A Mystery Shipwreck in Canada Might Be Tied to the 1917 Halifax Explosion

On December 6, 1917, a massive explosion boomed across Halifax Harbor, a key Nova Scotia port and a major center for naval ships in North America during World War I. A French cargo ship carrying high explosives, including TNT, collided with a Norwegian steamship, starting a fire that lit up the French vessel. The accident caused what would become the world’s biggest non-nuclear explosion. An entire neighborhood along the harbor was flattened to the ground.

Now, 100 years later, the spotlight is back on another potential victim of the explosion. As CBC News reports, a still-unidentified mystery shipwreck discovered in 2002 may be linked to the event, too.

Researchers don’t know much about the copper-clad, steam-powered schooner found at the bottom of Halifax Harbor during a geological survey of the sea floor. Its remains are half-buried under silt and marine life more than 90 feet below the surface of the water, around 330 feet away from the Halifax shipyard. The experts who have studied the ship since its initial discovery have yet to even identify its name.

There are no records of the ship’s sinking, leading researchers like marine geologist Gordon Fader, who helped find the wreck, to believe it sank during the explosion. Had it gone down after the event, there likely would have been some record of it in newspapers. And the ship was, by all accounts, a rather expensive vessel, possibly one that belonged to either the British navy or a very wealthy owner. It was made with high-quality copper and brass and built for speed, meaning its sinking would have cost someone a hefty chunk of money.

If the ship’s sinking did go unheralded in the aftermath of the massive Halifax explosion, researchers have two potential leads: There were two ships believed to be lost in the explosion that were never found, called the St. Bernard and the Lola R. But the descriptions of those ships don’t quite match up with what’s lying at the bottom of the harbor. A year and a half of research yielded no further information.

Since the last report came out in 2004, the search for its identity has slowed. We may never know the identity of the mystery ship. But as new technology becomes available for studying underwater remains, we can at least hope to glean some new clues.