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 , a Norwegian ship . A fire aboard the French ship ignited her cargo of wet and dry 2300 tons of picric acid , 200 tons of TNT , and 10 tons of guncotton . The resultant Halifax Explosion levelled the Richmond District and killed approximately 2,000 people , and the injured were approximately 9000
Halifax Explosion
Halifax Explosion
SS Mont-Blanc