A Brief History of: the Texas City Disaster (Short Documentary)

#AmericanHistory #Texas
The Ammonium nitrate explosion in Beirut was not the first harbour to be decimated by the dangerous chemical, as back in 1947 the city of Texas would face a similar outcome.
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Sources:
1. digital.lib.uh.edu/collection...
2. historycollection.com/30-imag...
3. www.britannica.com/event/Texa...
4. www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?1...

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Let me know if you want me to cover more non-nuclear incidents!

[@MrMynameisjonaz]

The Cuyahoga River fire! I tweeted 'The History Guy' about it maybe you guys could co-lab

[@jasonrichardson1999]

You will have to Because you are almost done with most nuclear incidents

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Don't worry I've still got 14 Nuclear subjects on my to do list and more get added every week, probably won't run out of glowing disasters any time soon!

[@darrenbrashaw8409]

RAF Fauld explosion.

[@adambrain8365]

Nuclear, non nuclear...if it has really energetic materials that were not handled or understood well until the event, it pretty much ticks the boxes for me. We had to learn so much of this the hard way, it’s important to learn from it.

[@SivakAurak]

"The water line was refused on the grounds that it would damage the cargo" Checks out, if my house was on fire I wouldn't want anyone spraying water on it. Might damage my books and electronics.

[@giacomomeluzzi280]

Yeah, Ireally wonder what the idiot that refused it was thinkig

[@deevnn]

@@giacomomeluzzi280 Just one more greedy rich guy more concerned with the stuff and could care less about the people...just like today with trumpy and the wealthy corporations lying about Covid.

[@jamescooke3763]

Sounds like sensationalist journalistic BS to me.

[@daquemasquieren]

its sounds dumb, but this is actually quite common, volunteer firefigther for a while here, a truck full of charcoal have alot of smoke and some fire, start mobing the bags and using water, owner come and says ´´stop you gonna wet the charcoal´´ plain stupid and shit.

[@Strype13]

Ironically, I've actually seen this happen. When I was attending college, someone set a trashcan on fire in our dorm hallway and it had started to burn the dorm located nearest to it at the end of the hallway. When the firemen got there, one of the students who occupied said dorm start flippin' the f%ck out and screaming at the firemen, "Don't you DARE spray that water inside my dorm! My computer is in there and I have a ton of shit on there that's irreplaceable!" And he was dead serious. He started out by standing in the doorway trying to block them from entering, and when they told him to "get the hell out of the way, son" he literally started screaming "no!" and "stop!" as he tried to yank the hose out of their hand. Suffice to say, they ended up 'gently' lifting him up and removing him from the premises as they proceeded to put the fire out. Poor kid ended up being the butt of many computer-nerd jokes for the remainder of the semester. "Dude, no! Stop! Don't you DARE bring that water bottle into your dorm room! Your f%cking computer is in there!" (as they tried to yank the bottle out of his hands) -- We certainly got some fun laughs out of it.

[@massimookissed1023]

*"Fire hose?"* _"No, let the cargo burn. We don't want to risk damaging the cargo."_

[@dx1450]

Sounds funny, but ammonium nitrate is self oxidizing, so spraying water on it won't put it out.

[@morzh1978]

@@pprrzzeemmo It releases oxygen whilst decaying under heat. However, water could cool it down and also dissolve the salt quicker than it burns, but you have to act fast. Linger for a minute - and you will likely have less water than you need at your disposal.

[@megaman161]

Hearing something like "A 2 ton anchor was launched over a mile away" really puts the strength of the explosion into perspective.

[@cpfs936]

Figure that's roughly the mass of a battleship shell. 😳

[@firefighterchick11]

My grandmother was a senior in high school in Texas City when the ship exploded. It blew her out of her desk chair. Her mother was at home cooking and she was blown out the back door, along with the pot of food she had on the stove. She said Texas City stunk of rotting bodies for months afterwards because they kept washing up on shore.

[@Squee_Dow]

My aunt was in that same graduating class.

[@the409_pilot]

Lmao yall gotta chill

[@PhoenixMoth]

Holy glitter

[@jblob5764]

Was this after her 12 mile walk to school uphill both ways ?

[@SilverGoth]

That is fascinating. Thank you for sharing their stories!

