"Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbour making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye, boys." - Patrick "Vince" Coleman's last message.
@@eaaarts I mean, I looked at the wiki page for the disaster a while ago but I cant remember if it said Patrick or Vincent, they're the same number of syllables so I dont see why they would decide to use a wrong name.
@@eaaarts I believe VIncent was the other man with him? If I recall the story, two men sent word to a train that was supposed to be arriving within minutes. After doing so, the other man left to put as much distance from the explosion as he could, but Patrick chose to remain behind and send word further up the line to prevent anyone else from getting caught in the explosion.
@@ivanlovell1195 No, the Halifax explosion was 2900 tons of force or 2.9 kilotons so not exactly a run for its money although N1 in the largest rocket explosion
Wow, really cool to hear a song about this from you guys. My great-grandfather worked at the Richmond Street railyard same as Coleman, just yards from the pier where the Mont-Blanc exploded -- he was working on a train that morning that happened to leave a few minutes early because the engineer had a date in Truro that he wanted to get to. If they had stayed on schedule, they would've been right at the epicenter of the blast, and I wouldn't exist.
Favourite verse is" "The crew rowed for shore lest they burn or they drown They cried 'SAVE YOUR SOULS!' as they ran through the town But their warnings were nothing but strange foreign sounds for the townsfolk: no French had they learned" It just seems like such a desperate plea for people to run and get away, and it gets me.
What confuses me about that, is if you see someone running from a burning ship shouting as they tore through the streets, wouldn't you go along with them? Like...maybe they didn't know the ship was a munitions ship, but it was probably obvious that it was some kind of military vessel. I don't know about anyone else, but if I saw the crew of a military vessel run SHOUTING from their ship through town, I'd probably follow them. Even if I didn't understand what they're shouting.
@@weezact7 Some did, but the problem was that the harbor was busy enough, and it could easily be taken as panic rather than as a warning. It's also a matter of time - the people they passed would've had to realize the situation very quickly to escape in time, because the explosion devastated kilometers around.
As soon as I heard the ship name Mont-Blanc I knew exactly what this song was about. The Halifax explosion is was the largest non-nuclear explosion made by man and is sadly a story relatively few have heard of. Because it happened during the Great War, all news of the accident was suppressed so as not to effect moral or stall the shipment of war material to the bloodiest war in human history.
Canadian Forces in the US on twitter has a beautiful post on it from Christmastime. There is a tree for Boston every year, as a thank you for their immediate, unquestioning support after the explosion. Did not wait for a response to the telegram, just apologized in a followup that they were sending aid without waiting.
Every canadian i know who remembers TV in the 90s has at least a passing knowledge of this event, thanks to the Canadian Heritage Minutes commercial. ruclips.net/video/rw-FbwmzPKo/видео.html
Technically not the largest non-nuclear explosion (the largest I can think of being Minor Scale, which was a test involving 4744 tons of ANFO), but to my knowledge it is the largest accidental one.
Let me sing you a song, boys, of fire and flame Of a French ammo ship, the Mont-Blanc was her name How the brave Nova Scotia was never the same On the morning when Halifax burned. 'Twas in early December, 1917 She was packed to the gills with grade A TNT They were bound for the fighting in High Germany When to-wards them the other ship turned. The Norwegian ship Imo, some fault in her gears She struck Mont-Blanc's side like the mightiest of spears And the benzol ignited, the captain's worst fears As the fire consumed bow to stern. The people gazed on from their safe distant rooms Watched the soot and the smoke fill the sky with their plumes Though within, the ship's cargo would spell all their dooms How were they to know to be concerned? The crew rowed for shore, lest they burn or they drown They cried "Save your souls!" as they ran through the town But their warnings were nothing but strange foreign sounds For the townsfolk, no French had they learned. One man, Patrick Coleman, in the railway's employ Sent word, "Stop the trains or they'll all be destroyed. This will be my last message. Farewell to you boys." For a true hero's death he had earned. An explosion colossal, when the munitions blew Devastation and debris for miles by and through The Mont-Blanc was gone, and the town with it too And the waters raged up in return. There were heroes and angels, all fated to die Over two thousand souls laid to rest by and by We will always remember and lift a glass high To the morning when Halifax burned.
The tragedy was largely covered up at the time to prevent it damaging morale for World War II, if I recall correctly. As a consequence the event has never really gotten the recognition it deserves.
It does pain me that they don't teach this to you in school that much I knew about this explosion for a while but that's because I'm borderline a pyromaniac so I do a lot of reading on all kinds of explosives and this one is used as kind of a measuring stick for nukes because this is the largest man-made explosion that is not a nuke.
Yeah the only thing I can remember teaching this as a kid were those old 2 minute Canadian History shorts that told Patrick Coleman's story of stopping the train. Interesting fact: This event is why Halifax sends Boston a Christmas tree every year. To say "Thank you and we will never forget". When they learned of the incident Boston sent out a train filled with relief supplies, doctors and nurses the same day.
The most shocking thing about this event is that if it had happened not even 24 hours earlier it would have been far far worse. As RMS Olympic was in port loading troops to go to war. Some 6,000 odd men would have been aboard.
When my grandma was little, she was living in halifax during this explosion. She only remembered the ground shaking. It's so lovely hearing a song that feels so close to home!!
I doubt she lived in Halifax proper that explosion rocked the city An area of over 160 hectares (400 acres) was completely destroyed by the explosion. Over 12k buildings were completely destroyed and even more were damaged it was the largest man made explosion for several decades
A cool detail I just noticed. The other guys not singing are vocalizing (right term?) behind Dave's (I think) voice. It gives a feeling of impending doom approaching as it slowly builds up to the climax of the ship exploding. What I didn't notice until now is that the vocalizing stops for the last verse that explains the aftermath. The approaching disaster has now happened. The impending doom is now gone and all that remains is the grief left behind in its wake. It's the little details like that that really add to these songs.
