On 14 April 1944, in the mid-afternoon around 2 pm, the crew were alerted to a fire onboard burning somewhere in the No 2 hold. The crew, dockside fire teams and fireboats were unable to extinguish the conflagration, despite pumping over 900 tons of water into the ship, nor were they able to find the source due to the dense smoke...........
Most of the people even in Mumbai must not have heard
about this tragic accident in 1944. Some must have heard about it from their
fathers or grandfathers. The present generation must have never even heard
about it. It was a huge explosion in the Bombay docks. The city was shaken and
shocked by the massive destruction and loss of lives. The day it rained gold
and death in Bombay. Approximately over 800-1000 people died when the Fort
Stikine exploded in the city docks 70 years ago. April 14 is still observed as
Fire Brigade Day in the city.
The Bombay explosion (or Bombay docks explosion)
occurred on 14 April 1944, in the Victoria Dock of then Bombay, part of British
India, when the British freighter SS Fort Stikine, carrying a mixed cargo of
cotton bales, timber, oil, gold, and ammunition including around 1,400 tons of
explosives with an additional 240 tons of torpedoes and weapons, caught fire
and was destroyed in two giant blasts, scattering debris, sinking surrounding
ships and setting fire to the area, killing around 800 to 1,300 people. Some
80,000 people were made homeless and 71 firemen lost their lives in the
aftermath. It was a disaster of huge proportions which Bombay witnessed for the
first time.
The SS Fort Stikine was a 7,142 gross registered ton
freighter built in 1942 in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, under a lend-lease
agreement, and was named after Fort Stikine, a former outpost of the Hudson's
Bay Company located at what is now Wrangell, Alaska. Sailing from Birkenhead on
24 February, via Gibraltar, Port Said and Karachi, she arrived at Bombay on 12
April 1944. Her cargo included 1,395 tons of explosives including 238 tons of
sensitive "A" explosives, torpedoes, mines, shells, and munitions.
She also carried Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft, raw cotton bales,
barrels of oil, timber, scrap iron and approximately £890,000 of gold bullion
in bars in 31 crates. The 87,000 bales of cotton and lubricating oil were
loaded at Karachi and the ship's captain, Alexander James Naismith, recorded
his protest about such a "mixture" of cargo. The transportation of
cotton through the sea route was inevitable for the merchants, as transporting
cotton by rail from Punjab and Sindh to Bombay was banned at that time.
Naismith, who lost his life in the explosion, described the cargo as "just
about everything that will either burn or blow up."
On 14 April 1944, in the mid-afternoon around 2 pm,
the crew were alerted to a fire onboard burning somewhere in the No 2 hold. The
crew, dockside fire teams and fireboats were unable to extinguish the
conflagration, despite pumping over 900 tons of water into the ship, nor were
they able to find the source due to the dense smoke. The water was boiling all
over the ship, due to heat generated by the fire. It was a recipe for a major disaster.
A piece of the ship's propellor landed here
At 3.50 pm the order to abandon ship was given, and
sixteen minutes later there was a great explosion, cutting the ship in two and
breaking windows over 12 km away. This and a later second explosion were
powerful enough to be recorded by seismographs at the Colaba Observatory in the
city. Sensors recorded that the earth trembled at Shimla, a city over 1,700 km
away. The shower of burning material set fire to slums in the area. Around 2 sq
kms were set ablaze in an 800 m arc around the ship. Eleven neighbouring vessels
had been sunk or were sinking, and the emergency personnel at the site suffered
heavy losses. Attempts to fight the fire were dealt a further blow when the
second explosion from the ship swept the area at 4.34 pm. Burning cotton bales
fell from the sky on docked ships, the dock yard, and slum areas outside the
harbour. The sound of explosions was heard as far as 80 km away. Some of the
most developed and economically important parts of Bombay were wiped out by the
blast and resulting fire.
The details of the explosions and losses were first
reported to the outside world by Radio Saigon, a Japanese-controlled radio
which gave a detailed report of the incident on 15 April 1944. British-Indian
wartime censorship permitted news reporters to send the reports only in the
second week of May 1944. Time Magazine published the story as late as 22 May
1944 and still it was news to the outside world. A movie depicting the
explosions and aftermath, made by Indian cinematographer Sudhish Ghatak, was
confiscated by military officers although parts of it were shown to the public
as a newsreel at a later date.
The total number of lives lost in the explosion is
estimated at more than 800, some estimates put the figure around 1,300. More
than 500 civilians lost their lives, many of them residing in adjoining slum
areas, but as it was wartime, information about the full extent of the damage
was partially censored. Many believe it to be much higher. The causality of the
explosion are as follows:
Two hundred thirty-one people killed were attached to
various dock services including fire brigade and dock employees. Of the above
figure, 66 were firemen. More than 500 civilians were killed. Some estimates
put total deaths up to 1,300. More than 2,500 were injured, including civilians.
Thirteen ships were lost and some other ships heavily or partially damaged. Out
of above, three Royal Indian Navy ships lost. Thirty-one wooden crates, each
containing four gold bars, each gold bar weighing 800 Troy ounces or almost 25
kg. (most of all since recovered). More than 50,000 tons of shipping destroyed
and another 50,000 tons of shipping damaged. Loss of more than 50,000 tons of
food grains, including rice, which gave rise to black marketing of food grains
afterwards. It took three days to bring the fire under control, and later,
8,000 men toiled for seven months to remove around 500,000 tons of debris and
bring the docks back into action.
