On the morning of April 16, 1947, a cataclysmic event like America had
never seen before or since shook the people of Texas City to their core.
A series of unstoppable firestorms and explosions ravaged the port town leaving
only chaos and destruction in their wake. The chilling photographs of the
aftermath appear to depict a nuclear bomb going off in the heart of 1940s America.
But however massive the destruction was,
it was not caused by an enemy attack or as the result of domestic terrorism; instead,
it all began as a small fire aboard the SS Grandcamp ship, which was docked at the port.
The small fire quickly caused a chain reaction that turned into one
of the most catastrophic disasters in US history…
A Doomed Ship
SS Grandcamp was a massive Liberty-class cargo ship constructed as part of the US
Emergency Shipbuilding Program during World War 2.
She sought to fill the enormous demand for freight ships when Germany was wreaking havoc
in the Atlantic Ocean, sinking millions of tons of war supplies bound for Europe.
After the war, the ship was transferred to France as part of the western effort
to assist in the rebuilding of the war-torn nation. With that objective,
the Liberty-class cargo ship was docked at the Texas City port, awaiting orders to sail
to France to deliver vital farming resources needed in the reconstruction of the country.
Her cargo seemed primarily harmless, consisting of twine, peanuts, tobacco, small arms ammunition,
engineering equipment, and cotton. She also carried over 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate,
a highly reactive chemical compound that was as effective a fertilizer as it was an explosive.
To make matters worse, SS High Flyer, another massive cargo ship loaded with
thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate, laid next to Grandcamp. And several thousand tons
of the explosive material were housed in a nearby warehouse at the docks.
At the time, Texas City was one of the most essential industrial ports in America;
the port had numerous warehouses, a grain elevator, and its own dedicated power plant.
Also, several chemical plants and depots had been
constructed to deal with the emerging need to transport chemicals and oil.
During World War 2, Texas City port became increasingly prosperous as
the US government extensively used the facilities for the war efforts.
Thus, large residential and commercial areas emerged around the harbor.
The city had even built an artificial channel that connected the port to the Gulf of Mexico,
making it a vital crossroads in the exporting and importing network of post-World War 2 America…
The Fire
In 1947, SS Grandcamp collected ammunition from
Belgium to travel to Cuba and Houston to load twine and peanuts. Finally,
the boat docked in Texas City to take on her next cargo load, over two tons of ammonium nitrate.
The chemical was extensively used for ammunition
and explosives during the war and as a farming fertilizer in peacetime.
While loading the flammable cargo, local workers noticed the bags with the chemical were warm to
the touch, which suggested a reaction was already taking place; however, dock authorities didn’t
think too much of the workers’ report, and the ship was completely loaded with the material.
The situation suddenly grew worrisome when, on the morning of April 16,
workers onboard the cargo ship noticed smoke coming out of the main cargo hold.
Upon inspection, the workers discovered a small fire amid the bags of ammonium nitrate.
The flames were minuscule, and the workers believed they would be put out relatively easily.
They first poured a gallon of water upon the fire, and when that didn’t work,
they used two fire extinguishers to attempt to quench the flames.
However, everything failed, and the fire began to grow.
In just a few minutes, the entire cargo hold became filled with thick smoke,
which further crippled any attempt to fight the fire. By then, the ship’s captain ordered
the crew and workers to abandon the ship, and the fire was left to expand.
Despite the growing flames, the fire was still confined to the interior of the cargo hold,
and the captain’s main concern was saving the cargo from being lost. Thus, he ordered the
arriving firefighting volunteers not to use water and instead pump steam into the hold.
Inadvertently, the captain’s description sealed the fate of the ship and the entire port.
Pumping steam into a burning cargo hold was a standard procedure when a ship’s
crew wanted to save the cargo from a fire, but ammonium nitrate reacts very differently.
Soon, the steam began decomposing the ammonium nitrate, transforming it into nitrous oxide,
a gas that is not flammable at room temperature but which can get extremely
hot when exposed to higher temperatures and is often used inside combustion engines.
A disaster was inevitable,
and the heat and pressure inside the ship were reaching a point of no return…
A Blast
In a matter of minutes, the pressure began to tear apart the hatches inside the cargo hold,
and a bright yellow column of smoke arose from the ship, creating a spectacular view
that attracted thousands of onlookers to the shorelines around the port.
With no knowledge of the chemical reaction taking place,
the spectators believed to be at a safe distance from the peculiar smoke pillar.
At 9:12am, the pressure and heat inside the enclosed area became too high,
causing the rest of the ammonium nitrate to cook off and explode in
an overwhelming blast that instantly leveled anything within 2,000 feet of ground zero.
Everyone around, as well as over a thousand buildings, were instantly destroyed,
and the shockwave was felt almost 300 miles from the site of the explosion.
The blast also shattered every window in a 200-mile radius and took down two planes.
The remaining cargo aboard the ship was propelled into the sky as a fiery burst
of burning debris eventually rained down all around Texas City. Soon, the fire hail began to
start other fires and explosions inside the town, increasing the devastation of the initial blast.
The ship’s anchor was sent flying like a projectile, and it would later be found on a rail
station almost two miles away. Several fires began to spread menacingly all across the shoreline,
but in a strange twist of fate, most of the fires were immediately
put out by a two-story tidal wave caused by the initial explosion.
Meanwhile, on land, so many fires continued to grow that it made it
impossible for firefighters to reach the docks.
A Second Explosion
The explosion was so powerful that it sent the neighboring SS High Flyer out
of her moorings and left her adrift in the open ocean. The surviving
crew inside the vessel took cover and decided to stay aboard. Nevertheless,
the smoke soon grew so dense that many sailors abandoned the ship and swam for their lives.
Hours later, some sailors returned to the High Flyer to look for the injured,
but they discovered that the cargo ship, which also carried ammonium nitrate,
was now ablaze. Desperate efforts were made to move the cooking ship away from the docks and
prevent more damage from a second explosion, but no tow boat was able to move the ship.
Twelve hours later, SS High Flyer exploded just like SS Grandcamp. The ship was torn from the
inside out, and several pieces of reinforced steel rained across the land, causing additional damage.
As several pictures show, the city became engulfed in turmoil; the citizens barely
had time to process the events after the first explosion when the second came in.
Fortunately, most of the population had been evacuated by then, and only two additional
people lost their lives. Nevertheless, over 567 people perished during the initial explosion.
Aftershock
Many of the people who were closer to SS Grandcamp were never identified, and considering
the many spectators, undocumented workers, unreported visitors, and missing individuals,
experts believe the actual number of people who lost their lives could be closer to one thousand.
In addition, over 5,000 people were injured, almost 2,000 of them severely,
and another 2,000 people were left homeless.
The damage was estimated to be well over one billion dollars in today’s money,
and despite the American public becoming involved
in the tragedy and donating to the cause, thousands of people were left destitute.
This prompted the first class-action lawsuit against the US government on behalf of 8,485
plaintiffs under the 1946 Federal Tort Claims Act, as they saw it as the culprit of the
catastrophe. A fierce legal battle ensued, with a district court ruling in favor of the survivors.
However, the verdict was overturned by the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case then went all the way to the Supreme Court, which affirmed
the previous decision and cleared the US government of any responsibility.
Even so, according to author Melvin Belli in his book ‘Ready for the Plaintiff!’,
Congress eventually provided 1,394 awards totaling nearly 17 million dollars in that time’s currency.
Meanwhile, the anchor that flew across the town was perpetuated as a memorial
in honor of the victims of the disaster and the suffering of the survivors.
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