Tuesday 28 February 2023

The Bombay Dock Explosion


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The Bombay Dock Explosion

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...........

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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.

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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
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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.

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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.

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Isro successfully test fires cryogenic engine

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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