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Halifax Disaster Record Office
Archibald MacMechan, F. R. S. C.
Director
Halifax, N. S.

inspected it, and so must have been frozen at the time of the fire.
It was reported to me that when the fire broke out, any explosives experts that were there hurriedly deserted the building along with all the other workmen, leaving there only two Halifax stevedores, Thomas Lannon, 208 Gottingen Street, hatch foreman for Pickford & Black, and Wm. Earle, 130 Creighton Street, hatch foreman Canadian Pacific Overseas Service, who gallantly stuck to their posts and succeeded in extinguishing the fire before any damage was done. There is no doubt that there two men saved a situation which might have otherwise turned out to be very serious.
Hopes For Action.

I trust, Gentlemen, something in the nature of what has previously been recommended by me will be done immediately to safeguard the handling of explosives. Notwithstanding all the efforts I have made, and the warnings I have given, this morning when I visited the sheds again, I found a blazing tar pot within 12 feet of the east end of shed No. 23. I saw a number of cans of different kinds of paints in the ammunition shed with which workmen were stencilling boxes, and was informed that one of the cans contained benzine.
Respectfully submitted, (Sgd.) J. W. CHURCHILL
Chief Fire Department.

The Sentries' Bravery.
The report that the sentries on duty at Shed No. 24 the morning of the fire beat a hasty retreat at the first alarm is denied. There were four sentries on duty as usual that morning and all of them did their duty like soldiers. They left their posts, it is true, but did so in order to report to the Guard House, and this done, they immediately returned to their stations. At Sentry Stations "No. 1" at the entrance to the pier, Pte. F. Beazley was on duty. The first thing he knew of the alarm was when a number of men came rushing by shouting "fire." He immediately ran to Sentry No. 2, Pte. H. Smith, who in turn reported "on the double" to the Guard House. Both Smith and Beazley at once returned to their stations. Sergeant T. H. Knight, Commander of the Guard, had meanwhile turned out his men. their names are as fol.
Lance Corporal S. Sullivan, Privates C. Gorman, W. G. Gorman, W. G. Power, R. Illesely, A. LeBlanc, J. Doherty, D. H. McKenzie, S. H. Hope and J. M. Coates.

Stood At His Post.
No. 3 Sentry Station is in the centre of the shed where the fire took place. Here Pte. H. B. Scanlon was on duty. He saw the flames but did not move from his post. All the men in the shed rushed past him, some making haste to get out of the building, while others were in search of apparatus to extinguish the fire. William Earle, of the C. P. R. Overseas Service, seized a fire extinguisher and the sentry helped Earle and Thomas Lannon, another stevedore who remained on duty, to put out the fire. Earle played a hose under the direction of Mr. Banks, Munitions Inspector, and the blaze was out in about three minutes.
At No. 4 Sentry Station at the south side of the shed was Pte. Saulnier. He saw the glare and heard the noise and at once ran to the Guard House and then returned to his post.
Thus all the soldiers assigned to guard duty at the Pier did their duty and did it well, bravely disregarding the warnings of the fleeing workmen who shouted as the ran that there was a fire in the building and that a big explosion was certain.
The impression that the sentries beat a hasty retreat was caused by the fact that in view of the emergency they ran or "doubled" - as the to report, immediately returning to military term is - to the Guard House their station.