He and a co-worker actually left the station, but Coleman turned back to send more warning messages to stop … They hoped to make it over the hill of the bank before the ship blew up.When the crew reached the bank, residents who were watching the two ships met them. — Vince Coleman, train dispatcher at Richmond, Nova Scotia, just before the Halifax Explosion. Guess this will be my last message. Coleman, a father of four, was among 2,000 people killed in the blast. Vince Coleman stayed at his post to warn an incoming train from Saint John, New Brunswick via Morse code of the impending explosion in Halifax Harbour and to stop the train immediately. The train was halted at Rockingham Station, on the western shore of Bedford Basin, approximately 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) from the downtown terminal.
As it entered the narrows, it came across a naval tug, the Stella Maris, which was towing two barges. Suddenly a naval sailor burst through the door. Good-bye boys.The telegraphed warnings were apparently heeded, as the No. Bang, bang, bang, all the way to Truro the order boards would drop bringing all Halifax bound trains to a halt as soon as they approached their next station. The decision was made to send the Mont Blanc to Halifax where it would cross with the larger convoy.On December 1st, the ship left New York for Halifax, alone and due to secrecy, not flying a red flag indicating it was a munitions ship.The Captain, Aiméé Le Medec, knowing he was in charge of a floating bomb, took many precautions, including not allowing his crew to even carry matches.The “Mont Blanc” arrived at the mouth of the Halifax Harbour on December 5th at 4:30pm and was met by Lieutenant Freeman, the ships inspector and Francis Mackie, the shipping pilot who would guide them through the harbour. The Coleman artifacts form a special part of the Museum's permanent exhibt on the Halifax Explosion.Coleman's action and results were truly heroic. He was not going to wait for official permission to leave, but on a normal day, it probably would not have made that much of a difference.The “Mont Blanc” was making its way along the east side of the harbour as it entered the narrows.At the same time, the “Imo” was planning to sail along the west side of the Bedford Basin. Many more homes burned due to wood stoves spilling over from the blast.The hospitals were immediately overwhelmed, so the military set up tents on the Halifax Common to handle the overflow.When Vince Coleman sent out the message to stop the train, the message did not stop there. The Coleman house was wrecked and then burned by the explosion. The crew did not stop running, the residents kept chasing and they all made it over the hill before the explosion.The “Mont Blanc” drifted across the harbour until it brushed against Pier 6 on the Halifax waterfront. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. A tramp tanker made its way into the harbour followed by the “Mont Blanc”.In the Bedford Basin, the Captain of the “Imo” was having his crew prepare for their departure. In his wallet that morning, tucked beside some raffle tickets for the Victory Bond drive, was a clipping about an upcoming union meeting in Montreal.As Coleman relieved the night dispatcher at the telegraph, off in the distance there was a muffled crash, followed by a column of black smoke rising above the rows of parked freight cars in front of the station. Halifax has thrived during times of war and the First World War was no exception.By December 1917, the population of Halifax was approx. Years later she would donate them to the Public Archives of Nova Scotia. The morning of December 6, 1917, Railway Dispatcher Vincent Coleman went to work from his home on Russell Street in the neighbourhood of Halifax's North End known as Richmond. Impatient ships packed the harbor as usual that morning. The “Mont Blanc” signaled that she still intended to pass to the starboard (right) as she was very close to the east side of the harbour and travelling very slow.The “Imo” did not vary its course at all and the “Mont Blanc’s” captain took the only course of action he thought he had. The railway quickly mobilized aid, sending a dozen relief trains with fire and medical help from towns in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on the day of the disaster, followed two days later by help from other parts of Canada and from the United States, most notably Although historians debate whether Coleman's initial message actually contributed to stopping the No. It was a short five blocks to his workplace at the Richmond railway station.He worked not in the grand brick passenger station on North Street but in the deceptively small wooden station in the middle of the Richmond rail yards. It continued on after the blast, but stopped short of Richmond due to debris on the tracks. One sailor made it to the Richmond Station and warned the dispatchers of the fire and imminent explosion.
train from Boston was due. The crew tried to explain the danger but were unable to get their point across.Getting frustrated a member of the crew grabbed a child from its mother’s arms and ran into the woods. He returned to his post alone and continued to send out urgent telegraph messages to stop the train. But a series of appeals concluded that errors by both the Imo and Mont Blanc led to the collision.
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