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Speaker 1: Hey, y'all. Were rerunning two episodes today, which means that

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Speaker 1: you'll hear two hosts me and Tracy V. Wilson. Enjoy

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Speaker 1: the show. Welcome to this Day in History Class from

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Speaker 1: how Stuff Works dot Com and from the desk of

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Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class. It's the show where

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Speaker 1: we explore the past one day at a time with

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Speaker 1: a quick look at what happened today in history. Hello,

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Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. Wilson and

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Speaker 1: it's December six. The Halifax disaster took place on this

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Speaker 1: day in nineteen With the exception of nuclear explosions, this

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Speaker 1: is one of the biggest man made explosions in history

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Speaker 1: and it happened when two ships collided in the harbor

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Speaker 1: at Halifax. There was a French freighter called the mont

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Speaker 1: Block and a Norwegian freighter called the Emo. The mom

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Speaker 1: Block was carrying explosives for the war effort. This was

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Speaker 1: during World War One. The Emo was headed to New

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Speaker 1: York to pick up food to take to Belgium as

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Speaker 1: part of a relief effort because there were people in

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Speaker 1: Europe who were frankly starving in the wake of World

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Speaker 1: War One. Neither of these ships plans to be in

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Speaker 1: the harbor at this particular time. There was an anti

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Speaker 1: submarine boom that was being used at night to try

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Speaker 1: to protect the harbor from German U boats, and the

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Speaker 1: Ebo had wanted to leave the day before, but they

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Speaker 1: needed to pick up an order of coal, and that

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Speaker 1: coal didn't get there until it was too late. The

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Speaker 1: boom had already been put in place, they couldn't get out.

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Speaker 1: The mont Blanc was supposed to have arrived on the sixth,

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Speaker 1: but had gotten there a little bit ahead of schedule

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Speaker 1: the night before, but also too late to get into

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Speaker 1: the harbor. So then on the morning of the six

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Speaker 1: both ships are trying to navigate a very busy, very

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Speaker 1: crowded narrow waterway and they started approaching each other on

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Speaker 1: a collision course. After a series of twists and turns

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Speaker 1: and amps to get around other maritime traffic, the EMO

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Speaker 1: hit the mont Block a little after eight thirty am.

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Speaker 1: When this happened, some of the containers aboard the mom

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Speaker 1: Block broke and sparks from the collision started a fire.

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Speaker 1: So the mom Block's captain, knowing what was aboard, ordered

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Speaker 1: everybody to abandon ship, but no one else really knew

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Speaker 1: what the mont Block was carrying. Normally, it would have

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Speaker 1: been flying a flag marking that it carried munitions, so

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Speaker 1: people would have known there was explosive material aboard the ship,

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Speaker 1: but that wasn't being flown because of the war effort.

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Speaker 1: There were fears that doing that would just make the

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Speaker 1: ship a target for a German torpedo attack. So when

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Speaker 1: this collision happened on shore, a lot of people stopped

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Speaker 1: what they were doing to go watch, which is a

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Speaker 1: pretty normal human behavior. They didn't know that there was

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Speaker 1: such dangerous material on one of the ships. They didn't

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Speaker 1: know they needed to take cover. People gathered at windows

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Speaker 1: and all of the buildings around the water. They gathered

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Speaker 1: on rooftops, and the few people who did, for whatever reason,

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Speaker 1: know what was happening or into it what was happening,

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Speaker 1: they tried to clear the docks and get people out

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Speaker 1: of the way, but there were just too many people,

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Speaker 1: not enough for knowledge of what was about to happen,

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Speaker 1: and at nine oh six am, the mom Block exploded.

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Speaker 1: Debris was thrown for miles away from the ship. The

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Speaker 1: ship's gun landed five and a half kilometers away, and

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Speaker 1: it said the shock wave from the explosion was spelt

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Speaker 1: three hundred kilometers away. Hundreds of people instantly died, and

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Speaker 1: all together more than two thousand people were killed and

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Speaker 1: nine thousand more were injured and needed medical treatment. A

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Speaker 1: lot of the injuries where eye injuries and blindness. Thousands

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Speaker 1: of buildings were also damaged the explosion. A rescue effort

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Speaker 1: started almost immediately, but was soon hampered by a blizzard. Naturally,

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Speaker 1: an inquiry followed this. It had been a major disaster

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Speaker 1: with a huge loss of life, but ultimately it was

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Speaker 1: found that the mont Blanc and the Emo were both

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Speaker 1: at fault. The City of Boston sent aid to the

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Speaker 1: city of Halifax, and in return, Halifax sends a Christmas

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Speaker 1: tree to Boston every year, with a lot of pomp

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Speaker 1: and fanfare on both ends of the journey. You can

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Speaker 1: learn more about this on the December nine eleven episode

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Speaker 1: of Stuff You Miss in History Class. Thanks to Casey P.