[@Tindometari]

The reason why the carrier refused water was that they were trying to put out the fire by pumping steam into the sealed hold -- an approach to shipboard fires as old as steamships, usually effective, and kinder on the (remaining) cargo than water. In this case, as it turned out, this was worse than nothing at all, as the steam heated the ammonium nitrate and accelerated the fire. (Ammonium nitrate carries its own oxidizer, which is why it's an explosive, and also why the fire couldn't be put out this way. But apparently the ship's crew did not understand this, or the well-known chemical principle that every 10°C of increased temp approximately doubles the rate of reaction; when the reaction is exothermic the result is a thermal runaway. Thermal runaways are big bozo hazards in chemical plants -- there is a looooong history of explosions from this cause. T2 in Florida is a perfect example -- and would be worth a video, PD. 😏) So the decision to refuse water, while still stupid, was not *quite* as absurd as it seems on the surface.

[@kenricnarbrough8191]

you n yer fancy Context.

[@gkess7106]

Wasn’t steam used for stored coal?

[@MichaelClark-uw7ex]

Water would have dissolved the fertilizer and put the fire out.

[@durshurrikun150]

@@MichaelClark-uw7ex No, the water vaporized and the steam further heated the ammonium nitrate.

[@keigoftw]

Honestly, I forgot this wasn't early 1900s and was thinking of the Palsgraf v long island railroad case: which in a modern context was a case of a woman suing the railroad after being struck by the unsecured, heavy scale left on the platform (think grandfather clock but metal). She lost because no one at th4e time, not even she & her lawyer considered that the actual negligence was heavy scale's unsecured nature, not train worker setting off a chain reaction that caused a panic, resulting in someone knocking the scale over onto her.

[@masterimbecile]

"I refuse a water hose because it might damage the cargo." Then the firefighters were called, whose water probably damaged more cargo. Then the cargo blew up. Then the port blew up. Then the company lost far more money than they would have lost for a few bags of wet ammonium nitrate. *facepalm* Priorities, people. Priorities.

[@DrKlausTrophobie]

Hindsight is a b****.

[@unevenelephant469]

@@DrKlausTrophobie Basic Logic is a bitch. "Hey this explosive is on fire, we need a hose!" "NO! You'll get my explosives soaked!"

[@FeintMotion]

@@DrKlausTrophobie This isn't hind sight it's pretty obvious that a large fire or explosion is way worse for business and human welfare than some of the stuff being wet and undeliverable

[@12isaac00]

@@DrKlausTrophobie yeh, how could anyone guess that a large pile of ammonium nitrate on fire would end up poorly? it's not like it's tendency to catch fire and worse was know at the time, right.

[@Allangulon]

Executives are unable to make any decisions unless they get pissed first!

[@sirrliv]

Minor point of order: The reason the SS Highflyer couldn't be towed away was because the Grandcamp explosion had pushed her sideways into the William B Keane, entangling the two ships in each other. Salvage workers from Galveston worked frantically to free the Highflyer so they could tow her into the bay where she could explode in peace, but ultimately failed. If memory serves the Keane was also loaded with ammonium nitrate and may have exploded simultaneously with the Highflyer.

[@extec101]

opps that would be bad.

[@flowgangsemaudamartoz7062]

@David Parry "Simply", says somebody that wasnt even there.

[@sirrliv]

@@flowgangsemaudamartoz7062 Steady on, mate. Most of us weren't there. You probably weren't there. Though you do raise a not unfair point. While it may have been hoped to save the William B. Keane and just lose the Highflyer, thus avoiding the extraordinary expense of losing a potentially still repairable cargo ship to collateral damage, the reality was that if possible it would have been better for them to have towed both ships out into the bay as they were. I'm not clear on why this wasn't done, but there are several possible reasons; if memory serves, the Galveston salvagers only had one tug available at the time, which might not have been strong enough to tow both ships at once or might not have been able to secure tow lines to both, the William Keane may still have been anchored or tied to the pier, or may even have been crushed against the pier by the collision with the Highflyer. Point is, while it may well seem like the better idea to lose both ships, there must have been reasons why this wasn't done.

[@robvenom1058]

My great uncle was there. Apparently worse than his time in the Korean War. He worked at the local grocery store and when the fire started they all went out to watch. He was the only person to be found from that store. He was blown a few blocks away critically injured. His father 2 hours away had heard on the news about the explosion and he drove there and searched for his son. Didnt find him for 2 days. Crazy shit

[@meg4458]

Also, the unclaimed bodies they buried and placed a memorial park right on top of them. (I live in texas city, born and raised, and working at the Port as i am typing this.)