I learned about the event just last month, and only found the song today. Apparently, when Boston heard about the explosion, they sent relief supplies as soon as they could (weather caused a delay). The shipment arrived much to the town's relief, and the following year Halifax sends a Christmas tree to Boston as a sign of thanks. In fact, starting in the 70's Halifax made it an annual tradition to send Boston a tree.
I don't knwo what power thought it would be funny but the day following the Explosion brought a Massive Winter Storm were temps dropped to between -20 and -40 C
I had actually never heard of Halifax before hearing this shanty so I’m glad I found this. I most likely would have never known of the explosion had I not heard this.
This song caught me off guard. I'm from lunenburg so to hear a song about somewhere so close to me was surprising. Especially one sung by my favorite shanty band. You did the song justice too, the tone of it was like someone telling a story they wished wasn't true. It tugged at my heart in a way a song hasn't done since the first time I heard Whisky Lullaby. Amazing job
HOLY SHIT I FORGOT ABOUT THE HALIFAX NEAR LUNENBURG! WAIT THIS SHIT HAPPENED IN HALIFAX VA?!?!?!?! HOLY FUCK WHY DID WE NEVER LEARN THIS IN SCHOOL?!?! HOW HAVE MY RELATIVES NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT THIS?!?!!?!?!?
@@mangamangosnowfox2484 This was the Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada. It even says so in the song's lyrics. I get why it'd be shocking to think it was the one near you though!
@@jacobnugent8159 the largest man made explosion until we started dropping nuclear bombs out in the desert, and somehow they kept it under wraps for the better part of a century. Idk how they even did that.
@@dillongage7628 people sort of knew but people who talked about it or looked into it where labled unhinged or conspiracy theorists. it happens even today as stuff like the saudia Arabian direct funding of the 9/11 attackers was conspiracy theory until in the last year or so documents got released that stated that.
The explosion of the Mont-blanc is a well known story. I don't know how well western Canadians know it, but it's well known in the maritime provinces. I've heard a lot of songs about Halifax, but first time hearing this one
It's nice to hear Nova Scotian history kept alive in a form like this. Given how important maritime traditions are to our culture, and shanties and folk songs being a big part of that, it just feels like a perfect and poignant way to commemorate one of the most impactful events in our history. Thanks, lads
Halifax was such a damned tragedy. Cant sing along to this song without shedding a few tears. Even not having known of Halifax prior.to.this song, or.being from the region, still.brings me to tears. Coleman died a heroes death, his effort not in vain, godspeed
Same! I looked up online and saw that Halifax had 6x more explosive force than Beirut, which really helps put the explosion into context with the footage we have of Beirut, trying to imagine something of that size. The fireball probably would have dwarfed the town, especially since Halifax in 1917 was so much smaller than Beirut is today. The Beirut explosion was horrifying though, and not trying to diminish it in any way.
Beirut was bad, but… yeah, no, it doesn’t come _close_ to the absolute devastation of Halifax. The estimated 2.9 kT yield of the blast is approximately 1/5 of the earliest nuclear bombs’ payload, and it detonated at sea level, not in the air. Everything within 1.6 square kilometers of the epicenter was _gone._ Brick and stone buildings were turned to scattered rubble. Roughly 1600 people were vaporized almost instantly. I really don’t think Beirut got anywhere close to this level of annihilation, though part of that could be due to better construction in a different era.
Lyrics: Let me sing you a song, boys, of fire and flame Of a French ammo ship, the Mont-Blanc was her name How the brave Nova Scotia was never the same On the morning when Halifax burned 'Twas in early December 1917 She was packed to the gills with Grade A T-N-T They were bound for the fighting in High Germany When towards them the other ship turned The Norweigan ship Imo, some fault in her gears She struck Mont-Blanc's side like the mightiest of spears And the benzol ignited the captain's worst fears As the fire consumed bow to stern The people gazed on from their safe distant rooms Watched the soot and the smoke fill the sky with their plumes But within, the ships cargo would spell all their dooms How were they to know to be concerned? The crew rowed for shore, lest they burn or they drown They cried, "Save your souls!" as they ran through the town But their warnings were nothing but strange foreign sounds For the townsfolk, no French had they learned One man, Patrick Coleman, in the railway's employ Sent word, "Stop the trains or they'll all be destroyed This will be my last message, farewell to you, boys" For a true hero's death he had earned An explosion, colossal, when the munitions blew Devastation and debris for miles fired through The Mont-Blanc was gone, and the town with it, too And the waters raged up in return There were heroes and angels all fated to die Over two thousand souls laid to rest by-and-by We will always remember and lift a glass high To the morning when Halifax burned
Canadian here. This song reminds me so much of my high school history class years ago in the best way possible. Truly an event that I think deserves more recognition than it gets. Awful stuff. Halifax is a nice city though, been there on vacation once and it was a beautiful place.
The last thing I could have expected was a shanty about the Halifax explosion. But here it is. I learned about this many many years ago when I was in elementary school in Yarmouth. And I've never understood why it wasn't widely taught. Thank you so much for doing this.
I could not help but connect this song in every way to what happened to my dear Beirut in summer of 2020. The entire story is similar and this is so heartbreaking
So, when travelling is allowed again you are going to come to Canada and sing this in Halifax before "driving hard across the plain", right? Please plan a stop in Ottawa. I will def be singing along.
reading the comments, and I never knew that the Halifax Explosion was something well-known anywhere but here in Nova Scotia, so this really surprised me!
This tribute deserves more likes, and Patrick Coleman deserves FAR more recognition. Only reason I know about him (before this) is because I love history and respect the sacrifices given so we can live the lives we got now. Everybody loves to play Viking, nobody loves when somebody plays Nazi. Ain’t saying Nazis were good, they’re evil, but they’re just as evil as Vikings and Mongols. Whatever, nobody cares. History’ll repeat because people only act on feelings.
