View source for ST Stella Maris (1882)

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2017}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}} <!-- commercial vessels --><!---->
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship name=''Stella Maris''
|Ship owner=Halifax Trading & Sealing Co (c.1917–)
|Ship builder=[[Samuda Bios]]
|Ship launched=1882
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship type=*[[Gunboat]] and [[minesweeper (ship)|minesweeper]] (1882–c.1917)
*[[Tugboat]] (c.1917–?)
|Ship tonnage=229
|Ship displacement=
|Ship length={{convert|124.5|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|23.6|ft|abbr=on}}
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|Ship depth={{convert|12.2|ft|abbr=on}}
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|}'''''Stella Maris''''' (from the Latin for "star of the sea") was a [[steamship]] built in 1882 as the Royal Navy [[gunboat]] HMS ''Starling'' and converted to  steam [[tug]] in 1905. ''Stella Maris'' played a major role in the events of the [[Halifax Explosion]] in 1917.

''Stella Maris'' was built in Poplar, England in 1882 by [[Samuda Bios]] as a [[Banterer-class gunboat]], HMS ''Starling''. The vessel was {{convert|124.5|ft|m}} long, {{convert|23.6|ft|m}} wide, and {{convert|12.2|ft|m}} deep, and had a [[tonnage]] of 229. ''Starling'' was composite-built (wooden planks on iron frames) and armed with two 6-inch and two 3.75-inch guns. ''Starling'' was sold for merchant service in 1905.<ref>Winfield, Rif & Lyon, David ''The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889'' (2004) London: Chatham Publishing, p.298.</ref> 

As ''Stella Maris'', the tug was owned by Halifax Trading & Sealing Co, run by [[James Augustus Farquhar]].<ref name=ns>{{cite web |url=http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mma/AtoZ/stellamaris.html |accessdate=23 November 2011 |website=Maritime Museum of the Atlantic |title=''Stella Maris'' |department=Ships of the Halifax Explosion |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605221647/http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mma/AtoZ/stellamaris.html |archivedate=2013-06-05}}</ref>

On 6 December 1917, ''Stella Maris'', with Captain Horatio Harris Brannen and 23 others aboard, was towing two scows near mid-channel in the Narrows of [[Halifax Harbour]] leading into [[Bedford Basin]]. Shortly before the explosion, the tug had to hastily change course to avoid the outbound {{SS|Imo}} which was departing Bedford Basin. ''Imo'' then collided with ''[[Mont Blanc]]'', a French munitions ship. The collision started a fire on ''Mont Blanc'', forcing the crew to evacuate. The burning ship then began drifting towards Halifax's Pier 6 on the western shore.<ref>[[Janet Kitz]], ''[[Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion and the Road to Recovery]]'' (2008) pp.14-16</ref> ''Stella Maris'' anchored its barges to respond to the fire and approached the burning munitions ship, spraying the flames with its fire hose. As the fire was too intense to stop with a single fire hose, the ''Stella Maris''{{'}}s crew began to prepare a towline to pull the French vessel away from Pier 6 and prevent the fire from spreading ashore. The crew were in the process of retrieving a ten-inch [[hawser]] from the hold to assist a party of volunteers from {{HMCS|Niobe}}'s steam [[Pinnace (ship's boat)|pinnace]] in securing a line to ''Mont Blanc''.  Before this could be done, the explosion occurred.<ref>Kitz, p. 20</ref> 

The [[Halifax Explosion]] was the largest man-made blast prior to the [[Trinity test]] of the atomic bomb. ''Stella Maris'' was severely damaged and thrown up on the beach near Pier 6 with the bow ashore and the shattered stern submerged. Nineteen of the crew were killed, including Captain Brannen, but five managed to survive and two provided important eyewitness testimony at the investigation into the disaster.<ref>Kitz, p. 28</ref> The tug was salvaged and rebuilt for service in the First World War.<ref name=ns/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/first_world_war/topics/971/ |accessdate=23 November 2011 |title=The Halifax Explosion |website=[[CBC Radio]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121092734/http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/first_world_war/topics/971/ |archivedate=2011-11-21}}</ref><ref>Imo vs Mont Blanc, Volumes 1 & 2, Southern Pacific Whaling Company (principal author) & Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. In the Privy Council on appeal from the Supreme Court of Canada between the ship "Imo" (Southern Pacific Whaling Company, Limited, Owners) (Defendant), appellant and La Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (plaintiff), respondent record of proceedings, volume 1 Constant & Constant ... appellant's solicitors, William A. Crump & Son ... respondent's solicitors, testimony of Walter Brannen and William Nickerson</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{December 1917 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stella Maris}}
[[Category:Tugboats of Canada]]
[[Category:World War I minesweepers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1882 ships]]
[[Category:Halifax Explosion ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1917]]
[[Category:World War I merchant ships of Canada]]