World War One Halifax explosion: Unseen pictures revealed 17 November 2014 Last updated at 09:01 By Claire Jones BBC News Online Unseen pictures from World War One have been released showing what was then the world's largest explosion. Somerset sailor Victor Montague captured the scene when a ship carrying explosives caught fire in Halifax, Canada, resulting in the deaths of 2,000 people. The explosion, on Thursday 6 December 1917, almost wiped out the town. Mr Montague's daughter, Anne Foreman from Cornwall, is to take the pictures to the Imperial War Museum in London. Unseen pictures of the world's largest man-made explosion in World War One have been revealed. It was 09:04 (GMT) when Halifax suffered the world's greatest man-made explosion at the time, when the two ships involved in the war effort collided. Standing on the shoreline was Royal Navy Lt Victor Montague. The French ship SS Mont Blanc, which was loaded with wartime explosives, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo. The cataclysmic explosion occurred after a fire broke out on SS Mont Blanc, all of which was caught on camera by Mr Montague. Huge pre-nuclear explosions: Arms factory explosion, Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, July 1918 - At a shell filling factory during World War One an explosion in the mixing plant killed 139 and injured 250 The Hindenburg catastrophe, May 6, 1937 - The German zeppelin loaded with flammable hydrogen gas exploded and crashed to earth Texas City Disaster, April 16, 1947 - Refineries and oil storage tanks of the Monsanto chemical plant burn in the waterfront area of Texas City SS Mont Blanc was described as a huge 'floating bomb' because of her formidable cargo. There were more than 2,000 tonnes of picric acid, 200 tonnes of TNT, 56 tonnes of gun cotton and 223 tonnes of motor fuel on board. Records show the ship exploded and disintegrated in seconds. Altogether 3.8 sq km (1.5 sq miles) of Halifax was flattened in an instant and more than 1,900 people perished. Avid photographer Mr Montague managed to capture plumes of smoke and a town littered with ash in his photographs. After the war Mr Montague had three children. His daughter, Anne Foreman from Hayle, Cornwall, decided to share her father's photographs during the anniversary of the outbreak of World War One. She said: "This has brought him to life again. It's amazing, it brings tears to my eyes. Ms Foreman, aged 89, said her father was on watch during the morning of the explosion when he took the pictures. The blast absolutely blew Halifax town into oblivion, the whole of the harbour and the town was devastated. The thing that struck me most was a cannon that was blown three miles in land. Ms Foreman said her father was "a kind and lovely man with a great sense of humour." There are so many things I've found out about him and his experiences from these photographs. I'm so happy he's been brought back to the forefront of our minds," she said.