The Halifax Explosion and the Royal Canadian Navy - Inquiry and Intrigue

John Griffith Armstrong

ISBN 10: 0774808918 / ISBN 13: 9780774808910

Published by UBC Press - The University of BC, Vancouver BC Canada, 2002

About this Item

Book is in near new condition and very clean with no writing or markings anywhere, also well bound with no loose or missing pages. **Signed by Author** and inscribed to previous owner, "With Best wishes 04 December 2003". Author is a retired career officer who taught history at the RMC of Canada. He carefully retraces the events preceding the disaster and the role of the military in its aftermath, and concludes that federal officials knew the potential dangers in the harbour before the explosion and took no corrective actions.

Seller Inventory # 000463

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Halifax Explosion and the Royal Canadian Navy - Inquiry and Intrigue
• Publisher: UBC Press - The University of BC, Vancouver BC Canada
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0774808918
• ISBN 13: 9780774808910
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Weight: 250 grams
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Signed Canadian Books
  • Canadian Maritime History
  • Local History - Atlantic Canada

About this title

Synopsis

The Halifax Explosion of 1917 is a defining event in the Canadian consciousness, yet it has never been the subject of a sustained analytical history. Astonishingly, until now no one has consulted the large federal government archives that contain first-hand accounts of the disaster and the response of national authorities. Canada's recently established navy was at the epicentre of the crisis. Armstrong reveals the navy's compelling, and little-known, story by carefully retracing the events preceding the disaster and the role of the military in its aftermath. He catches the pulse of disaster response in official Ottawa and provides a compelling analysis of the legal manoeuvres, rhetoric, blunders, public controversy, and crisis management that ensued. His disturbing conclusion is that federal officials knew of potential dangers in the harbour before the explosion, took no corrective action, and kept the information from the public.

About the Author

John Griffith Armstrong, now retired, taught history at the Royal Military College of Canada.