Comments on: SS Greenhill Park: A Vancouver Tragedy

By: Linda Stewart

Linda Stewart — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 22:37:33 +0000

Didn’t stay in the news long because the Second World War was the big news story . Such a pity so many died .

By: Jeanette Mooney (nee Keatinge)

Jeanette Mooney (nee Keatinge) — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 22:17:01 +0000

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.

By: Robyn Hall

Robyn Hall — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 00:30:44 +0000

In reply to Ralph Austin Sayle. 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.

By: Keith Johnston

Keith Johnston — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 19:07:14 +0000

Extraordinary tale which I’d never heard before! Thanks Eve!

By: Glenn Scott

Glenn Scott — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 20:24:35 +0000

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

By: Flavia Corbella

Flavia Corbella — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 19:04:29 +0000

Very sad. It’s unfortunate the carelessness of one person has such a terrible toll.

By: bill engleson

bill engleson — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 18:35:40 +0000

A tragic day in Vancouver 78 years ago…

By: Ralph Austin Sayle

Ralph Austin Sayle — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 08:30:08 +0000

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.

By: John

John — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 23:36:26 +0000

Was there a cause for the explosion other than the match

By: Heather Lapierre

Heather Lapierre — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 21:43:38 +0000

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.

By: Harry Williams

Harry Williams — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 20:59:01 +0000

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.