Just before noon on March 6, 1945, the SS Greenhill Park blew up, killing six longshoremen and two seamen. Twenty-six others, including seven firefighters were injured in the explosion.
On March 6, 1945, nearly 100 men were either loading or getting the SS Greenhill Park ready for its voyage to Australia from CPR’s Pier B-C (now Canada Place). They were loading a mixed cargo of mostly lumber, newsprint, and tin plate. But there were also pickles, sunglasses, lightbulbs, books and knitting needles. What would prove most problematic though, was the 94 tonnes of explosive sodium chlorate (for bleaching wood pulp), seven-and-a-half tonnes of signal flares and several barrels of overproof whisky.
The whisky was hard to resist, and some of the workers were filling up bottles of the stuff to take home in their lunch boxes. It was dark in the hold, and at a minute before noon, one of the men lit a match.
And, boom.
Explosions rock Vancouver:
Flames shot up more than 30 metres in the air, and the ensuing explosions took out most of the large plate glass windows along automobile row on West Georgia. Thousands of windows in downtown office buildings smashed, and the blasts blew out 10 heavy corrugated iron doors inside of Pier B.
Many on the ground thought the Japanese were attacking, and tried to reach air-raid shelters.
Frank Wright, the 25-year-old captain of an army supply ship called the Sutherland Brown was docked at the foot of Cardero. He and his skeleton crew were the first to reach the 10,000 ton freighter and managed to get a tow line onto the ship. With the help of an army tug they tried to beach the ship on the North Shore, but the tide was too strong and it drifted out the first narrows and went aground near Siwash Rock.
In memory of those who were killed:
Donald Bell, 34
Joseph Brooks, 51
Julius Kern, 41
William Lewis, 46
Merton McGrath, 46
Donald Munn, 54
Montague Munn, 57
Walter Peterson, 56
Sources: The Greenhill Park Disaster by the BC Labour Heritage Centre; The Montreal Gazette, March 7, 1945; Vancouver Sun November 29, 2008.
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11 comments on “SS Greenhill Park: A Vancouver Tragedy”
We were a short distance away from the explosion, on the safe side of a building. Three of us had played hookey from school to go fishing off the wharf, a favorite pastime. When the ship blew, we thought it was a bombing raid. After the explosion, lots of stuff began falling from the sky to add to our terror. An unforgettable day to be sure.
I can imagine, it must have been terrifying!
I had a friend whose father was a longshoreman on the ship. Luckily, he walked away from the disaster. I remember my aunt talking about plate glass windows falling onto Hastings Street.
Was there a cause for the explosion other than the match
I had a Province paper route in the mid 50s on West 1st. My mother told me the husband of one of my customers was killed in the Greenhill Park explosion. (It was Montague Dunn.) Until she mentioned it, I had never heard of the Greenhill Park explosion
How mum knew of that connection, I never knew as I never asked her. Perhaps the news travelled locally over the two blocks or they were members of the same church.
Margaret Munn died in 1969, 24 years after her husband’s death. She still lived in their house.
Margaret Munn was my grandma! Yes! My dad’s dad, Montague Munn, was one of the men killed! My dad was a young teen, very tragic to think that a match killed so many and greatly affected so many lives! My grandma was extremely resilient, she had to raise two children! She took in boarders and had chickens in her backyard. She helped both her children go to university. My dad, Dr Robert Munn, became a dentist, who practiced on west 10th. I remember going to her house frequently to visit as a child.
A tragic day in Vancouver 78 years ago…
Very sad. It’s unfortunate the carelessness of one person has such a terrible toll.
Coincidently, the SS Green Hill Park was built across the harbour at the Burrard Drydock. Launched on 10 Nov 1943 and delivered 25 Jan 1944.
It is listed on that big board by the Shipyards bathrooms.
Glenn
Extraordinary tale which I’d never heard before! Thanks Eve!
I moved to BC in 1981 and had never heard this story before. How remarkable that one match could cause such chaos with all of the flammable contents. Thank you for telling it.