The Incredible Texas City Disaster of 1947

Texas City is a small port town in the state of Texas close to the Gulf Of Mexico. It is a busy shipping port where ships from all over the world move tons of freight every day. On the morning of April 16, 1947, a small fire broke out on the French ship SS Grandchamp. The ship was carrying 2300 tons of ammonium nitrate. At 8:10 AM, smoke was spotted in the cargo hold of the vessel. Attempts to extinguish the fire proved to be futile. The chemical reactions of the fire started the water to boil around the ship. A small crowd gathered on the shoreline to watch the fire. The Texas City Fire Department boarded the ship in an ill-fated attempt to put out the fire. At 9:12AM, the ship exploded and the entire volunteer fire department was wiped out in a split second.

The explosion leveled almost 1000 buildings. The ships 2 ton anchor was hurled almost 2 miles through the air. It shattered windows in Houston nearly 40 miles away. People felt the shock as far away as 250 miles. The seismic center in Denver, Colorado registered the shockwave and mistakenly assumed it was an earthquake.  The president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, thought that Texas was under nuclear attack and sent troops to combat the attack. Unfortunately, the destruction was not over.

The SS High Flyer, which was docked 600 feet away from the Grandcamp, caught fire from the original explosion. The High Flyer was loaded with 961 tons of ammonium nitrate and 1800 tons of sulphur. 15 hours after the Grandcamp exploded, the High Flyer blew up. The resulting explosion knocked 2 small airplanes out of the sky and caused more destruction to the already devastated town.

The death toll from the two explosions reached 581. Over 5000 people were injured and 1781 had to be hospitalized. 1100 vehicles, including all 4 fire engines from Texas City, were destroyed. It took a week to extinguish all the fires and bodies were still being recovered almost a month later. After lengthy court battles, the Supreme Court ruled in 1953 that the U.S. government was not responsible for the destruction. In spite of this ruling, Congress took action and awarded $17 million to the survivors of the tragedy.

Texas City has long since been rebuilt and the towns’ population is currently close to 50,000. All the major companies that had lost structures in the explosion decided to rebuild in the same town. I visited Texas City a few years ago and there are very few hints of this incredible tragedy. There is a memorial with one of the ships anchors that provides a sobering reminder of the destruction that took place one spring morning in 1947.