1926 –Nov 19, oil tanker Mantilla explosion, Bethlehem drydock, Sparrows Point, MD –17-18

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-12-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–17-18.  Blanchard. We have no source to corroborate the NFPA’s note of 18 deaths. Newspapers at the time note numbers such as at least nine, 15-17, at least 20, and 25. Some accounts state that the death toll was not known. Though perhaps arbitrarily, we choose to employ the use of a death toll range of 17-18.

—  25  International Seamen’s Union of America. Seamen’s Journal, Vols. 40-41, 1926, p. 100.

—>20  Sandusky Star-Journal. “Holocaust Soaring Cameraman Gets…Picture.” 11-24-1926, 8.

—  18  NFPA. “S.S. Mantilla Explosion.” Quarterly of the [NFPA], Vol. 20, N3, Jan 1927, 281.[1]

—  18  National Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).

—  17  The Pointer, Riverdale, IL. “17 Die, 75 Hurt in Ship Blast.” 11-26-1926, p. 6.

—  16  Frederick Post, Md. “Search Ruins for Crew. 16 Believed…Perished…” 11-22-1926, p. 3.

—  15  The News, Frederick Md. “15 Killed, 75 Hurt in Tanker Blast in Baltimore Harbor.” 11-19-1926, 1

— >9  Salt Lake Tribune. “Oil Tank on Boat Explodes.” 11-25-1926, p. 1.[2]

Narrative Information

National Fire Protection Association, “S.S. Mantilla Explosion”: “An explosion on the oil tanker Mantilla while in dry dock just out­side the city limits of Baltimore on Friday, November 19, wrecked the vessel and is reported to have killed 18 and injured some 70 men. This explosion and the ensuing fire is of particular interest following as it does several similar disasters reported during the past year. These were described in some detail in the article by Mr. A. J. Smith, Secretary, N.F.P.A. Marine Committee, in the October, 1926, QUARTERLY, page 137. As in the case of similar disasters in the past, it appears that the trouble may be chargeable to failure to put empty oil tanks in proper condition prior to making repairs as prescribed in the N.F.P.A. Regulations on Marine Fire Hazards. In the absence of an official report, however, no definite statement can be made on this point. The following report…has been furnished through the courtesy of the Baltimore Underwriter.

 

“The explosion occurred on the Norwegian S. S. Mantilla at the plant of the Bethlehem Ship-building Corporation, Sparrows Point, Md., a short distance outside of the corporate limits of Baltimore. This ship, a tanker, had discharged a cargo of crude oil at the Mexican Petroleum Corporation, Curtis Bay, Baltimore, on the day previous to the explosion. The ship had been hauled out on drydock at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation plant, and was being gone over by workmen of the ship­building company and members of the crew of the steamship during the morning.

 

“About 11 A. M., November 19, an explosion occurred, without any cry of “fire” or other warning, followed by several other rumblings or explosions, involving eight of the sixteen oil tanks of the ship, the explo­sions being followed by an outburst of flame. The eight tanks involved were amid-ships. The force of the explosion was terrific, blowing out the sides of the vessel, tearing the deck into shreds of twisted iron, and hurling winches and other huge pieces of metal for several hundred feet.  Bolt heads shot through the air like rifle bullets.  Hatch tops were thrown to nearby piers, as was a mass of burning oil.  One huge piece of metal, weighing more than twenty tons, was thrown to a neighboring dock, a distance of more than 200 feet. Nearby buildings were denuded of wire glass and frames; portions of some roofs were carried away. Billows of flame shot through the dock, incinerating men as they ran. Portions of human bodies were hurled in every direction. Nine dead were ac­counted for later, and another nine were reported missing. Whether they were blown to pieces, hurled into the waters nearby, or whether these men merely disappeared after the accident, it is hard to decide.

 

“While eight tanks of the ship let go, eight others were not involved, and the shipbuilding forces feared that they, too, would blow up. A call for help was sent to the Baltimore Fire Department and the Fireboat Torrent and a foam pumper were sent to the scene in charge of Deputy Chief Shipley. Chief Emrich later went personally to the scene of the accident to take charge. The fireboat crew used a foam stream made by pouring cans of foam producing powder into a continuous foam generator connected with an ordinary hose line. The foam pumper used the regu­lar two solutions for this class of foam, using about 1,000 gallons of its supply, which gave a foam spread of probably 8,000 gallons. Possibly 20,000 gallons of foam spread from the continuous foam generator was also used. The use of these foams put out the fire in remarkable fashion, the shipyard officials being free to state that the ship would probably have been a complete loss had it not been for the work of the Baltimore firemen with foam. The firemen went up against a sea of flame in the center of the vessel, taking the chance that another great explosion would wipe them all out. It was a splendid demonstration of the efficiency of both the fire­fighting force and the foam equipment.

 

“The official report of the case of the Standard Oil tanker, O. T. Waring described in the article by A. J. Smith referred to above, was that no chemist had boarded the ship to test tanks for gas content prior to the explosion. No announcement has been made as yet in the Baltimore case as to whether the tanks were tested for gas content. After the ex­plosion a chemist made tests of the eight remaining tanks for gas content before repair work was resumed on the vessel. The best accepted practice for removal of the gas content explosion hazard is to first vaporize the tanks with live steam and then thoroughly ventilate them.  It would seem likely that recent experience may later force a requirement in all shipyards for the proper freeing of tanks of flammable vapors before any repair work is done on any oil tankers.

