It is unnecessary here to refer to the causes and disastrous results of the great explosion on the morning of December 6, 1917. As nearly as can be ascertained more than 1,500 people lost their lives, approximately 5,000 people were injured, of whom about 1,000 received more or less serious injuries. With hundreds of other citizens the members of the Halifax Divisions of the Brigade responded at once to the calls for assistance, and within an hour more than 140 members were on duty in the devastated area; on the Common, in improvised aid stations, and in the various emergency hospitals rendering first aid to the injured, the very object for which they had all been trained.
Later in the afternoon and through the two or three days following they added to their duties those of material relief, and until a few days later the citizens’ organization was established when the Brigade workers were fitted in under their Lady Superintendent as part of the medical relief work.
About sixty of the members remained on duty as V.A.D.’s in Camp Hill Hospital, the Y.M.C.A., Morris Street, and the various other hospitals for from one to five months following the explosion. For a short period following the disaster eight members of the St. John (N.B.) Division assisted the local division in providing personnel for the various hospitals.
The total of the services rendered during the period December 6th to 31st shows 1,098 days of hospital work, 217 cases of district relief followed up, 140 missing children located, as well as other missing persons traced, food distributed, and first aid service rendered.
An official report forwarded through regular channels to the headquarters of the Brigade in England was referred by headquarters to the parent organization, the Ancient Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England, and in the spring of 1920 selected members of the Halifax Division and various citizens who co-operated with the Brigade in its invaluable work, were presented by the Lieutenant-Governor with the beautifully engraved certificates of thanks of the Order for their services rendered on the occasion of the disaster.
THE CRECHE AT PIER NO. 2, HALIFAX.
In the spring of 1917, when the German submarines were trying to starve Britain into surrender, the Canadian Government thought it wise to bring home the dependants of our soldiers who were not actually engaged in war work in the United Kingdom. The Olympic arrived in Halifax Port one morning with 1,000 women and children aboard, as well as her usual number of invalided soldiers. Many hours passed before the last travellers entrained for their homes, and one may imagine the scene at Pier 2 where these tired women waited for long hours with no shelter or food and no comforts for their little ones.
It was felt that something must be done to welcome those soldiers’ dependants who had left their loved ones in England or France, and who could not surmise what the future held in store for those from whom they were separated. A committee of ladies was formed to look after all soldiers’ dependants on their arrival in Canada. Spacious rooms, with kitchen, dining-room, rest-room, nursery and bath-rooms were provided by the Government at Pier 2, together with a sum of money sufficient to furnish necessaries.
For three years a band of ladies under the presidency—first of Mrs. Benson, wife of General Benson, and later of Mrs. J. G. McDougall—met all boats and cared for all travellers with the most wonderful devotion. As soon as the gangway was secured their work began. It mattered not whether the ship was docked at 7 a.m., or at midnight, on a summer morning, or on a cold winter evening, the workers were always there. Two of the Committee went on board to see if there were any special cases to be looked after and to notify those aboard of the Creche Committee’s willingness to help them in every possible way.
Some stood at the gangway to welcome tired mothers and relieve them of their tiny but very heavy burdens. Others led them to the warm and comfortable quarters provided for them. In the kitchen busy hands had been at work, and sandwiches and fragrant hot coffee were not wanting; while in the nursery many young girls were preparing beds with cool white sheets in which to lay Canada’s young and welcome immigrants.