Table of Contents

Illustrations

Foreword / J.L. Granatstein

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Through Sailors’ Eyes

1 The RCN in Halifax -- December 1917

2 Towards the Unthinkable

3 Halifax Tide

4 Through the Grim Day

5 Reaction and Recovery

6 Of Sailors, Lawyers, Goats, and Newspapers

7 Goats to the Slaughter

8 Covering the Tracks

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

John Griffith Armstrong is a retired career officer who taught history at the Royal Military College of Canada and was part of the team at the Department of National Defence’s Directorate of History that wrote volume 3 of The Official History of the RCAF.

Reviews

Armstrong’s account and analysis adds considerably to our knowledge not only of the explosion, but also of the influence of the media, and the concerns of Ottawa. Having spent years in the latter as an official historian, the author has had first-hand knowledge of how covers-up work.
*American Review of Canadian Studies, Winter 2005*

While the disaster has been subject of several popular histories, until now, the event has not been given the detailed scholarly study required to sweep away myth and provide an accurate account of what took place. John Griffith Armstrong has undertaken the first such academic work, and it is a very good study indeed. Armstrong’s focus is the role of the Royal Canadian and Royal navies in the events leading up to the explosion, its aftermath, and the investigations that followed. By shifting the attention of the reader away from the calamity that befell the city, Armstrong has provided a remarkable fresh look into the explosion.
*International Journal, Summer 2005*