1950 — May 19, Munitions being moved explode, Raritan River Pier, South Amboy, NJ– 31

— 31 National Fire Protection Association. NFPA Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2, July 1950.
— 31 National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. 1983, p. 139.
— 31 Time Magazine. “National Affairs: Disaster: The Last Shipment,” May 29, 1950.
— 31 USCG. “Report of Investigation of Explosion at South Amboy, NJ, 19 May 1950.” 1950.

Narrative Information

National Fire Protection Association. NFPA Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2, July 1950:

“On May 19 en explosion occurred on the South Amboy, N.J., waterfront during transfer of 427 tons of mines and dynamite via lighters to the S.S. flying Clipper at anchor in Raritan Bay. Movement of the last carload of mines was being completed when the blast occurred. Thirty-one men at work on the pier and lighters were killed and the pier and lighters demolished. The brunt of the explosion was received by freight sheds, coal dumpers, cranes, a chemical plant and an electric light plant in the immediate blast area. The main part of the town was relatively intact, although windows were broken in most buildings in the area ½ mile south and 2 miles east of the blast. Relatively little major structural damage, power failure at the time of the explosion, and prompt warning to residents to shut off gas probably accounted in large measure for the almost complete absence of ensuing fires. Coal barges at the pier ignited and on May 21, fire broke out in fifty 200-lb. drums of yellow phos-phorus stored in the yard of the chemical plant. It is believed that explosion of one of several mines that landed among the drums ruptured one of them. Because of the danger of exploding mines, and a favorable wind that carried phosphoric acid fumes out over the water, the fire was allowed to bum itself out, Reports of investigations of the explosion have not as yet been released,”

Time Magazine: “South Amboy, N.J. (pop. 9,500), a minor port on the southern arm of vast New York Harbor….Last Friday night a slow, chilly drizzle was falling on South Amboy, but it was shopping night and many housewives were downtown. Over on the river front, a gang of longshoremen worked late. From twelve railroad cars they were unloading a deadly cargo: anti-tank and anti-personnel mines for Pakistan’s army, 2,000 cases of dynamite for blasting in Afghanistan. It was a tough but familiar job to the dockers. From the cars they moved the cases across the dock to four lighters, stowed them in neat, harmless-looking piles. When the job was done, the cargo would be ferried out to a freighter in the bay….

“With a thundering roar, 467 tons of explosives blew up. Across South Amboy windows burst into hurling, razorlike shards. Plaster crashed down from ceilings, doors blew in, walls bulged. The lights went out. All over town, the clocks stopped at 7:26. River mud, coal and metal fragments hurtled down from the sky. From the docks a huge mushroom cloud rose grey-white and languid…. “Atom bomb,” someone yelled and began running….

“Nearly every house and building in South Amboy was damaged. Regular troops from nearby Fort Monmouth were rushed in, took up guard over the blasted banks and the post office. In Perth Amboy, two miles across the estuary, hundreds were cut by shattering glass and a chunk of steel buried itself in a downtown sidewalk. By midnight, South Amboy swarmed with ambulances and fire engines. Some 350 people were injured, 57 of them hospitalized. Others patched their own cuts, tramped the streets peering at wrecked stores, excitedly comparing notes. Through the town’s shattered windows, white curtains flapped like pallid flags in the cold breeze.

“On the waterfront, two coal barges burned and smoked. The pier had disappeared and so had the lighters and the twelve railroad cars. The Stink House was a torn, shattered wreck; fire danced in its innards. Unexploded mines were scattered for hundreds of yards, embedded in coal piles and backyards, teetering on roofs. In a still smoking area, littered with dead fish, four bodies were found, but that was all. There was no other trace of the 31 men who had been working on the dock. They had been blown to bits.

”South Amboy was bitter. Only six weeks before, Mayor Leonard had written to Washington protesting further shipments of explosives through his port. Two weeks before, the Coast Guard had ordered munitions shipments at South Amboy limited to a modest 500 pounds a load, had allowed this big shipment only because of previous agreements. Said Mayor Leonard: “This was supposed to be the last”.” (Time Magazine. “Disaster: The Last Shipment,” May 29, 1950.)

USCG: “Findings of Fact

“An explosion of munitions and dynamite occurred at South Amboy, New Jersey at approximately 1826 EST on 19 May 1950. The explosion occurred while munitions were being transferred from railway cars to lighters at the pier known locally as the “powder pier” belonging to the Pennsylvania Railroad and extending from the Pennsylvania Railroad coal yard at South Amboy, N.J. to a point approximately 460; yards, 237° true from lighted beacon Raritan River 4. The explosion caused extensive damage to structures and dwellings in the nearby area, extending to Woodbridge and Perth Amboy, N. J. and Staten Island. As a result of the explosion 5 persons were killed and have been definitely identified, 26 persons are missing and presumed to have lost their lives, 52 persons were admitted for in-patient treatment at several local hospitals and 150 persons received emergency first aid treatment for injuries sustained.

(a) The identified dead are:

1. Walter Sullivan, 203 1adison St., Hoboken, N. J.
2. Robert Whitcomb, 473 No. Warren Ave., Brockton, Mass.
3. Syvert Hagen, 214 Carrel St., Brooklyn, N.Y.
4. Henry Jacoboski, 196 Broadway, Brooklyn, N.Y.
5. Dade White, 116 East 108th St., New York, N.Y.