People of that generation still remember the dock
explosion and the destruction in caused. Since the World war was on, many felt
the Japanese had launched an attack on Mumbai, but this was a major accident
which the city had never witnessed.
India is getting ready for the third moon mission. The Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) said it had successfully conducted the flight
acceptance hot test of the CE-20 cryogenic engine of its moon mission rocket.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said it had
successfully conducted the flight acceptance hot test of the CE-20 cryogenic
engine that would power the country's rocket for the third moon mission --
Chandrayaan-3.
According to the space agency, the CE-20 cryogenic engine will power
the Cryogenic Upper Stage of the rocket called LVM3-M4. The 25 seconds hot test was conducted on February 24 at the ISRO Propulsion
Complex, Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu.
"All the propulsion parameters during the test were found
satisfactory and closely matched with predictions. The cryogenic engine will be
further integrated with the propellant tanks, stage structures and associated
fluid lines to realise the fully integrated flight cryogenic stage," ISRO
said.
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you feel that Aneela Nike Post is making a difference to your life, do take a
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I received an interesting mail from a reader with a
touching story which everyone should emulate. Here I am reproducing the story
for the benefit of our regular readers. This is how you too can show gratitude
towards the armed forces. This will inspire them and lift their spirits. Spare
a thought, the young men stay away from their loved ones and guard the
frontiers in difficult terrain, in extreme biting cold, hot weather and rain.
Sometimes not sure if they will return home to their family. Your small action
of appreciation will make them feel proud to belong to a country where they are
cared for and respected. Their morale will always be high.
I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat
down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight to Delhi. 'I'm glad
I have a good book to readPerhaps I will get a short sleep,' I thought. Just
before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the
vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation. 'Where
are you guys headed?' I asked the young man seated nearest to me. "Agra.
We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being
deployed for operations."
After flying for about an hour, an announcement was
made that lunches were available on payment. It would be several hours before
we reached Delhi, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time.
As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask
his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. 'No, that cost a lot of money, probably
wouldn't be worth it. I'll wait till we get to Delhi ...." His buddy
agreed.
I looked around at the other soldiers. None were
buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant
enough money to cover for 10 lunches and told her 'Take a lunch to all those
soldiers.' She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears
she thanked me. 'My young brother was a soldier in Kargil, it's almost like you
are doing it for him.'
Picking up ten lunchboxes, she headed up the aisle to
where the boys were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, 'Which do you
like best - Veg or chicken?' 'Chicken,' I replied, wondering why she asked.
She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a
minute later with a dinner plate from first class. "This is your
thanks".
After we finished eating, I went again to the back of
the plane, heading for the rest room. An old man stopped me. 'I saw what you
did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.' He handed me a Rs 500/- note.
Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the captain
coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he
wasn't looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my
side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand,
and said, 'I want to shake your hand.' Quickly unfastening my seat-belt I stood
and took the captain's hand. With a booming voice he said, 'I was an Air Force
pilot a long time back. Once someone bought me lunch. 'It was an act of
kindness I never forgot.' I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of
the passengers.
Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could
stretch my legs. A kid who looked about 18 was sitting about six rows in front
of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. I felt him stick a currency
note in my palm.
When we landed, I gathered my belongings and started
to depart. Waiting just inside the aeroplane door was a man who stopped me, put
something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word.
Another currency note!
Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers
gathering for their trip up to their training area.. I walked over to them and
handed them all the currency notes that was given to me on the flight and said,
'It will take you some time to reach your training area. It will be about time
for a sandwich. 'May God bless you and thank you for doing whatever you do.'
Ten young men of honour left that flight feeling the
love and respect of their fellow countrymen. As I walked briskly to my car, I
whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all
for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little.
A Serviceman is someone who, at one point in his life,
wrote a blank cheque made payable to ' India ' for an amount of 'up to and
including my life.'
That is honour, and there are way too many people in
this country who don't understand it.
I sometimes wonder – what if the husbands are asked to
write a few lines about their wives? I am sure most of them would be confused as to what to say.
It might go like this –
My wife is my wife. She is both my emotional anchor
and storm and typhoon. She looks docile, but isn’t and has the ability to put
with a person like me, who is never satisfied, happy or grumpy. She looks
better than me and is a better human being than me. She is also more sensitive than
me. She is a good mother and a good cook, and cooks what I like and not what
she likes as if her likes are not important. She is a symbol of sacrifice. She
is the one person who makes me more comfortable than me myself.
Knowingly or unknowingly, she agreed to be my better
half and she regrets her decision from that day. However, she has a special
quality. She can predict and see things happening in advance, whereas I am deaf
and blind to it. She will say – ‘This is going to happen’ and it does happen.
Then she retorts – ‘See, I told you so.’ She is far more clear about life than
I am, while I still try to understand life! Has a capacity to absorb stress be
it hers or mine. And so sometimes I feel spoilt by her magnanimity.
Finally, I realized, women have more brains and are
more beautiful inside and outside, which makes them unique! She has the ability
to translate our dreams to reality. And she makes the happy family and holds it
together in good and bad times.
If
you feel that Aneela Nike Post is making a difference to your life, do take a
minute to consider a comment or contribution. We would also value your
suggestions as how to make ourselves more relevant to you. Please write to akn929@yahoo.com to give
your valuable feedback.
