It occurred to me a few years ago, that one of the possible factors contributing to the collision between the Imo and the Mount Blanc might have been the glare of the rising sun in the eyes of the Imo's captain. Since he and others of his crew did not survive, he was not available to testify.

A few years ago, I decided to test the idea that the low rising sun might have affected the vision of the Imo's Captain.I checked the position of the sun with some astronomy software I had on hand and it looked plausible.

Recently, using a free astronomy program called Stellarium, I again recreated the sky over Halifax, for Dec. 6, 1917, at 8:42 AM. I clicked on the sun and I got a bearing (azimuth) of 133.44 degrees and an altitude of 8.32 degrees. On my screen it looks pretty close to the horizon.

Using Google Earth,I drew a hypothetical line in The Narrows,that might have approximated the bearing between two vessels. The heading (from the Imo)was 134 degrees. Depending on the exact course at the time, that is close enough to suggest that, from the point of view of the Imo, Mount Blanc was just under the sun or close to it.

I am suggesting that it is plausible that the glare of the sun may have delayed the captain's awareness of the closeness of the Mount Blanc and her impending collision with his vessel.
Disasters are often the result of not of just one cause, but of several causes with accumulative effect.