SS Mont-Blanc

Mont Blanc in 1899
History
France
Name	Mont Blanc
Namesake	Mont Blanc
Owner	1899: Soc Gen de Transports Maritimes a Vapeur 1906: E Anquetil 1915: Gaston Petit 1915: Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
Port of registry	1899: Marseille 1906: Rouen 1915: Saint-Nazaire
Builder	Sir Raylton Dixon & Co, Middlesbrough
Yard number	460
Laid down	March 23 1899
Launched	March 25, 1899
Completed	June 1899
Maiden voyage	November 1900
Identification	code letters KHTN
Fate	collision and explosion, December 6, 1917
General characteristics
Type	cargo ship
Tonnage	3,279 GRT, 1,919 NRT
Length	97.5 m (320.0 ft)
Beam	13.7 m (44.8 ft)
Depth	4.7 m (15.3 ft)
Installed power	247 NHP
Propulsion	1 × triple-expansion engine 1 × screw
Armament	in WW1: 2 × naval guns

SS Mont-Blanc was a cargo steamship that was built in Middlesbrough, England in 1899 for a French shipping company.^[1] On Thursday morning, December 6, 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 Imo, a Norwegian ship. A fire aboard the ship ignited her cargo of wet and dry 2,300 tons of picric acid, 500 tons of TNT, and 10 tons of guncotton. The resultant Halifax Explosion killed approximately 2,000 people and injured about 9,000.