Texas City Disaster: a Painful Way to Learn

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Texas City Disaster: a Painful Way to Learn

In the bright, clear, spring morning of April 16, 1947, an event occurred in the Texas City Harbor in Texas City. To the survivors of this disaster, what happened on that Sunday morning was like the end of the world. Sadly, to those who did not make it, this indeed became the end of their world. This event that brings unforgettable painful memories from 50 years ago is referred to as the Texas City disaster.

It all began with the French cargo ship, S.S. Grandcamp, a 437-foot ship that arrived at Texas City Harbor on April 11, 1947. Upon arrival, the Grandcamp was already loaded with 16 cases of small arms ammunition, 59000 bales of sisal binder twine, 380 bales of cotton, 9334 bags of shelled peanuts and some oil field, refrigeration and farm machinery. Over the next few days, bags of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, shipped from Nebraska via rail by TCT (Texas City Terminal Railway company) were being loaded onto the ship. By the morning of April 16, 1947, No. 2 hold had 1420 tons of ammonium nitrate while No. 4 had 880 tons.

At 8 am that morning, a longshoreman smelled smoke coming out of hold No. 4. He alertly notified his co-workers and they moved several bags of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and found flames between the cargo and the hull. They tried putting out the fire with a jug of drinking water and fire extinguisher but their effort ended in vain while the flame got worse. Some crewmembers started hauling boxes of arm ammunition out of hold No. 5 (to avoid explosion!) In hold No. 4, some crewmembers called for a hose line to distinguish the fire but the ship captain, Charles de Guillebon, interfered because he did not want water to ruin his precious cargo. Instead, he or...

... middle of paper ...

...gineer in the chemical plant is not like to be committed again.

50 years and 6 months after the Texas City disaster, a lot of changes has been made to ensure the safety of handling hazardous material due to the disaster. It was a wake up call for people around the world to look deeply into the safety issues and for government to assume an active role in enforcing those issues. For the residents in Texas City who decided to stay and rebuild after the disaster, it was more than a wake up call for safety. It was a painful memory that made people even stronger. It was a call for the community to come together and make Texas city a major industrial center again. It was a joint effort to make Texas City a better and safer place to live.

However, watch out! No place is safe enough and Texas City disaster can very well strike again somewhere around the world today!

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