I sailed out of Halifax one fine February on a training cruise on the DE USS Coats. (forgot the number) Out on the rough grey water off Halifax is not a place you want to be in the Winter. Warm and ashore in the bars of Halifax is definitely a place you do want to be. I remember both too well.
I just had this playing in the background, not really paying too much attention and had the sudden realization of "Oh shit, I know what this song is about."
more surprising to me, the most well known thing about halifax may be an explosion, but there are still like 20 towns and rivers named halifax that's like naming a town pompeii
It was so cool to hear this come up while I was listening to the album!! It's so rare Nova Scotia gets any attention, even though we have such interesting events like this to share! Thank you guys for doing a piece of our history justice ^_^ maybe you'd be interested in the wreck of the S.S. Atlantic next time!
Coming from the "Well there's your problem" episode on Halifax it's funny to hear Imo being described as striking the Mont-Blanc like "the mightiest of spears". It was a sub 1 knot collision. It was more like "bumb, **booom**", because some of the explosives being carried could be set off by motion. Low speed collisions were actually so common in Halifax that when the Imo and Mont-blanc were blowing their whistles at eachother to negotiate the pass, a bunch of people exited their houses to watch what they thought would be a low stakes boat collision. A majority of them were blinded by the shrapnel from the blast
In perhaps a further twist (of the knife, so to speak) to this tragedy was American scientists and engineers on the Manhattan Project studied the Halifax Explosion for hard data that helped them determine an air-burst detonation would be more destructive. Of course such was likely already predicted by mathematic calculations but the hard data provided by this tragedy weighted those scales that would claim even more lives just a few decades later.
I had a weird feeling about this day when I am writing this, then I realized, is this not the day of the Halifax explosion? So I looked it up at my local library, and sure thing, it was today, it's a very sobering thing to think about
I don't know how many time's I've listened to this, I've lost track tbh.....But just today I noticed....there is the sounds of a roaring fire in the background. Nice job Longest johns....gave me chills.
Wow I just googled this song for it’s origins and it’s written by Dave of the longest johns. Gotta say this is an amazing thought provoking song, thank you Dave.
Being a lot of Scandinavian in my roots and having a very very important bloodline and hearing all these sea shanties about Scandinavians and stuff like that it's really like brings to joy of my heart
Fun(?) Fact: Over a hundred years later, the Halifax Explosion is still the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion in history. For a comparison that you can look up to help visualize the sheer scale of the devastation from that disaster; the warehouse explosion in Beirut, Lebanon in 2020 was around 1/6 the force and size of the Halifax Explosion.
Interesting fact about the Halifax explosion that I’ve not seen mentioned here before: It was the inciting incident for the creation of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. One of the effects of the explosion was the blinding of over 800 people. This, along with the amount of veterans returning with visual impairments, caused a group of people to found the CNIB in 1918.
The full quote of Patrick Vincent Coleman was “Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbor making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys."
Its amazing that almost the entire crew of the Mont-Blanc survived. Even though everything in the immediate area was destroyed and there were around 2,000 people killed
I want to see an ASL/FSL performance of this song SO BAD. the level of emotion in every word would make is a very powerful thing to see even if you didn't understand the exact signs
I love the longest Johns I live in Halifax and will frequently read up on history and listen to songs about it yet today is my first time hearing this song da heck
is is weird that this reminds me of the sort of songs my dad used to ding me to sleep? most of them weren't traditional sea songs, but modern songs done in this style, but the comparison stands. we're a weird family.
@@raras8252 @Raras8 It's a royal pain to find good recordings of the songs dad used to sing to me. There's at least one decent recording of "song of the red war boat", and you can find "Berserker" by Leslie Fish, although that isn't really a sea song. I couldn't find a single go recording of "Catalan Vengeance" though, the only guy on RUclips who covered it was more reciting than singing, not very good. It's surprising how hard it is to find good somber songs.
My grandmother (who had moved to the USA a few years earlier) was from Kentville, near Halifax. She told me the story when I was a wee boy. She lost some family. Thanks, Longest John's.
There aren’t a lot of songs that make me cry. This song did, the only song I can think of that makes me feel they way I do listening to this is wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
My grandfather was a crew member on board of of the ships that tried to find the Fitzgerald. The SS William Clay Ford if recall correctly. He passed away before I was born but I've been told he knew some of the men on the Mighty Fitz and was so haunted that he ended up quitting his job and never set foot on any kind of boat ever again. If you didnt know they recovered the Bell from the Fitz in 95. I believe it's in whitefish point MI right now.
There's a folk song in my language roughly translated to 'soldier weeper', it's about the departing soldiers from the point of view of the wives left behind. Not gonna lie, that song makes me cry
I came back to this song as soon as I remembered what today was the anniversary of. Such a terrible tragedy, I think that it’s important we remember it.
My great grandmother heard it from her farm, though I forget how far away it was, only that it was a long way away. It really speaks to the power of the explosion. Edit: I asked my dad and he said it was 120 miles (193.1 kilometres)
I never even knew about the explosion before hearing this song. It moves me to tears every time. Rest in peace to the victims, especially Coleman (and his colleague William Lovett, who also sent a warning). I hope they received a hero's burial.
I get goosebumps when I listen to this song, when you know about the Halifax explosion already and hear about it in shanty form, it really makes it feel different. Like the somberness you feel from the story is expressed in song.
Wanna trade places? Theres 5ft of snow and it's supposed to be -32° F (roughly -35 C° if I did my math right) tommorow. And that's not even counting the windchill. Got 30 mph winds rn. Gotta love Minnesota.
@@dexicta yeah I work overnights. I haven't seen the sun since roughly October. I'm so pale I'm almost translucent. I'm really questioning why I still live here right about now.
