On this day in 1947
Texas City, Texas blew up
The morning of 16 April 1947 dawned clear and crisp, cooled by a brisk north wind. Just before 8:00 A.M., longshoremen removed the hatch covers on Hold 4 of the French Liberty ship Grandcamp as they prepared to load the remainder of a consignment of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Some 2,300 tons were already onboard, 880 of which were in the lower part of Hold 4. The remainder of the ship's cargo consisted of large balls of sisal twine, peanuts, drilling equipment, tobacco, cotton, and a few cases of small ammunition. No special safety precautions were in focus at the time.
Several longshoremen descended into the hold and waited for the first pallets holding the 100-pound packages to be hoisted from dockside. Soon thereafter, someone smelled smoke. A plume was observed rising between the cargo holds and the ships hull, apparently about seven or eight layers of sacks down. Neither a gallon jug of drinking water nor the contents of two fire extinguishers supplied by crew members seemed to do much good. As the fire continued to grow, someone lowered a fire hose, but the water was not turned on. Since the area was filling fast with smoke, the longshoremen were ordered out of the hold.
At 0900 the Grandcamp exploded. Killing 800+people
More here : http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html
Photos here: https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrTcYAmPzBVmrwAcPwunIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTBsZ29xY3ZzBHNlYwNzZWFyY2gEc2xrA2J1dHRvbg--;_ylc=X1MDMTM1MTE5NTY5NARfcgMyBGJjawM5ZGQwaTZkYWZyZWVmJTI2YiUzRDMlMjZzJTNEaXUEZnIDeWhzLW1vemlsbGEtMDA0BGdwcmlkA3E4ekwyWlBsVDguc0ozbHpUQjdZYUEEbXRlc3RpZANudWxsBG5fc3VnZwMxMARvcmlnaW4DaW1hZ2VzLnNlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzIEcHFzdHIDVGV4YXMgQ2l0eSBFeHBsb3Npb24EcHFzdHJsAzIwBHFzdHJsAzI1BHF1ZXJ5A3RleGFzIGNpdHkgZXhwbG9zaW9uIDE5NDcEdF9zdG1wAzE0MjkyMjUzOTIEdnRlc3RpZANudWxs?gprid=q8zL2ZPlT8.sJ3lzTB7YaA&pvid=pMBW5zIwNi6WtBIzVP25zwwCMjYwMgAAAABvmA9K&p=texas+city+explosion+1947&fr=yhs-mozilla-004&fr2=sa-gp-images.search.yahoo.com&ei=UTF-8&n=60&x=wrt&hsimp=yhs-004&hspart=mozilla
Video https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrTcctuQDBV_eYAQH0nnIlQ;_ylc=X1MDMTM1MTE5NTY4NwRfcgMyBGZyA3locy1tb3ppbGxhLTAwNARncHJpZANzak9vQUcyYlNwbV9lSlEyVDZTUDdBBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwM5BG9yaWdpbgNzZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tBHBvcwMzBHBxc3RyA3RleGFzIGNpdHkgZXhwbG9zaW9uBHBxc3RybAMyMARxc3RybAMzMQRxdWVyeQN0ZXhhcyBjaXR5IGV4cGxvc2lvbiAxOTQ3IHZpZGVvBHRfc3RtcAMxNDI5MjI1NTky?p=texas+city+explosion+1947+video&fr2=sa-gp-search&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-004
= new reply since forum marked as read
Didn't realize it was today, though. My grandmother on my mother's side was a nurse at the time and helped remove the injured, and possibly the bodies.
I'd guess, too, that one reason most don't pay it much attention is that it was technically an "industrial accident" even if it was caused by a ship carrying the formerly-used-for-explosives surplus ammonium nitrate converted to fertilizer.
I don't know where I found this image, but someone took the time to label everything in the area of the docks:
Thanks for posting this reminder, too.