 

“The cause of the explosion on the Mantilla, at Baltimore, is so far rather indefinite. It may have come from any one of the three following causes :

 

  1. The attempt to light a cigarette or cigar near one of the tank hatches which were being painted at the time by members of the crew and in which the sight-holes may have been open. The hatch covers were hurled a considerable distance from the ship by the explosion and the sight ports were open when the hatches were found. The thread on the holes was not damaged, as would apparently have been the case had the force of the explosion lifted the sections free from the hatch covers, according to shipyard officers. Shipyard officials believe that these sight-holes had been left open by the crew during the painting operation.

 

  1. Fume contact with either of two electric welders being used by the shipyard forces, one of them for repair of an ice chest on deck.

 

  1. Fume contact with flame as the result of repair work on rivets on star­board side of ship where, the ship’s officer says, acetylene torches were being used. The rivet testing crew had completed the port side of the ship, it is stated, and were working on the other side when the explosion came.

 

“On this latter theory of the origin of the explosion, a member of the crew, Lars Larssen, when interviewed at the Marine Hospital, had this to say: “I was standing on starboard side of floating drydock and looking down at two men operating acetylene burners and two caulkers when I heard an explosion which sounded like a cannon, and then a ball of flame.  I ran up deck to shore and when a piece of iron hit me on the left leg I fell.  Men then came from shore end of dock and took me to land.”

 

“The report of Battalion Chief Edgar B. McKnew, head of the Fire Prevention Bureau of the Baltimore Fire Department, gives his personal opinion of the cause of the fire, which is of interest. This report is as follows: “In company with Capt. W. H. Jones, I inspected the S. S. Mantilla, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Sparrows Point, and find that explosion had occurred in the cargo fuel oil tanks at center of ship. The force of the explosion opened deck and starboard side a distance of at least 125 feet, raising deck and pushing out starboard side. The force of explosion was so terrific that it actually tore …-inch [unclear] steel sheets. The explosion caused oil to be thrown around on dock, port side and over deck of ship, also scorching paint on lifeboat and woodwork on deck. At center of port side, at two places, rivet holes showed which had been burned out by acetylene torches. In my opinion the burning out of rivets built up an explosive gas in cargo hold and reached the right tempera­ture, which caused explosion on ship.””  (NFPA. Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 20, N3, Jan 1927, pp. 281-283.)

 

Newspapers

 

Nov 19: “Baltimore, Nov. 19 (AP). – Fifteen were reported killed and 75 injured as workers plunged frantically into the blazing hulk of the Norwegian oil tanker Mantilla, wrecked by an explosion in the dry dock of the Bethlehem Steel Company at Sparrows Point this afternoon.

 

“The Mantilla’s crew of 35, including Captain Nils Danielsen, was aboard with an undetermined number of dry dock workers when one of the vessel’s tanks blew up from an unknown cause. The spray of blazing oil thrown by the blast fired the ship from stem to stern. Nearby buildings were damaged, dock hands rallied to the aid of firemen in attempting to hold the fire in check, while volunteers entered the hulk to bring out the dead and injured.  Workers were endangered by the ship’s other tanks, which, it was feared, might explode at any time….

 

“Captain Danielsen was reported unhurt.  How many of the crew were included among the dead or injured could not be determined….

 

“The Mantilla is 407 feet long, with a 52-foot beam and has a gross tonnage of 5,670.”  (The News, Frederick Md. “15 Killed, 75 Hurt in Tanker Blast in Baltimore Harbor.” 11-19-1926, p1.)

 

Nov 21: “Baltimore, Nov. 21 – (AP) – Painstaking search of the cooling ruin of the Norwegian tanker Mantilla, rent apart by an explosion in its hold while in dry dock at Sparrows Point, early Friday had accounted for only eight of 16 men believed killed. A check made by Captain Nils Danielsen indicated that the death toll included 12 of the Mantilla’s crew of 35.  Four unidentified bodies were apparently those of seamen.  The other bodies recovered were believed those of employes of a ship cleaning company.  Of these the bodies of Amiel Peterson and Charles, Bergin, both of Baltimore, were identified.  Of the two score injured receiving hospital treatment, several had slight chances of recovery, physicians said….

 

“Accidental ignition of gas generated from oil that remained in a fuel tank when the Mantilla went into dry dock was believed the cause of the blast which ripped the vessel’s steel plates like tissue.  Irma [unclear] Abrason, in injured member of the crew died at University Hospital Saturday.”  (Frederick Post, Md. “Search Ruins for Crew. 16 Believed…Perished…” 11-22-1926, p. 3.)

 

Sources

 

Frederick Post, Md. “Search Ruins for Crew. 16 Believed to have Perished in Steamer Explosion.” 11-22-1926, p. 3. http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=10357285&sterm

 

International Seamen’s Union of America. Seamen’s Journal, Vols. 40-41, 1926, p. 100.

 

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)

 

National Fire Protection Association. “S.S. Mantilla Explosion.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 20, No. 3, Jan 1927, pp. 281-284.

 

Salt Lake Tribune. “Oil Tank on Boat Explodes.” 11-25-1926, p. 1. Accessed 3-12-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/salt-lake-tribune-nov-25-1926-p-1/

 

Sandusky Star-Journal, OH. “Holocaust Soaring Cameraman Gets Only Picture.” 11-24-1926, p. 8. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=134884150&sterm=mantilla

 

The News, Frederick MD. “15 Killed, 75 Hurt in Tanker Blast in Baltimore Harbor.” 11-19-1926, p. 1. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=11932469&sterm=mantilla

 

The Pointer, Riverdale, IL. “17 Die, 75 Hurt in Ship Blast.” 11-26-1926, p. 6. Accessed 3-12-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/riverdale-pointer-nov-26-1926-p-6/

 

 

 

 

[1] The NFPA writes that eighteen was the reported loss-of-life, but we do not know the source.

[2] “The exact dead is not yet known. Several bodies were blown to pieces…no trace…found. Nine known dead…”