[@Strype13]

Good lord, that's terrifying. I'm glad he was okay. And thank you for sharing that little addendum to the story with us!

[@pipermintpat854]

Jesus christ that's insane

[@haroldburrows4770]

My uncle there was a week before he could get in touch with mom in Bama, she was calm that time she said the lord told her Cliff was alright

[@calebjaymes9710]

@@pipermintpat854 very!

[@rudolfthecat1176]

"Boom" -Ammonium nitrate storage

[@madmanmortonyt4890]

"Boom" -Texas

[@luisvila918]

@@madmanmortonyt4890 "Boom" Beirut

[@DarkDisc1]

Boom!! Tetris for Jeff

[@ichaukan]

I was very confused when I looked at the photo and read "Texas City" because the first thing I thought of was the refinery explosion in Texas City in 2005, then I thought of the ammonium nitrate explosion in West, Texas. I guess explosions are both bigger and more numerous in Texas.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Unfortunately true, it seems to be a state tradition to blow stuff up!

[@st3vorocks290]

@@PlainlyDifficult Unfortunately, we arent real big on enforcing regulations here. I mean, we do love blowing stuff up, but we generally prefer to do it on purpose.

[@darthkarl99]

Worldwide there's on average been a cuple fo big ammonium nitrate exploshions every decade since production began. Germany had a huge one in the interwar era.

[@prototype434]

@@st3vorocks290 *Sigh* Texas has very many regulations.

[@st3vorocks290]

@@prototype434 I didnt say we dont have them, I said we arent big on enforcing them.

[@ReverendTed]

Watching the photos of this made me realize you haven't done the 1937 New London School Explosion. It was a huge tragedy that garnered worldwide attention and is part of the reason that natural gas now smells like rotten eggs. I've been to the museum there and it's a bit chilling to see the letter of condolence from the Chancellor of Germany.

[@RonSeymour1]

I have seen this covered recently. Not sure which channel though.

[@IIMoses740II]

Thank you for sharing/requesting that. Despite it's mark on history like that, I had never heard of it. Shame... There's a "Disasters Of The Century" video uploaded here on YT; it even has interviews with some of the surviving children kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYDRZ6Njd56paNE

[@ReverendTed]

@@IIMoses740II I went to the elementary school there back in the late '80s. One of the survivors came and spoke to us; he had survivor's guilt because he agreed to switch places with a girl who wanted to sit next to her boyfriend. She was crushed.

[@Godflesh88v2]

@@willoughby1888 We have tasty air up here in Maine because of all the trees! (and pollution has been reigned in from what it was decades ago)

[@Godflesh88v2]

@@willoughby1888 Oh man there are some horror stories I could tell ya about pollution. I used to find blue hides from the tannery upstream hanging in the bushes along the Sebasticook river in the springtime. Alot of their chemicals used to go in the river too....

[@7411y]

"Monsanto" Uh oh "Ammonium nitrate" UH OH This played out almost exactly like the Halifax explosion, but with another ship explosion on top

[@richcast66]

Monsanto and nestle can burn at the center of the sun. They would end humanity if they were allowed

[@Mrshotshell]

@@richcast66 they would never do that. It would be way more profitable to to kill only half of the people on earth.

[@RCAvhstape]

@@richcast66 Nestle Crunch bars are good tho

[@michal31131]

And the Beirut explosion.

[@equarg]

michal31131 Yea, The Halifax explosion was BIGGER then the Beirut’s blast believe it or not. Frankly we have been lucky there gave not been any accidental Halifax sized blasts in 100 years. There have been bad blasts, but none as big or caused as many fatalities. *knocks on wood* After the Halifax disaster strict rules governing storage, transportation, and mixing of explosives is tightly regulated for a reason. As a “Conservative” I support regulations that save lives and prevent repeats of past disasters! Many safety regulations are metaphorically written in blood, not ink. For example, rules governing required exits in public buildings and why it is illegal to lock/block emergency exits. In the early 20th century a fire broke out at the Iroqui Theater killing over 400 patrons, many died piled up at the locked exits. Mostly women and children died. That disaster was so horrific it inspired the invention of the panic bar on emergency exit doors you see commonly see in public buildings. Sadly, these new regulations only applied to Theaters.....not public buildings like restaurants. It took the Coconut Grove Fire, hundreds burned to death, to mandate emergency exits in all public buildings. The fire was so traumatic that Boston made it illegal for any business to ever call themselves “The Coconut Grove”. Because of the grove doors on most businesses push out to exit too.