My wife and I were watching Oppenheimer, and in the scene where they decide on kilotons of TNT as their unit of explosive force, they reference this event. I made a comment that the ship was named the Mont-Blanc, and my wife asked how I knew, so I showed her this song.
1: I’m an idiot and thought this was gonna be a shanty cover of ‘through the fire and flames’ 2: this SLAPS 3: I never realized shanties were still being written as recently as 1917, dang
Apparently it's a Longest Johns original, so it was not historically written. Makes sense, considering any information about the Halifax explosion was quelled so as not to affect morale during The Great War.
just learned about the Halifax Explosion for the first time today, I can't believe this topic was never mentioned when I took Canadian History since WW1, back in 2018.
One of the small details I love about this song is the sound of the glass shattering during the explosion, which would've happened due to the shockwave. It is just such a tiny touch that goes so far for the song
"Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbour making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye, boys." - Patrick "Vince" Coleman's last message.
Makes my heart ache for him. Cheers mate
His God rest him. At least he knew he had done all he could.
What a man, what a human
A hero through and through
My highest respects
Patrick Coleman saved approx 300 lives that day.
He seriously bloody earnt that hero's death, respect to the man.
Wasn't his name Vincent Coleman tho?
@@eaaarts I mean, I looked at the wiki page for the disaster a while ago but I cant remember if it said Patrick or Vincent, they're the same number of syllables so I dont see why they would decide to use a wrong name.
@@eaaarts I believe VIncent was the other man with him?
If I recall the story, two men sent word to a train that was supposed to be arriving within minutes. After doing so, the other man left to put as much distance from the explosion as he could, but Patrick chose to remain behind and send word further up the line to prevent anyone else from getting caught in the explosion.
@@cyqry looked it up, his name was Patrick Vincent Coleman
@@eaaarts Aah okay. Was what I said close to accurate about the story though? I'm actually curious about this hero now.
Fun Fact: Because of the efforts of Boston in the recovery of the city afterward, Halifax sends a Christmas tree to Boston every year.
America and Canada are like two brothers we make fun of each other but when the crap hits the fan we take care of each other
Soon as my dad heard me singing this song, he Told me told me that part of the story and wanted to listen to the song in full
@@jacobnugent8159 Marching together, lockstep, into communism, unfortunately.
@@krockpotbroccoli65 you clearly dont know what communism is if you think either country is anywhere close to it...
@@krockpotbroccoli65 I don't know what reality you live in but nothing you said even remotely resembles this universe's reality in the slightest.
One of the largest man-made non nuclear explosions recorded. Never thought I'd hear a shanty tale of this event.
At the time it was the largest man made explosion
I think it remains the single largest accidental man-made detonation to this day. (I might be wrong, but I couldn't find any larger accidental ones.)
@@zekanner N1 probably gives it a run for its money. 2300 tons of kerolox makes for a pretty big boom.
@@ivanlovell1195 No, the Halifax explosion was 2900 tons of force or 2.9 kilotons so not exactly a run for its money although N1 in the largest rocket explosion
Nice pfp
Wow, really cool to hear a song about this from you guys. My great-grandfather worked at the Richmond Street railyard same as Coleman, just yards from the pier where the Mont-Blanc exploded -- he was working on a train that morning that happened to leave a few minutes early because the engineer had a date in Truro that he wanted to get to. If they had stayed on schedule, they would've been right at the epicenter of the blast, and I wouldn't exist.
Wow! that is amazing.
So what your saying is; for the first time in history, a man's thirstyness saved lives.
@@LockeRobsta that's what I got from this tale
Simps save lives
I’m glad your here
The Halifax Explosion is such a terrible tragedy, this song really does it justice.
December 6 1917 9:05 a.m
I never heard of it till now
@Tehani Fao r/youngpeopleyoutube
@@ithinkartisfun2897 be quiet redditior th..
@@ithinkartisfun2897 Shut up you reddit-man. Maybe he's just excited, that he found his friend in the comments.
"Will they mention Vince Coleman?..."
[the sixth stanza hits]
[raises his glass o' rum] "A true hero's death he had earned."
Isn't Vince/Vincent his middle name?
@@richardhicks5031 yes
Favourite verse is"
"The crew rowed for shore lest they burn or they drown
They cried 'SAVE YOUR SOULS!' as they ran through the town
But their warnings were nothing but strange foreign sounds
for the townsfolk: no French had they learned"
It just seems like such a desperate plea for people to run and get away, and it gets me.
Same man
The one after that sometimes makes my eyes water.
Man that verse was haunting. That one and the one about Coleman got me.
What confuses me about that, is if you see someone running from a burning ship shouting as they tore through the streets, wouldn't you go along with them? Like...maybe they didn't know the ship was a munitions ship, but it was probably obvious that it was some kind of military vessel. I don't know about anyone else, but if I saw the crew of a military vessel run SHOUTING from their ship through town, I'd probably follow them. Even if I didn't understand what they're shouting.
@@weezact7 Some did, but the problem was that the harbor was busy enough, and it could easily be taken as panic rather than as a warning. It's also a matter of time - the people they passed would've had to realize the situation very quickly to escape in time, because the explosion devastated kilometers around.
As soon as I heard the ship name Mont-Blanc I knew exactly what this song was about. The Halifax explosion is was the largest non-nuclear explosion made by man and is sadly a story relatively few have heard of. Because it happened during the Great War, all news of the accident was suppressed so as not to effect moral or stall the shipment of war material to the bloodiest war in human history.
Canadian Forces in the US on twitter has a beautiful post on it from Christmastime. There is a tree for Boston every year, as a thank you for their immediate, unquestioning support after the explosion. Did not wait for a response to the telegram, just apologized in a followup that they were sending aid without waiting.
