h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Today's raft of Entries, I mean.
I tagged to this one, because (a little later but unaware of your piece) I described a different event as the greatest man-made release of energy until Hiroshima.
But it sounds like you are probably right. I'd heard of this incident, but had no idea of its scale.
You do write very well, and your style suits the subject. Understated but profound. There's more to Canada than people first think, isn't there?
Pin.

Thanks, Pinniped.

There certainly is more to Canada than people first think. I find there's always more than I last thought. I never run out of interesting topics. And now there's a new land-claim settlement in Labrador that just cries out with its novelty for an entry. . .

The things that really prevented the Halifax explosion from being far, far worse are the combinations of facts that it was a ground burst down in the harbour and that Citadel Hill rose above the city (and the explosion) and diverted most of the explosive force away from the areas behind. If Halifax had been built on flat land, the horror would have been much greater.

What was the event of which you were writing?

It was the Sheffield Flood of 1864, a damburst rather than an explosion. If you're interested, it's here : A2464733

One day I will find a way to spend some time in Canada, beyond fleeting visits to Ontario steel mills.

Hate to contradict, but as I grew up the *the largest non-nuclear explosion ever* was always referred to as the Ripple Rock blast.

http://www.vancouverislandabound.com/tamingof.htm

I suppose as a man-made event it can hardly compare, and no lives were lost.

Just standing up for the left coast legends!

What a wacky project! I'd say that deserves an entry of its own.

Now, lets see:

Ripple Rock - 1375 tons of unidentified explosives

Halifax - 2,766 tonnes of TNT, gun cotton and picric acid

Which was bigger?

(I'm not on a coast, so I have no axe to grind.

I have no cutting tool to sharpen by friction with a stone, either. Consider, though that the explosion at Ripple Rock was contained, and those of us who have made pipe bombs know the difference between a contained and uncontained blast.

I don't want to squabble, we may both be right or wrong for all I know.

The fact remains that for shear devastation there is no doubt that Halifax *wins* hands, feet, and head down.

I still think you better get to work on another entry.

But, wait. . . this was all started by Halifax being the biggest man-made explosion until Hiroshima. Not "the largest man-made explosion ever", rather, "the largest man-made explosion to have ever occurred" to that point. Unless my understanding of history is really confused, Ripple Rock was after Hiroshima.

I think we may both be right.





But I'm more right.