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MG 1 vol 2124 number 178a
TRANSCRIPT
Manuscript from the Public Archives of Nova Scotia
MG 1 volume 2124 number 178
Flame Hight [sic} of the Mount {sic} Blanc Explosion

On the morning of the 6th of December, the day of the above explosion, I was steaming in towards the harbour and about fifteen miles from the scene, I happened at the time to be looking in that direction as if watching for it altho I little expected to see anything unusual, when suddenly I saw an immense colum[sic] of smoke shoot up to a very good hight [sic] with two red? Angry looking flames of fire projecting some distance above its summit. The flames were visible but less than a second like a flash of distant lighting [sic] and could be seen in several places through the colum[sic] of smoke.
There was no shock felt anywhere on board of the ship not even a slight jar, But some minutes afterwards two loud reports in quick succession.
The extreme altitude of the flame was about 7 30' which at that distance (15 miles) would give the hight [sic] of the flames to be about 12,000 feet, or nearly that.
This altitude is approximate but very near to a correct result; as the spot in the smoke where the flames disappearance was easy to locate.

W. M. Campbell
S S "Acadien"

February 11, 1991
April 22, 1992 revised
Transcript prepared by: Alan Ruffman, Geomarine Associates Ltd. 5112 Prince Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 2L4

Geomarine Do. No: R01/45; Flame 83.029
Geomarine Proj. No: 83-29
Note: A March 28, 1992 letter of Robin H. Wyllie, Trusty Enterprises, East LaHave, R R number 3, Bridgewater, N.S., B4V 2W2 notes that the S. S. ACADIEN "was the old SENLAC, built by the Thompson Shipbuilding Co. in Saint John in 1904, for the Steamship Senlac Co. Ltd. She was placed on the Halifax-Saint John run. Ownership passed to Havelock of Halifax, in 1911, and to K. N. MacDonald of Sydney in 1914. In 1916, the registry was transferred to St. Pierre in 1916 and, renamed ACADIEN. She remained in the Gulf coastal trade until wrecked at Placentia in February, 1918"