Every canadian i know who remembers TV in the 90s has at least a passing knowledge of this event, thanks to the Canadian Heritage Minutes commercial. ruclips.net/video/rw-FbwmzPKo/видео.html
Technically not the largest non-nuclear explosion (the largest I can think of being Minor Scale, which was a test involving 4744 tons of ANFO), but to my knowledge it is the largest accidental one.
@@zekanner it was the largest man made explosion the world had ever seen at the time it happened though.
and still the largest accidental explosion
Let me sing you a song, boys, of fire and flame
Of a French ammo ship, the Mont-Blanc was her name
How the brave Nova Scotia was never the same
On the morning when Halifax burned.
'Twas in early December, 1917
She was packed to the gills with grade A TNT
They were bound for the fighting in High Germany
When to-wards them the other ship turned.
The Norwegian ship Imo, some fault in her gears
She struck Mont-Blanc's side like the mightiest of spears
And the benzol ignited, the captain's worst fears
As the fire consumed bow to stern.
The people gazed on from their safe distant rooms
Watched the soot and the smoke fill the sky with their plumes
Though within, the ship's cargo would spell all their dooms
How were they to know to be concerned?
The crew rowed for shore, lest they burn or they drown
They cried "Save your souls!" as they ran through the town
But their warnings were nothing but strange foreign sounds
For the townsfolk, no French had they learned.
One man, Patrick Coleman, in the railway's employ
Sent word, "Stop the trains or they'll all be destroyed.
This will be my last message. Farewell to you boys."
For a true hero's death he had earned.
An explosion colossal, when the munitions blew
Devastation and debris for miles by and through
The Mont-Blanc was gone, and the town with it too
And the waters raged up in return.
There were heroes and angels, all fated to die
Over two thousand souls laid to rest by and by
We will always remember and lift a glass high
To the morning when Halifax burned.
There's a special place in heaven for people like yoh
@@legobattledroid4110 I could not have said it better
Wow thank you! I've got one small correction I think but I might not be right:
"Devastation and debris for miles fire threw" I think but yeah idk
The people like you that actually take out time to write the lyrics have forever earned my respect
Thank you
As a Canadian, I am disappointed that this song is how I first learned about this event. How can you just leave an explosion this big out of history?
The tragedy was largely covered up at the time to prevent it damaging morale for World War II, if I recall correctly. As a consequence the event has never really gotten the recognition it deserves.
@@SageOfTheWood WW1 (1917), but yes.
It does pain me that they don't teach this to you in school that much I knew about this explosion for a while but that's because I'm borderline a pyromaniac so I do a lot of reading on all kinds of explosives and this one is used as kind of a measuring stick for nukes because this is the largest man-made explosion that is not a nuke.
Yeah the only thing I can remember teaching this as a kid were those old 2 minute Canadian History shorts that told Patrick Coleman's story of stopping the train.
Interesting fact: This event is why Halifax sends Boston a Christmas tree every year. To say "Thank you and we will never forget". When they learned of the incident Boston sent out a train filled with relief supplies, doctors and nurses the same day.
@@SiberianRomeo oh cool, I didn't know about Boston's involvement.
Men during Titanic: "dang man, that sucks, anyways"
Men during Fire & Flame, from Cures What Ails Ya by The Longest Johns: *immense amounts of crying*
They rest in the same graveyard, side by side, the victims of both disasters (those recovered, at least). That little graveyard is a sombre place.
The most shocking thing about this event is that if it had happened not even 24 hours earlier it would have been far far worse. As RMS Olympic was in port loading troops to go to war. Some 6,000 odd men would have been aboard.
Their hearts must have sunk upon learning this, I can't even imagine hearing that the town u just went through is devastated
That is quite cool. There is now a song about the Olympic by the longest johns
Depending on how far they got they probably felt the effects. They could've thought it had been bombed or something
When my grandma was little, she was living in halifax during this explosion. She only remembered the ground shaking. It's so lovely hearing a song that feels so close to home!!
I doubt she lived in Halifax proper that explosion rocked the city An area of over 160 hectares (400 acres) was completely destroyed by the explosion. Over 12k buildings were completely destroyed and even more were damaged it was the largest man made explosion for several decades
And to this day, it's still the largest man-made explosion that wasn't made by a nuclear weapon.
Any closer and you wouldn't have existed.
@@richardhicks5031Just because she was living in Halifax doesn’t mean she was actually in Halifax at the time
A cool detail I just noticed. The other guys not singing are vocalizing (right term?) behind Dave's (I think) voice. It gives a feeling of impending doom approaching as it slowly builds up to the climax of the ship exploding. What I didn't notice until now is that the vocalizing stops for the last verse that explains the aftermath. The approaching disaster has now happened. The impending doom is now gone and all that remains is the grief left behind in its wake. It's the little details like that that really add to these songs.
Reading your comment gave me shivers. I didn't notice it until I read this. Just shows how good their music is.
You explained how I was trying to say it myself, the whole song is somber. There’s no singing in the background, until the very end.
We will always remember, and lift a glass high
to the morning when Halifax burned
God rest their souls. Today is the 103th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion of 1917 in Nova Scotia, Canada.
That's 104 Christmas trees
I learned about the event just last month, and only found the song today. Apparently, when Boston heard about the explosion, they sent relief supplies as soon as they could (weather caused a delay). The shipment arrived much to the town's relief, and the following year Halifax sends a Christmas tree to Boston as a sign of thanks. In fact, starting in the 70's Halifax made it an annual tradition to send Boston a tree.
I don't knwo what power thought it would be funny
but the day following the Explosion brought a Massive Winter Storm were temps dropped to between -20 and -40 C
Even more fun fact Boston sent supplies that were meant for the war in Europe
up until hiroshima 1945 this was the largest manmade explosion in history. in fact this blast was equivalent to 20% of the little boy's power.
