Vince Coleman died in the explosion, as did his co-worker William Lovett, though he had left the station.
Today is the 99th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion of 1917. On that day, a large segment of the city was obliterated, as were the lives of many of its citizens. A couple of years ago, I wrote a post describing the devastation caused by this event, and mentioned my Great Uncle Albert, who was a baby at the time and had a very close call. Last month I attended Uncle Al's funeral; he died at 100 years old after a long and well-lived life. I'm not sure how many other survivors are still alive, but it can't be many. * * * * This is a photograph of Vince Coleman, who was killed in the explosion. He was a train dispatcher who worked at the depot close to Pier 6, where the Mont Blanc ran aground. Right after the two ships collided at 8:45 am, a sailor warned Coleman and his coworker, William Lovett, about the cargo aboard the burning Mont Blanc, telling them the ship was going to blow. The overnight express train from Moncton, New Brunswick, was due to arrive at 8:55 am carrying 300 passengers. Lovett sent a call to the terminal agent to tell him about the coming explosion, then abandoned the station. Vince Coleman, however, went back to the telegraph and sent messages out to stop all incoming trains from entering the city. His message was heeded, and the express was halted at the Rockingham depot, some 6 km outside the city. His Morse Code message read: "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." Vince Coleman died in the explosion, as did his co-worker William Lovett, though he had left the station. Vince Coleman was featured in a Heritage Minute which I'll post below; it has a few inaccuracies- Coleman didn't run along the street warning people, and there were 300 people on the train, not 700- but it's mostly accurate.
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