[@stephenc3409]

"The ship's hull started to bulge as the heat from within built up" that's hot

[@theq4602]

OwO

[@Askial_Osial]

Who knew ship's could get excited

[@myoldaccount2560]

“Hey Bob, what should we store this literal rocket fuel in?” “Oh I don’t know, surround it with petrol, wax, and put it in a paper sack. Nothing could possibly go wrong, it’s not like we’re surrounding it with highly flammable material.”

[@rickoc3022]

Sadly that kind of thinking is still going on today, profits over safety.

[@Strype13]

Not to mention the 200 tons of peanuts (or whatever the ridiculous amount was). The oil released from peanuts after ignition is known to 'slow-burn' for a very long time.

[@Relkond]

To be fair, sometimes your options for containers just suck. ‘Let’s store this oxidizer in barrels’ ‘ Ok, how about plastic barrels?’ ‘you do realize, they make fuel for solid-rocket boosters by mixing this stuff with plastic?’ ‘But it’s in barrels! That makes it safe!’ ‘That’s what that one rocket-fuel factory thought up until it exploded.’ ‘Hmm.. so plastic’s out. How about aluminum barrels? Those’r’cheaper to get than iron drums!’ ‘You do realize, they make fuel for solid-rocket-boosters by mixing this stuff with aluminum?’ ‘so aluminum is out. How about steel drums?’ ‘Hmm. I don’t know that they make rockets from it. It’s also not thermite, but it would definitely be more energetic than thermite...’ ‘Wonder if we can get tungsten dr...’ ‘Don’t. Just... don’t’ Sometimes, the only good option is to limit how much of a thing you keep in one place - you may not be able to keep it from circumstances that cause it to explode, but you can keep the explosion to a reasonable size for the location.

[@myoldaccount2560]

@@Relkond Good point, but still, any one of those options would have been exponentially better than waxed paper. Indeed some compromises have to be made, but a steel or even wooden barrel provided it was airtight would give me much more confidence handling it. It could have also been placed in an anoxic cargo hold flushed out with carbon dioxide.

[@Relkond]

@@myoldaccount2560 Wood barrels arn’t really any better than paper bags or wax containers... have you looked at what wood is made from? The stuff is practically pure sugar (bound specially so animals can’t digest it), and wood will wick wax, probably better than paper - I’d sooner keep the stuff in paper bags than in wood barrels that can contain pressure, turning the, into bombs. As for metal barrels... Did you catch what liberty ships were made from? Concrete. why were they making ships from concrete? because for the war effort they were putting all the metal they could into the things that had to be done, and could only happen with metal -> you can make a concrete ship and have it float, sure, but getting a concrete airplane to fly is a whole other sort of project. Sure, this was also after the war by a few years, but that doesn’t mean everyone stopped doing all the things that made sense (and worked, less or more) during the war. Even so, this happened the same year they started using tin in pennies again - gives you some idea of how slowly the world was moving towards normal following the war.

[@Michael-kh5wr]

My grandmother was living in Galveston at the time. She told me when they heard the initial explosion and saw all the smoke they thought they were getting invaded by the Germans.

[@ItsJustLisa]

A friend of mine has lived in Texas City all of her life. Her great-grandmother’s house was essentially destroyed, but gr-grandma survived. She hid under a car for shelter. The tires all flattened and her son had to lift it with a jack so she could get out. Amazingly enough, their chickens also survived, but almost all of their feathers were blown off. Two of the firemen who survived were my friend’s grandpa and great uncle. Her grandpa ran a service station a few blocks away and had to hide from the shrapnel raining down on the roof including under cars he had been working on. Great uncle, Grandpa’s brother, had been sent to Galveston for something. He had been fighting the original small fire, but asked to leave because of that errand. The first ship exploded when he was almost to the causeway onto the island. I think their story is included in the book “City On Fire”. So yeah, three generations of my friend’s family were greatly impacted by this disaster-her great grandparents, her grandparents, and her father and his siblings. The remaining family still takes part in commemoration ceremonies every year and there’s always a survivors photo taken. (This information all comes from my friend. It is her story. I’m merely relaying what she has shared herself.)