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Speaker 1: Graham and Chandler Mays for their audio work on this show.

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Speaker 1: You can subscribe to This Day in History Class on

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, Google podcast, the I Heart Radio app, and

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Speaker 1: wherever elcate your podcasts, and you can tune in tomorrow

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Speaker 1: for a date that still does live in infamy. Hi everyone,

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Speaker 1: I'm Eves. Welcome to This Day in History Class, a

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Speaker 1: podcast for folks who can never have enough history knowledge.

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Speaker 1: The day was December sixth, nineteen twelve. A team led

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Speaker 1: by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchart unearthed a limestone bust of

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Speaker 1: ancient Egyptian queen Nefertidi. The bust has since become an

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Speaker 1: iconic and often copied representation of Nefertidi. Nefertidi reigned as

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Speaker 1: queen of Egypt in the fourteenth century b c. And

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Speaker 1: she was the wife of the faral Akatin of the

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Speaker 1: eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. Borchard and a team of archaeologists

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Speaker 1: from the German Oriental Society were excavating at Amarna, a

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Speaker 1: site in Egypt, when they unearthed a bust of Nefertidi

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Speaker 1: in the workshop of a sculptor named foot Mosa. Borchart

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Speaker 1: described the bus in his diary, but then wrote that

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Speaker 1: there was no use in describing the art and that

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Speaker 1: you have to see it. The bus is about nineteen

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Speaker 1: inches or forty eight centimeters tall. It's made of limestone

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Speaker 1: and coated with layers of painted stucko. Nefertidi is wearing

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Speaker 1: a tall, flat topped blue crown with a golden dietem

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Speaker 1: band wrapped around it and a broken ureus or cobra

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Speaker 1: in the front. She is also wearing a patterned collar,

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Speaker 1: and the pupil of her right eye is made of

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Speaker 1: quartz that's painted black. Her left eye does not have

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Speaker 1: the same crystal inlay. In January of nineteen the excavation

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Speaker 1: finds from Amarna were divided into two lists. Gustav Lefevo,

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Speaker 1: inspector of the Egyptian Antiquity Service, did not take the

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Speaker 1: list that had Nefertidis bust on it. Nefertidi, as well

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Speaker 1: as other bus were awarded to Berlin. The artifacts came

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Speaker 1: under the possession of philanthropists James Simon, co founder and

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Speaker 1: treasurer of the German Oriental Society and founder of the

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Speaker 1: Amarna excavations. Simon donated the works he had from Amarana

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Speaker 1: to the New Museum in Berlin, and ownership of the

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Speaker 1: artifacts was transferred to the state of Prussia. Though many

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Speaker 1: finds from the Amarna excavation were put on display, the

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Speaker 1: Nefertidi bust was not shown to the public until an

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Speaker 1: exhibition in Berlin in nineteen four. During World War Two,

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Speaker 1: the Nazis moved the bust for safekeeping, but after the

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Speaker 1: war the bus was displayed in West Berlin. In nineteen

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Speaker 1: fifty seven, a decade after the State of Prussia dissolved,

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Speaker 1: the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation became the legal owner of

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Speaker 1: the Nefertid Bust. Today, the sculpture is part of the

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Speaker 1: Egyptian Museum of Berlin collection and it's on display at

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Speaker 1: the new museum. But Egypt has been calling for the

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Speaker 1: return of the bus since nineteen four. Pierre Leco, director

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Speaker 1: of the Egyptian Antiquity Service, requested its repatriation that year.

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Speaker 1: Dr Zahi Hawas, former Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme

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Speaker 1: Council of Antiquities, believes the bus was taken from Egypt

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Speaker 1: illegally and has called for the return of antiquities taken

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Speaker 1: out of Egypt during the colonial era. Despite Egyptian authorities

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Speaker 1: persistent attempts to reclaim Nefertitis Bust and some German recognition

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Speaker 1: of concern surrounding ethics and appropriation, the Prussian Cultural Heritage

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Speaker 1: Foundation still claims ownership of the bust. Swiss art historian

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Speaker 1: On re steer Land and historian Air Devar and Air

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Speaker 1: Juan have both claimed that the bus is a fake,

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Speaker 1: but those claims have been dismissed as publicity stunts since

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Speaker 1: scientific analysis has verified its authenticity. I'm Eves Jeff Coote

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Speaker 1: and hopefully you know a little more about history today

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Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i h C Podcast. We

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Speaker 1: also accept electronic letters at this day at I heart

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Speaker 1: media dot com. Thanks again for listening, and have a

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Speaker 1: fantastic twenty four hours until we see you again. M