Oh man that dissonance at 1:44
My favorite part of the song
That actually gave me goosebumps
The incredible clarity and silence immediately after when he says "The mont-blanc is gone" Is what really got me
That is so hard to do, I love that part.
ghostly feel
I had actually never heard of Halifax before hearing this shanty so I’m glad I found this. I most likely would have never known of the explosion had I not heard this.
Same here. I didnt even know halifax was a town, but i shouldnt be surprisedf the Brits named a Bomber after it
Check out the channel Geographics they have a 20 min video all about the Halifax explosion.
Yea same, fuckin history didn’t teach u shit
@@Taeschno_Flo we're a city, not a town. The capital of the province and the densest population in NS
@@deinoswyrd sorry I don’t think he meant it.
This song caught me off guard. I'm from lunenburg so to hear a song about somewhere so close to me was surprising. Especially one sung by my favorite shanty band. You did the song justice too, the tone of it was like someone telling a story they wished wasn't true. It tugged at my heart in a way a song hasn't done since the first time I heard Whisky Lullaby. Amazing job
HOLY SHIT I FORGOT ABOUT THE HALIFAX NEAR LUNENBURG! WAIT
THIS SHIT HAPPENED IN HALIFAX VA?!?!?!?!
HOLY FUCK WHY DID WE NEVER LEARN THIS IN SCHOOL?!?! HOW HAVE MY RELATIVES NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT THIS?!?!!?!?!?
@@mangamangosnowfox2484 This was the Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada. It even says so in the song's lyrics. I get why it'd be shocking to think it was the one near you though!
It was such a tragic loss of life and most people don’t even know that it happened
@@jacobnugent8159 the largest man made explosion until we started dropping nuclear bombs out in the desert, and somehow they kept it under wraps for the better part of a century. Idk how they even did that.
@@dillongage7628 people sort of knew but people who talked about it or looked into it where labled unhinged or conspiracy theorists. it happens even today as stuff like the saudia Arabian direct funding of the 9/11 attackers was conspiracy theory until in the last year or so documents got released that stated that.
They send a tree every year to Boston to thank them for aid given after the tragedy.
The explosion of the Mont-blanc is a well known story. I don't know how well western Canadians know it, but it's well known in the maritime provinces. I've heard a lot of songs about Halifax, but first time hearing this one
They wrote the song iirc (I know I am 7 months late)
It's nice to hear Nova Scotian history kept alive in a form like this. Given how important maritime traditions are to our culture, and shanties and folk songs being a big part of that, it just feels like a perfect and poignant way to commemorate one of the most impactful events in our history. Thanks, lads
Halifax was such a damned tragedy. Cant sing along to this song without shedding a few tears.
Even not having known of Halifax prior.to.this song, or.being from the region, still.brings me to tears.
Coleman died a heroes death, his effort not in vain, godspeed
That dissonant chord at 1:45, chills every time
Now I can't stop thinking about the beirut explosion when I hear this.
I'm from the east coast of Canada, and when I saw that blast in Beirut, I couldn't help but think about Halifax.
Nice name
Same! I looked up online and saw that Halifax had 6x more explosive force than Beirut, which really helps put the explosion into context with the footage we have of Beirut, trying to imagine something of that size. The fireball probably would have dwarfed the town, especially since Halifax in 1917 was so much smaller than Beirut is today. The Beirut explosion was horrifying though, and not trying to diminish it in any way.
Beirut was bad, but… yeah, no, it doesn’t come _close_ to the absolute devastation of Halifax. The estimated 2.9 kT yield of the blast is approximately 1/5 of the earliest nuclear bombs’ payload, and it detonated at sea level, not in the air. Everything within 1.6 square kilometers of the epicenter was _gone._ Brick and stone buildings were turned to scattered rubble. Roughly 1600 people were vaporized almost instantly. I really don’t think Beirut got anywhere close to this level of annihilation, though part of that could be due to better construction in a different era.
Lyrics:
Let me sing you a song, boys, of fire and flame
Of a French ammo ship, the Mont-Blanc was her name
How the brave Nova Scotia was never the same
On the morning when Halifax burned
'Twas in early December 1917
She was packed to the gills with Grade A T-N-T
They were bound for the fighting in High Germany
When towards them the other ship turned
The Norweigan ship Imo, some fault in her gears
She struck Mont-Blanc's side like the mightiest of spears
And the benzol ignited the captain's worst fears
As the fire consumed bow to stern
The people gazed on from their safe distant rooms
Watched the soot and the smoke fill the sky with their plumes
But within, the ships cargo would spell all their dooms
How were they to know to be concerned?
The crew rowed for shore, lest they burn or they drown
They cried, "Save your souls!" as they ran through the town
But their warnings were nothing but strange foreign sounds
For the townsfolk, no French had they learned
One man, Patrick Coleman, in the railway's employ
Sent word, "Stop the trains or they'll all be destroyed
This will be my last message, farewell to you, boys"
For a true hero's death he had earned
An explosion, colossal, when the munitions blew
Devastation and debris for miles fired through
The Mont-Blanc was gone, and the town with it, too
And the waters raged up in return
There were heroes and angels all fated to die
Over two thousand souls laid to rest by-and-by
We will always remember and lift a glass high
To the morning when Halifax burned
Oh wow. The halifax explosion was incredible. Apparently it was even felt in PEI. Thank you.
Biggest non - nuclear man made explosion in history
Was slightly expecting a through the fire and the flames cover lol
Same, but I'm not disappointed
We can still dream and beg
The explosion sent the front cannon 3.4 kilometers away from Halifax
Canadian here. This song reminds me so much of my high school history class years ago in the best way possible. Truly an event that I think deserves more recognition than it gets. Awful stuff.
Halifax is a nice city though, been there on vacation once and it was a beautiful place.
"When towards them the other ship turned..."
That is such a good line, it shows the despair and shock as they start to notice something's wrong
The last thing I could have expected was a shanty about the Halifax explosion. But here it is.