[@keigoftw]

Huh, do you know where was the son prior to getting the jack? Did he live elsewhere?

[@jayrandolph9328]

I wanna know how great gramma knew to take shelter under her car before the explosion.

[@sandordugalin8951]

"Water around the hull of the ship began to boil." Well, that's a bad sign.

[@steamandsmoke97]

Three Recommendations for future videos: The Chazhma Bay Criticality Accident during the refueling of K-431, The Icebreaker Lenin's partial Meltdown, and the Steam Sidewheeler Sultana's Boiler Explosions.

[@sirrliv]

Sultana was a sidewheeler, but that would be a great episode.

[@steamandsmoke97]

@@sirrliv I know that. Spell check autocorrected to stern because it apparently doesn't know side wheelers existed, one of the annoyances with commenting on a smartphone. It's quite obvious Sultana didn't have a paddle-wheel attached to it's ass. Her paddle-wheels were hardly visible in the first place under the splash skirts, especially on her fateful voyage.

[@r.ridderbusch7303]

The *Sultana* is the saddest story - beating the Titanic - as these victims were on their way home after having served in the American Civil War, so close to being home :-(

[@steamandsmoke97]

@@r.ridderbusch7303 Well that's the price of greed and bribery pushing the limits of a machine that should not have been in service in the first place.

[@Strype13]

Great recommendations. I'd like to see these as well.

[@johnroach8508]

So basically they accidentally made a ship-sized pressure cooker bomb with Ammonium Nitrate mixed in. Jesus, that’s some horrifying chemistry.

[@admiralcapn]

Video: "Texas City Disaster" Me: Oh, I know this one, they overfilled the blow tank at a BP processing facility - Video: "Boats in the harbor are a source of explosions..." Me: Wait, this city had ANOTHER earlier disaster?!

[@madmandan1935]

Yeah... This one was worse. If I remember correctly there were reports of it being heard as far as Louisiana.

[@baronvonjo1929]

Ever heard of the Halifax explosion? It was even bigger and worst than this one.

[@madmandan1935]

@@baronvonjo1929 Yes. A higher yield explosion containing military munitions during the first world war. Still does not discount the severity of either disaster. Something that he did not say in this episode though, just worth mentioning; the grandcamp also carried large bales of twine, which ignited and fell on the city igniting fires everywhere.

[@j.f.fisher5318]

yeah, Texas has a lot of oil, is in an agricultural region, so lots of petrochemical industry and fertilizer plants (since fertilizer is mostly made ultimately from oil)

[@dejaruckett1878]

I use to live in Texas city

[@evelynu3550]

It’s so strange that things like this happen a lot apparently but you never learn about them unless you happen to find videos like these. I mean, ~600 people dead and $34 mil (in 40’s money) in damage is kind of a big deal.

[@Yora21]

It happens with some frequency, but rarely at this scale. Texas City and Beirut were both absolutely enormous.

[@evelynu3550]

Yora That makes sense. It’s just strange to me that in a matter of decades we seem to forget all about these sorts of disasters.

[@rwdplz1]

City of Texas City, Texas Founded by the Department of Redundancy Dept.

[@cpt_nordbart]

Just like Kansas City in uhm... Nevermind.

[@joeyjamison5772]

Stamp out and abolish redundancy.

[@rogerw-interested]

@@joeyjamison5772 again?!? :)

[@daviddavis4885]

Texas sure has a lot of fertilizer explosions; It’s almost like explosives and 110 degree weather don’t mix very well... Also, howdy from Texas!

[@5roundsrapid263]

Germany had a couple of massive ammonium nitrate explosions in 1921. The workers were breaking up crystallized AN with explosives!

[@Liz-cmc313]

I live in Texas City... It's just a matter of time.

[@TheMattc999]

@@5roundsrapid263 yup, I remember hearing about that too. The ammonium nitrate was stored loose in a silo or warehouse or whatever, solidified into one big mass, and they broke it apart for sale with explosives. What could _possibly_ go wrong with that? Hey y'all, watch this (in thick German accent).....

[@5roundsrapid263]

TheMattc999 It was outside, a literal mountain of the stuff!