(b) The persons missing and presumed dead are:

1. Joseph C. Santon, 80 Harriet Ave., Bergenfield, N.J.
2. Michael Walla, 250 Van Pelt St., Staten Island, N.Y.
3. Vincent Raducha, 99 Nicholas Ave., Staten Island, N.Y.
4. William Healing, 340 Herrick Ave., Teaneck, N.J.
5. Frank Healing, 166 Clondenny Ave., Jersey City, N.J.
6. George Aekerley, 427 Jersey Ave., Jersey City, N.J.
7. William Colyer, 56 Pearl St., Oceanside, L.I., N.Y.
8. Hugh O’Neill, 233 East 176th St., Bronx, N.Y.
9. Warne Hausvik, 727 57th St., Brooklyn, N.Y.
10. James Hart, Leroy Pl. & Scudder Ave., Copiague, L.I., N.Y.
11. Frank Boncek, 276 Sumpter St., Brooklyn, N.Y.
12. Harold Craig, 272 91st St., Brooklyn, N. Y.
13. Benjamin Walling, 346 40th St., Brooklyn, N.Y.
14. Edward Havlicok, 44-01 69th St., Woodside, L.I., N.Y.
15. John Rinn, 313 Ninth at., Jersey City, N.J.
16. Eugene F. Healing, 2600 Hudson Blvd., Jersey City, N.J.
17. Frank J. Rinn, 243 Grand St., Jersey City, N.J.
18. James Riley, 15 Baldwin Ave., Jersey City, N.J.
19. Charles Lynch, 308 Freeman, Jersey City, N.J.
20. Frank Cinelli, S Warner Ave., Jersey City, N.J.
21. Chester Campbell, 2554 Hudson Blvd., Jersey City, N.J.
22. William Harrison, 300 Montgomery St., Jersey City, N.J.
23. John Kronitsky, 260 Duncan Ave., Jersey City, N.J.
24. Maxim Forbes, 822 Jewett St., Staten Island, N.Y.
25. Raymond Ackerley, 90 Bright St., Jersey City, N.J.
26. James Burnes, residence on the ROBERT HEDGER, .Anthony O’Boyle Company

“The lighters involved were: Eugene F. Healing, George J. Healing, James Healing and Kenneth E. Healing, all of which were completely destroyed in the explosion….

“The City of South Amboy had, on the date of the casualty, only one ordinance in the city records concerning the shipment or storing of explosives within the city limits. This ordinance… makes it unlawful for any person or corporation to keep or store more than one carload of explosives within the corporate limits of the city without having first obtained a permit to do so from the Mayor and Common Council of the City of South Amboy. The ordinance further provides that all persons, firms or corporations handling or transferring explosives within the city limits shall be held liable for all damage to life or property arising out of and incidental to such transfer. Mr. Philip S. Keegan, Pennsylvania Railroad Coal Agent at South Amboy, testified that the South Amboy ordinance did not apply to the unloading of the 12 railway cars from which explosives were being transferred to lighters on 19 May 1950 and that it was not the practice of the Pennsylvania Railroad to obtain permits from the City of South Amboy for a shipment of explosives being transshipped, as in the case of the shipment being handled on 19 May 1950. In any event, no permits were requested of the City of. South Amboy by any person and none were issued….

“None of the shipping papers produced in evidence before the board made any mention of the fact that there were fuses shipped together with the anti-tank mines….

“Opinion: Based exclusively on the evidence presented, after full and mature deliberation, and consideration of the many facts developed in the investi¬gation of this case, the Board is of the following Opinion:

1. The actual cause of the explosion is unknown;
2. The most probable cause of the explosion is accidental detonation of a case of anti–tank mines in a freight car, or while being transferred from a freight car into a lighter, or on one of the lighters, due to the cases being sensitive to shock by reason of:

The method of assembly of the detonator;
The assembly of detonator and booster charge in one unit; and
The loose packing of the assembled fuses in the case with the anti-tank mines.” (USCG. “Report of Investigation of Explosion at South Amboy, NJ, 19 May 1950.”)

May 21: “The known toll of the catastrophe stands at 26 dead and 312 injured with property damage running into the millions of dollars. At least five Long Islanders are among the injured. All were on a train that reached South Amboy just as the ammunition exploded…. Among those listed as missing were three sons of the president of the firm which was loading the barges, the James Healing Co., stevedores.” (Long Island Sunday Press. “No Trace of 3 Long Island Men Missing in Amboy Explosion,” May 21, 1950.)

Sources

National Fire Protection Association. NFPA Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2, July 1950.

National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. 1983, p. 139.

Time Magazine. “National Affairs: Disaster: The Last Shipment,” May 29, 1950. Accessed at: http://news.quickfound.net/states/new_jersey.html

United States Coast Guard. Memorandum from Marine Board of Investigation. Subject: Report of Investigation of explosion at South Amboy, New Jersey, 19 May 1950. To: Commandant. New York, NY: USCG June 30, 1950, 28 pages. Accessed at: http://ncsp.tamu.edu/reports/USCG/southamboy.pdf