On 6 December 1917 , '' Stella Maris '' , with Captain Horatio Harris Brannen and 23 others aboard , was towing two scows near mid-channel in the Narrows of Halifax Harbour leading into Bedford Basin . Shortly before the explosion , the tug had to hastily change course to avoid the outbound which was departing Bedford Basin . '' Imo '' then collided with '' Mont Blanc '' , a French munitions ship . The collision started a fire on '' Mont Blanc '' , forcing the crew to evacuate . The burning ship then began drifting towards Halifax 's Pier 6 on the western shore . '' Stella Maris '' anchored its barges to respond to the fire and approached the burning munitions ship , spraying the flames with its fire hose . As the fire was too intense to stop with a single fire hose , the '' Stella Maris '' s crew began to prepare a towline to pull the French vessel away from Pier 6 and prevent the fire from spreading ashore . The crew were in the process of retrieving a ten-inch hawser from the hold to assist a party of volunteers from 's steam pinnace in securing a line to '' Mont Blanc '' . Before this could be done , the explosion occurred . The Halifax Explosion was the largest man-made blast prior to the Trinity test of the atomic bomb . '' Stella Maris '' was severely damaged and thrown up on the beach near Pier 6 with the bow ashore and the shattered stern submerged . Nineteen of the crew were killed , including Captain Brannen , but five managed to survive and two provided important eyewitness testimony at the investigation into the disaster . The tug was salvaged and rebuilt for service in the First World War
Halifax Explosion
Halifax Explosion
ST Stella Maris (1882)