[@vegetassidechick5076]

You'd think after Belrus texas officals would be double taking.

[@davidp.5598]

WOW!!! Simply amazing! "Don't spray water because it might damage the cargo." So they had an explosion instead? Now that really "damaged the cargo." Thanks for the upload, PD! Great job as usual!

[@bhull242]

In fairness, this was common practice on ships, which would try to use steam to suffocate flames. However, ammonium nitrate is self-oxidizing at high temperatures, so this made things worse.

[@ronacria5610]

When the Beirut explosion happened I thought of the Texas City disaster too.

[@annacochran4418]

I live for new videos on explosions or nuclear events. Best channel 10/10.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!

[@ReneSchickbauer]

Another interesting accident was the "SS Marine Sulphur Queen". It was a rust-bucket of a badly maintained T2 tanker carrying molten sulphur. It's sinking cost 39 crewmen their lives. It could have been so much worse: One can only imagine what would have happened if the ship broke appart in harbour and spilled burning sulphur everywhere...

[@RobertSzasz]

Not much. It would just sink and go out.

[@ReneSchickbauer]

@@RobertSzasz Only if the harbour is deep enough. There are many harbours around the world that are just deep enough to allow cargo ships of certain types. There's a good chance the parts of the ship might have settled at the bottom, with parts of the cargo still exposed to the air. The SS Schenectady is a good example: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Schenectady

[@RobertSzasz]

@@ReneSchickbauer oh, right. I mean it could burn, but anything getting out of the ship would just sink and go out. A sulphur fire, but not spraying burning sulphur over an area.

[@noahbagel177]

I’m Texan and we just had an explosion in Corpus Christi. Maybe too early, but maybe a video?

[@iamnotamushroom2880]

Just hearing about this. Just watched the report. Did they find the missing ppl?

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for the suggestion

[@Hex-Mas]

Keep that shyt in texas

[@ThomasPlaysTheGames]

Eh, it's bad but it's only someone digging and hitting a pipeline as far as I know.

[@noahbagel177]

Just Thomas true

[@victoriacyunczyk]

Fun fact: The namesake town of SS Grandcamp was a major part of D-Day, being right between Utah and Omaha beaches and close to Pointe-du-Hoc.

[@danielgreen6302]

bodies were completely destroyed...Yeah, people that close would've been vaporized by that massive of an explosion.

[@5roundsrapid263]

Yep. Not just nuclear bombs can vaporize people. Unfortunately, it’s happened many times, from Halifax to 9/11.

[@Squee_Dow]

True, but in an unexpected development, my uncle, who was near the Grandcamp on the docks (journalistically covering the event), was killed by a projectile that severed his jugular vein. When they found his body in the morgue after 3 days, it was the only injury they could find. Defies all odds, doesn't it?

[@haleydawn7982]

Thank goodness we all are alive,R.I.p to the once who were oost

[@danielgreen6302]

@Amanda B Not necessarily, I think that depends on peoples source for actual substantive information. A lot of people do and mistakenly trust are influenced by Hollywood films, but even the most realistic of those don't use real, authentic, high explosives because of their killing potential.

[@cats400]

I was in Galveston on the day of the refinery explosion in 2008. I was about 40 miles away and it shook my house.

[@kiddo5938]

I’m from and live in Texas City, and this is on my recommendation. Kinda got scared for a moment 😭. We also have 3 of the anchors on display throughout the city

[@cylerstarr1874]

Kidd same

[@johnhoftb]

I don't live in Texas City myself, but have visited on occasion and knew about the one off Loop 197, but not the others.

[@Squee_Dow]

@@johnhoftb A lovely little cemetery. You should visit that one.

[@bournemouthisshit]

NB: "Roysin" pronunciation for rosin (rozin)... Same stuff used to coat horsehair on violin bows.

[@theLuigiFan0007Productions]

And as a flux for welding and soldering. Ester of rosin is an emulsifier in food. Stuff has MANY uses.

[@goldenpun5592]

As soon as I saw that explosion in Beirut I thought..."That looks like an anfo explosion" a couple days later, "Explosion in beirut caused by amonium nitrate burning in a warehouse"

[@jonathantatler]

So as per usual we haven't learnt anything about the safe storage of Ammonium Nitrate.

[@Yora21]

Nothing to learn here that wasn't already known.

