Today (April 16, 2020) marks the 73rd anniversary on the 1947 Disaster

[Hoodat]

Today (April 16, 2020) marks the 73rd anniversary on the 1947 Disaster

The 1947 Disaster was the largest industrial accident in US History. It left approximately 5000 people injured and 600 dead. It was a defining moment in Texas City history when the town came together to help each other and to persevere through this tragedy. Under normal circumstances, we would gather as a community to remember this important time in our City’s history. Unfortunately this April we cannot physically come together. Normally the Texas City Museum hosts the annual Disaster Survivor photo shoot. The photoshoot is an opportunity for those that lived through the Disaster to come together to visit, and to be recorded (the photo is usually featured in the local newspapers). This year we invited the living survivors to send us a current photo so that we could create a digital reunion photo. We are pleased so many of our survivors were able to send photos in and help us mark this significant occasion. Please join us in remembering the victims and survivors of the 1947 Disaster.



https://www.newsbreak.com/texas/texas-city/news/0OmA1Fem/today-april-16-2020-marks-the-73rd-anniversary-on-the-1947-disaster

[EdinVA]

The Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred April 16, 1947, in the Port of Texas City, Texas, at Galveston Bay. It was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history, and one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions. A mid-morning fire started on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp (docked in the port), and detonated her cargo of approximately 2,200 tons (approximately 2,100 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate.^[1] This started a chain reaction of additional fires and explosions in other ships and nearby oil-storage facilities. The events killed a total of at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City fire department.^[2] The disaster triggered the first-ever class action lawsuit against the United States government, under the recently enacted Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), on behalf of 8,485 victims.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster

[Elderberry]

The largest non-nuclear explosion in U.S. history destroyed most of a Texas town, killing hundreds

https://timeline.com/texas-city-explosion-grandcamp-6c08615fc898

The anchor of a ship landed a mile and a half away

In the massive blast, the ship’s steel hull — loaded also with tobacco, sisal twine, and small arms ammunition — was turned to shrapnel. The explosion sent a 15-foot wave over nearby piers and to the shore, killing dockworkers and thrusting an entire oil barge onto land. The Grandcamp’s anchor was blown a mile and a half, and is still preserved as a memorial. The surrounding dock was destroyed, as were 1,000 buildings in the area. Many of them were oil refineries and hazardous materials plants, which caught fire. The resulting conflagration sent a massive cloud of black smoke into the sky. The Monsanto chemical plant across the way was leveled, killing 145 employees inside. Two small sightseeing planes flying in the air at the time were caught in the shockwave and came crashing to earth.

The ensuing chain reaction continued to the following day. A second ship, the SS High Flyer, carrying sulfur and more ammonium nitrate, exploded 15 hours later, killing two more. Oil refineries burned for days after. Destruction poured into nearby residential areas, leaving 2,000 homeless. Some 3,500 people were injured. The death toll was immense, amounting to what is likely the greatest industrial accident in United States history: at least 581 people were killed, including 40 members of the ship’s crew and all but one of the 28-man Texas City volunteer fire department. One real estate broker reflected that the town was not left with enough survivors or skilled labor to “erect one building in a year.”

There was no shortage of witnesses to attest to the astounding power and destruction of the blast. Dr. W.H. Lane, a Monsanto employee, said he “saw scores of bodies as I left my office.” Ben Lapham, a sailor on the adjacent High Flyer, recalled at the the time of the blast that “it was like night for a minute or more. The explosion blew our hatches out and killed several of our men.” Another witness, tossed 20 feet by the blast, recounted his tale to reporters, then immediately fainted.

More at link.

Damage from the explosion in a parking lot a quarter mile away (left) and to a five story building and boxcars adjacent to the port.

Even after all these years, you cannot buy 34-0-0 Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer in Houston.

[Smokin Joe]

Definitely a huge explosion, and a serious tragedy. The anchor was thrown over a mile and a half, and weighed 2 tons.