I learned about this many many years ago when I was in elementary school in Yarmouth. And I've never understood why it wasn't widely taught. Thank you so much for doing this.
I could not help but connect this song in every way to what happened to my dear Beirut in summer of 2020. The entire story is similar and this is so heartbreaking
Powerful imagery, literally sent chills down my spine.
almost brought me too tears very sad song but a good one
awesome song. my grandfather was a surviver of the Halifax Explosion
So, when travelling is allowed again you are going to come to Canada and sing this in Halifax before "driving hard across the plain", right? Please plan a stop in Ottawa. I will def be singing along.
I'll join you friend
This Haligonian thirds the plan
Damn sounds epic
Or plan a trip to Halifax for the occasion, and see the memorials while you're there.
The Hardest part about singing this must be trying to fight the chills in your spine.
reading the comments, and I never knew that the Halifax Explosion was something well-known anywhere but here in Nova Scotia, so this really surprised me!
It's not well know anywhere outside of Canada.
Tragic, really, how few people know about it.
@@dillongage7628 it's not unexpected though. I've been told there was a lot of covering it up so as to not reduce morale.
Reminds me of “Misty Mountains Cold” for some reason
I had the same thought when I heard it for the first time!
Yeah it is a lot like it
sad songs about a highly destructive event, in the same key.
Maybe the notes or tune
JD singing bass is faintly reminiscent of a dwarf, maybe its that
This tribute deserves more likes, and Patrick Coleman deserves FAR more recognition. Only reason I know about him (before this) is because I love history and respect the sacrifices given so we can live the lives we got now. Everybody loves to play Viking, nobody loves when somebody plays Nazi. Ain’t saying Nazis were good, they’re evil, but they’re just as evil as Vikings and Mongols. Whatever, nobody cares. History’ll repeat because people only act on feelings.
I only learned this important bit of Canadian history in adulthood. This shanty is beautiful.
I sailed out of Halifax one fine February on a training cruise on the DE USS Coats. (forgot the number) Out on the rough grey water off Halifax is not a place you want to be in the Winter. Warm and ashore in the bars of Halifax is definitely a place you do want to be. I remember both too well.
I just had this playing in the background, not really paying too much attention and had the sudden realization of "Oh shit, I know what this song is about."
more surprising to me, the most well known thing about halifax may be an explosion, but there are still like 20 towns and rivers named halifax
that's like naming a town pompeii
For some context: The Halifax Explosion was about 1.75 times larger and more powerful than the Beirut explosion that happened not long ago.
It was so cool to hear this come up while I was listening to the album!! It's so rare Nova Scotia gets any attention, even though we have such interesting events like this to share! Thank you guys for doing a piece of our history justice ^_^ maybe you'd be interested in the wreck of the S.S. Atlantic next time!
Coming from the "Well there's your problem" episode on Halifax it's funny to hear Imo being described as striking the Mont-Blanc like "the mightiest of spears". It was a sub 1 knot collision. It was more like "bumb, **booom**", because some of the explosives being carried could be set off by motion. Low speed collisions were actually so common in Halifax that when the Imo and Mont-blanc were blowing their whistles at eachother to negotiate the pass, a bunch of people exited their houses to watch what they thought would be a low stakes boat collision. A majority of them were blinded by the shrapnel from the blast
In perhaps a further twist (of the knife, so to speak) to this tragedy was American scientists and engineers on the Manhattan Project studied the Halifax Explosion for hard data that helped them determine an air-burst detonation would be more destructive.
Of course such was likely already predicted by mathematic calculations but the hard data provided by this tragedy weighted those scales that would claim even more lives just a few decades later.
Standing in my galley alongside the halifax waterfront hearing this song for the first time. Amazing
I had a weird feeling about this day when I am writing this, then I realized, is this not the day of the Halifax explosion? So I looked it up at my local library, and sure thing, it was today, it's a very sobering thing to think about
I don't know how many time's I've listened to this, I've lost track tbh.....But just today I noticed....there is the sounds of a roaring fire in the background. Nice job Longest johns....gave me chills.
Had never heard this story. What an emotionally packed song.
as a canadian who has gone to the site i can say that Halifax has recovered quite alot and theres actually a meseum about the burning
Wow I just googled this song for it’s origins and it’s written by Dave of the longest johns. Gotta say this is an amazing thought provoking song, thank you Dave.
Being a lot of Scandinavian in my roots and having a very very important bloodline and hearing all these sea shanties about Scandinavians and stuff like that it's really like brings to joy of my heart
Fun(?) Fact: Over a hundred years later, the Halifax Explosion is still the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion in history.
For a comparison that you can look up to help visualize the sheer scale of the devastation from that disaster; the warehouse explosion in Beirut, Lebanon in 2020 was around 1/6 the force and size of the Halifax Explosion.
Interesting fact about the Halifax explosion that I’ve not seen mentioned here before: It was the inciting incident for the creation of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. One of the effects of the explosion was the blinding of over 800 people. This, along with the amount of veterans returning with visual impairments, caused a group of people to found the CNIB in 1918.
The full quote of Patrick Vincent Coleman was “Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbor making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys."
Its amazing that almost the entire crew of the Mont-Blanc survived. Even though everything in the immediate area was destroyed and there were around 2,000 people killed
So glad I was given the chance to pay my respects to such a valiant being.
I want to see an ASL/FSL performance of this song SO BAD. the level of emotion in every word would make is a very powerful thing to see even if you didn't understand the exact signs
cheers to the hero
I love the longest Johns I live in Halifax and will frequently read up on history and listen to songs about it yet today is my first time hearing this song da heck
I vividly remember reading a book called "Blizzard of Glass" about this very event, I never thought i'd think of it again.
is is weird that this reminds me of the sort of songs my dad used to ding me to sleep? most of them weren't traditional sea songs, but modern songs done in this style, but the comparison stands. we're a weird family.