[@Tindometari]

Oh, the lessons have been very thoroughly learned. They've just never been as thoroughly applied.

[@roguedalek900]

Creditable evidence it was a careless butt discarded by loading crew of the Grandcamp

[@stefandebeer9375]

Ammonium nitrate storage explosion? Doesn't that sound familiar? "Cough Beirut cough"

[@noahbagel177]

Stefan De Beer cough cough tanjin explosion cough cough

[@Deilwynna]

ships exploding in harbour? also sounds familiar... japanese battleship mutsu near kure... the halifax explosion of 1917... the main 2 ones i can think of right now

[@gonun69]

@@noahbagel177 cough cough Oppau explosion cough cough

[@noahbagel177]

Gonun cough cough west Texas cough cough

[@dmhendricks]

Y'all sound like you have COVID-19. May wish to get tested. cough cough

[@Octane.on.pawz.]

FINALLY SOME REPRESENTATION OF MY HOMETOWN

[@MMOchAForPrez]

This was brought up recently after the explosion in Lebanon. Glad to see you decided to cover it!

[@haleydawn7982]

Yeah you’re right. Sounds like you’re very observant

[@Andysixxisgodonearth]

Hey im from Texas city. Appreciate you putting us on the map, few actually know of it

[@jimsvideos7201]

If you'd cut it out with the explosions we wouldn't have to do that so often. ...too soon?

[@feliperamirez5299]

I actually lived in texas city for most of my life and i thought it was just local history. Im glad to see that people are being informed of it.

[@IIMoses740II]

For one of the largest non-nuclear explosions, the videos about it are almost non-existent here on YT I can't even find the History Channel documentary on it that I remember seeing as a teenager give or take a decade and a full-moon ago Thank you sincerely for fixing that with this documentary of your own 👍

[@thub66]

Excellent summary of the events. I am from Galveston so I knew alot of the facts, but you illuminated this history quite well. Nitpick: Sam Maceo is pronounced MAY-see-OH

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you! My bad on the pronunciation!

[@lesleyannebathory4426]

New to channel and I am loving it. I love learning about disasters and I'm finding a few new one's here to further study. Keep up the good work.

[@g85w20]

A Brief History: The Beirut City Disaster

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Probably at some point

[@mojoblues66]

wasn't similar to this one in that there was an initial explosion followed by the main explosion 5 seconds later? perhaps a property of ammonium nitrate?

[@sbstoner]

@@mojoblues66 i was about to say , very similar

[@ToddHowar.d]

Was just about to say this as well, that whole incident is crazy.

[@Yora21]

Basically the same thing.

[@joeylawn36111]

One thing not mentioned is the fact that the captain of the Grandcamp ordered the hold with the ammonium nitrate sealed and steam poured in. This is to fight the fire, which normally works for other materials, but makes ammonium nitrate decompose, causing an explosion.

[@Shadowsoul2701]

Been waiting for this for a while. Only video I wanted to watch honestly

[@capmadman6486]

Ah yes, I was wondering if someone would cover this disaster, I must say though. You have provided more details on this disaster than most of the locals have. You sir for sure have my support. Keep up the archival of the history :]

[@WEEZlUS]

Usually I try to leave a comment that’s witty etc.. instead, I wanted to thank you for the effort and time clearly put into these videos. It’s understood one video can hardly be considered an infallible explanatory representation of said historical event; regardless, content you have published is (IMO) absolutely perfect in its blend of rarely seen original creativity with factual event. Thank you, will be supporting and looking forward to the expansion of your channel/content!

[@pokerinthefrontliqueurinth4971]

Thank you for bringing This Disaster to people's attention. It doesn't get as much press as some of the other incidences you've covered in the past. If you look on KZbin you'll find that there's not very much information except some old film footage and the handful of Survivor testimonials.

[@CAbornTXraised]

Many of the people who were injured and died were bystanders who came out to see the source of the smoke. Few survivors still reside here. They gather once a year for the memorial service.

[@stephanietorres7170]

My great uncle Harold was killed in this explosion. They only found the top of his skull. Sadly, I was never able to meet this wonderful, generous artistically talented man. I had heard of his of the tragedy but his brother only mentioned the location to me once, never wanting to discuss it.

[@yellowroseproductions363]

Thank you for doing a video on a topic so close to home.

