New book on Halifax Explosion explores history for 'ship nerds'

On Dec. 12, 2017, the SS Calvin Austin was tied up at Pickford & Black’s Wharf in Halifax. It was loaded with supplies and a crew of workmen from the state of Massachusetts to assist with the recovery effort after the Halifax Explosion. (Source: Bob Chaulk)

Bob Chaulk, a self-professed “ship nerd,” probably knows the ins and outs of the Halifax Harbour better than just about anyone in Nova Scotia. The diver and author has plunged into the chilly waters of Halifax more than 1,200 times, uncovering cannon balls, glass bottles, and other artifacts from the city’s grand sweep of history.

Chaulk said many of his dives have taken place near the heart of the Halifax Explosion of 1917, which occurred when the SS Mont-Blanc, loaded with combustible elements, collided with the SS Imo and unleashed the most devastating man-made blast until the atomic bomb.

“I discovered an anchor in Tufts Cove,” Chaulk said. “It had to have gotten there in the explosion.”

“There are no ships down in the harbour. You read newspaper articles from the time that say ships sank and it’s not true. Just one ship was lost and it was the Mont-Blanc. The Imo went back to work.”

Chaulk has read his fair share of books on the history of the Halifax Explosion, but he always found the information on the other ships in the harbour was lacking, which inspired him to write his newest book.

“They’d say vaguely that in the basin there were 30-to-40 ships; if there were many ships in there, why not some details for us nerds?” Chaulk said. “When I finished my last book two years ago about the SS Atlantic, I was thinking about writing another book. I thought I should do something about the explosion.

“There was all kinds of stuff about the explosion I didn’t know. I knew absolutely nothing about the other ships. I was really interested in the nuts and bolts of it. In the process of researching all that, there were all kinds of stories about the people on the ships and what they were doing in Halifax.”

The Acadia, which is anchored behind the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, is the only ship afloat that was in both World Wars and survived the Halifax Explosion. (Source: Bob Chaulk)Chaulk’s book, “The Dangerous Harbour: Revealing the Unknown Ships and Wrecks of the Halifax Explosion,” explores the stories behind those forgotten vessels.

“I’m a details guy. There were 150 ships in the harbour and I told stories about particularly interesting ships,” he said. “There are personal stories of sailors on ships, many men were within spitting distance of the Mont Blanc and they survived. One ship was carrying horses that were important to the war effort.

“You have to think about it from the point of view of your reader. I had these masses of data, and people don’t want to read about data, they want to read stories. I told the story of the explosion, but I expanded it so I covered what happened before the explosion.”

Looking to the future, Chaulk said he would like to write a book about the Halifax waterfront and its dramatic changes over the decades.

“I have some interest in the old waterfront and it grew out of what I just did,” he said. “I have to come up with a story.”

“The Dangerous Harbour” is available through Nimbus Publishing.

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