Halifax Explosion stamp captures moment after ships collided

A new stamp captures the moment in time 100 years ago that changed Halifax's history forever.

On Dec. 6, 1917,the Norwegiansteamship Imo, which was carrying Belgian relief supplies,rammed intothe French munitions vesselMont-Blanc, which was carrying TNT through the narrowest part of Halifax harbour.

On Monday, a new stamp commemorating the moment immediately after these two vessels collidedwas unveiled at Government House.

Two thousand people were killed in the Halifax Explosion and another 10,000 injured. The explosion is the worst man-made disaster in Canadian history.

Canada Post commissioned the Halifax marketing firm Burke & Burke to create the stamp in 2015.

Producing the tiny image started with the concept of incorporating the newspaper coverage of the disaster with an image of the two ships immediately after they collided.

Larry Burke, a partner with the firm and art director on the project, said his team worked with archivists, historians and experts on the explosion.

Detailed, historically accurate

"We've tried our best to try to portray what a huge disaster it was for the city, and all the human suffering, in a way that tries to tell the story as best as possible," he said.

"It's incredibly detailed. And every detail has to be absolutely historically accurate."

Burke said it was an honour to work on the project, but it also came up with a lot of responsibility.

"That's, of course, one of the challenges how do you represent the magnitude of a disaster of that enormity, how do you represent that on a tiny postage stamp?" he said.

Halifax Explosion: A city in ruins

68 years ago

Duration 6:08

The explosion levels most of Halifax.

To create the image, Halifax illustrator Mike Little recreated the final moments before the collision with 3D models of the ships constructed using floor plans of the vessels found in archives.

"Once they're recreated in three dimensions, he can actually move things around and the angles so we can get exactly what we envisioned," said Burke.

He hopes the stamp will help people across Canada and collectors around the world learn more about the event.

"If it causes people to maybe go on Google and look it up and maybe learn more about it, I think that's a good thing."