Maritime Injury Lawyers

The 1947 Texas City Disaster

Early on the morning of April sixteenth in 1947, the French Liberty ship Grandcamp was sitting in a slip in Texas City, across the bay from Galveston. Already, the holds contained roughly 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, sisal twine, peanuts, drilling equipment, tobacco, cotton, and a few cases of small ammunition.

Workers were working to finish loading the ship’s holds, with no special safety precautions being taken, when an individual smelled smoke. Shortly afterwards, someone else noticed that there was smoke rising from the cargo hold where workers were currently loading more fertilizer. The workers tried extinguishing the fire using two fire extinguishers and gallon jugs of drinking water, but the fire would not stop.

As the time wore on, the fire continued to grow which resulted in the longshoremen being ordered out of the ship’s hold. Around this time, the captain of the ship appeared and clearly said he didn’t want the fire put out with water because it would ruin the rest of the cargo. Because of this, workers opted to attempt to smother the flames by closing the hatch and covering them with tarpaulins. In addition, ventilators on the ship were closed and the steam system was turned on.

To prevent the accidental detonation of the ammunition on board, stevedores removed the cases of ammunition from a different hold. Unfortunately, the fire continued to grow which eventually forced all individuals off of the ship.

Shortly after everyone was ordered off the ship, the steam pressure in the battened hold blew off the hatch. A crowd gathered to watch the orange fire. Shortly after, around 9:15, the ship exploded. The explosion created a mushroom-like cloud that was visible for 150 miles in every direction and stretched more than 2000 feet into the sky.

The shockwave from the explosion knocked two small planes flying in the area completely out of the air. Any firefighters that were on board attempting to fight the fire had their bodies disintegrated from the blast-over pressure and heat. At the Monsanto fertilizer plant, across the slip from the ship, 145 of the 450 workers whose shift it was to work at 9:15 a.m. died. A 15 foot wave of water thrust outwards from the slip and forced a 150 foot barge ashore.

Hours later, people remembered that there had been another ship in the area. The ship everyone remembered to think about was the High Flyer. This ship too was carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizers (1,000 tons) as well as some sulfur. Around 11 p.m., this ship too exploded.

The High Flyer’s explosion caused crude oil tanks to burst into flame. It resulted in a chain reaction of fires which spread to other structures which had, previously, been undamaged by the earlier explosion.

The dual explosion of the High Flyer and the Grandcamp resulted in the worst industrial disaster with the most casualties in American history. There were 405 identified casualties, 63 unidentified casualties, and 100 more people that were never seen again and were classified as “believed missing.” In addition to the more than 500 casualties, there were roughly 3,500 people injured. One third of Texas City’s houses were condemned or demolished by the explosion.

If you have been injured in a maritime injury, please contact the maritime injury lawyers of Williams Kherkher at 1-866-950-9000 to discuss your case and to determine your legal options.