Can you give me the name of some? I'd like to find more music like this
@@raras8252 @Raras8 It's a royal pain to find good recordings of the songs dad used to sing to me. There's at least one decent recording of "song of the red war boat", and you can find "Berserker" by Leslie Fish, although that isn't really a sea song. I couldn't find a single go recording of "Catalan Vengeance" though, the only guy on RUclips who covered it was more reciting than singing, not very good. It's surprising how hard it is to find good somber songs.
They aren't exactly the same style, but this reminded me a bit of the general serious tone of them, I've always liked a good somber song.
@@bow-tiedengineer4453 Raised on filk! Your dad had good taste.
@@nobodyanon You heard Catalan Vengence? "My six gold rings were dearly bought" etc. etc.? that's my favorite of them, but no good recordings online.
This sent shivers down my spine.
This is such a sad story and every time I listen to the song, I get chills. You did a great job portraying it.
Raising a glass today for those lost. Hard to believe my birthday is shrouded by such an event. May they rest.
I've just read about this story in a magazine called Quest a couple of weeks ago, and now here's this song. Just beautiful but so sad ❤
This gives me shivers, brilliant!
An excellent tribute to those killed that day.
My grandmother (who had moved to the USA a few years earlier) was from Kentville, near Halifax. She told me the story when I was a wee boy. She lost some family. Thanks, Longest John's.
This song literally gives me goosebumps every time. Like, my body hairs all stand on end and my scalp tingles.
104 Years and 1 Month after the morning that Halifax burned.
Love the song.
103 Christmas trees to Boston
Can you imagine having to follow this performance on group presentation day in history class?
"chills, literal chills"
I've never appreciated RUclips suggest more than when it led me to the longest johns.
Also, this song gave me goose bumps
There aren’t a lot of songs that make me cry. This song did, the only song I can think of that makes me feel they way I do listening to this is wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
My grandfather was a crew member on board of of the ships that tried to find the Fitzgerald.
The SS William Clay Ford if recall correctly. He passed away before I was born but I've been told he knew some of the men on the Mighty Fitz and was so haunted that he ended up quitting his job and never set foot on any kind of boat ever again.
If you didnt know they recovered the Bell from the Fitz in 95. I believe it's in whitefish point MI right now.
I remember the storm the night the Edmund Fitzgerald sank and it was a big one. My cousin said the waves where as big as he had ever seen.
There's a folk song in my language roughly translated to 'soldier weeper', it's about the departing soldiers from the point of view of the wives left behind. Not gonna lie, that song makes me cry
I came back to this song as soon as I remembered what today was the anniversary of. Such a terrible tragedy, I think that it’s important we remember it.
My great grandmother heard it from her farm, though I forget how far away it was, only that it was a long way away. It really speaks to the power of the explosion.
Edit: I asked my dad and he said it was 120 miles (193.1 kilometres)
Wow.
With the amount of explosivez aboard the ship, it doesn't surprise me. Running away wasn't gonna save them sadly
@@jamstheshapeshifter I believe most of the crew survived actually, so if they had ran immediately, it may have
I never even knew about the explosion before hearing this song. It moves me to tears every time. Rest in peace to the victims, especially Coleman (and his colleague William Lovett, who also sent a warning). I hope they received a hero's burial.
Low-key get shivers every time this plays
If you haven't seen the exhibit in Halifax dedicated to this sad day, go see it because it's a very important thing in Canada's history
I get goosebumps when I listen to this song, when you know about the Halifax explosion already and hear about it in shanty form, it really makes it feel different. Like the somberness you feel from the story is expressed in song.
This song is incredibly beautiful and always gives me chills
Absolute CHILLS
🔥🧨Y e s🧨🔥
FIREEEEEEEEEEEEE I'M TIRED FIREEEEEEEEEEEEEE I'M TIREDDDDDDDDD
It's Summer in Australia and this is the first night it has Rained in months. Perfect for this song.
Wanna trade places? Theres 5ft of snow and it's supposed to be -32° F (roughly -35 C° if I did my math right) tommorow.
And that's not even counting the windchill. Got 30 mph winds rn.
Gotta love Minnesota.
@@dillongage7628 The Sun is so intense here, you literally can't touch anything Metal in a Car. I'd still take our weather over that any day lol
@@dexicta yeah I work overnights. I haven't seen the sun since roughly October. I'm so pale I'm almost translucent.
I'm really questioning why I still live here right about now.
@@dillongage7628 Hahahaha, holy crap, that's nuts.
@@dexicta yeah I'm so used to the dark I have to wear sunglasses on full moon nights.
My wife and I were watching Oppenheimer, and in the scene where they decide on kilotons of TNT as their unit of explosive force, they reference this event. I made a comment that the ship was named the Mont-Blanc, and my wife asked how I knew, so I showed her this song.
This is kinda reminding me of "Jenny of Oldstones", nice.
I get chills every time I hear this song
Thanks!
1: I’m an idiot and thought this was gonna be a shanty cover of ‘through the fire and flames’
2: this SLAPS
3: I never realized shanties were still being written as recently as 1917, dang
Apparently it's a Longest Johns original, so it was not historically written. Makes sense, considering any information about the Halifax explosion was quelled so as not to affect morale during The Great War.
Shanties are being written as recently as now! More than half the songs on this album are original.
@@dappercuttlefish9557 idk much abt shanties but I love the thought of ppl in the future singing abt what’s going on now
Still the best Longest Johns song
just learned about the Halifax Explosion for the first time today, I can't believe this topic was never mentioned when I took Canadian History since WW1, back in 2018.
I love this song beyond reasonable measure. Just needed to say it.
One of the small details I love about this song is the sound of the glass shattering during the explosion, which would've happened due to the shockwave. It is just such a tiny touch that goes so far for the song