. The morning of the explosion, Vincent relieved the night dispatcher at the telegraph station, when suddenly off in the distance there was a muffled crash and a column of black smoke rising high above the rows of parked freight cars in front of the station. The French cargo ship had caught on fire after the collision. All of a sudden, a navy sailor burst through the door to the telegraph station and warned everyone that the burning ship was full of ammunition and about to explode.

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Vincent's friend came into the control room because he also believed what Vincent told him that the ship was going to explode. He kept on saying, 'Get out get out! It’s going to explode any second now, we need to get out!' Vincent said 'No, I need to wait for an answer from the train!' He waited for at least twenty seconds for the message back. He finally got the message acknowledging the warning. He was so relieved when he got the signal, but suddenly the ship blew up!

Vincent and his co-worker Henry began to run for their lives and tried to tell everyone and warn them, but they all thought he was crazy. Then suddenly Vincent remembered that there were two trains headed in their direction. Vincent stayed behind and tapped out one last warning message on the telegraph, 'Hold up the train. Munitions ship on fire and making for Pier 6. Good bye boys.' This message would be the last message he would ever send, as he was killed while warning the trains to stay away. He saved all those people on the trains from being killed and this is what made him such a special man and a true Canadian hero.

Vincent is trying to warn people about the explos (I made it.)

The explosion caused a tsunami that rose as high as eighteen metres in the harbour and caused a pressure wave of air that snapped trees, bent iron rails, demolished buildings, grounded vessels, and carried fragments of the Mont-Blanc many kilometres away. Shards of hotel metal rained down across Halifax and Dartmouth. A block rain of coal soot fell over the city for about ten minutes and coated survivors and buildings.