[@fensoxx]

Great job! Doesn't need to be nuckear , though those are indeed special. You just do a fantastic job covering all these industrial accidents. Thanks!

[@McRoma2]

wait, a B-25 crashed into the Empire State Building? Ive never heard about that

[@kirkc9643]

wait, yes

[@sillyone52062]

Fun facts: The collision of B-25 into the Empire State Building is still the record for the highest fire extinguished, and the furthest non fatal elevator drop.

[@lilprada7737]

I saw this on my recommended and I actually learned about this because I live in texas city

[@majedmj7270]

Wow. Thanks for the information

[@teamfishbikeclub4160]

Well done Sir, can hardly wait for your Beirut article...

[@Vid_Master]

explosions are incredible, great video

[@yvrianhontiveros3589]

Content suggestion : Can you cover the Tomsk-7 Nuclear Reprocessing Complex Explosion? Thanks in advance.

[@seanmckinnon4612]

Wasn’t there another explosion at a refinery or pesticide plant in Texas City more recently? I didn’t know about this one! Edit: guess I should have watched the whole video before commenting 🤪

[@joestock732]

Been waiting for this since he told me about this. About time this is talked about considering the recent nitrate blast.

[@madmat2001]

Since you're doing non-nuclear disasters, you should cover the Port Chicago disaster.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thanks for the suggestion!

[@Turbopotato-fp9yd]

awww shit, here we go again, the new and improved hallifax explosion :p aslo really think you could do a great mini doc on the lebanon ammonium nitrate explotion aswel. because you tend to get pretty in depth and share a lot of info really well and understandable for us dumber folks :p but yeah, idk. feel the only other place i'd find a documentarry of this quality would be some big budget production thing

[@z50king29]

Nice and timely

[@MrJr1976]

My great-grandfather worked in the area. In his 30yr working career, he only took 3 sick days. This was one of them. His entire unit was vaporized and he absolutely would have died that day. This is one of the biggest reasons why I am so militant about safety procedures

[@SofaKingShit]

"A perfect breeding ground for danger" could easily describe me after a three day drinking binge.

[@klockwerked1673]

Great content 👍

[@rickoc3022]

It is a good thing that the lessons from this disaster have gone on to prevent this from happening again.

[@Cybonator]

You could probably do a whole series of ammonium nitrate explosions.

[@IxodesPersulcatus]

Raging inferno about to cause untold devastation: *is vibrant* Gawkers: 👁👄👁

[@baruchben-david4196]

The was a US Government publication, "The Effects of Nuclear Weapons," which used this incident for the purposes of comparison to nukes.

[@kenziemckeever1605]

I lived only half an hour from Texas City. Very surreal learning about this other disaster that happened in a city I remember driving through on the way to the beach...

[@wildbill2703]

My great grandfather worked in a plant in Texas City. He said he woke up for work with a really bad feeling and decided to call in sick. If not he would ha e been killed.

[@wonkothesane8691]

I used to work as a Security Officer for a different company which took over that particular plant after the 2008 explosion. The area still bears the scars from the '47 explosion. The company that's there now is expanding the site, adding new processing plants and holding tanks. Texas City has never fully recovered from the 1947 event, I wish them luck.

[@consciousiota2161]

My mom’s friend from childhood had a grandfather who died in the explosion. He was a firefighter.

[@ninjaGrim1]

If I were a short documentary I'd want to be made by plainly difficult

[@mr.cardguy7635]

I am a survivor of the 2005 explosion, scary s#!t. I knew about this diaster from growing up in Houston and just learning Houston area history. I even have been to the memorial they have for this diaster at bother the Texas city dike and on the north side of the city loop

[@WhatDemocracy]

Ohhh my KZbin actually recommended a good channel for a change.... Even better I have years of brilliant content to catch up on 🙂

[@bmoney3288]

I love hearing an Englishman talk about my state😆

[@FourOf92000]

so I know New York City's official name is just "New York", but Texas City's official name is "Texas City". The description says it's just "Texas". Unlike with New York, the state predates the city by like 70 years and the city is named after the state.

[@cr76802]

Fun fact .... The anchor from the Grandcamp is setup as a memorial site/park where it landed.

[@castlepro9688]

Texas City is a nice place, i live there and it’s sad not many know about the place.

[@eisenklad]

well, this is just as good as covering Beirut explosion

[@bricetriplett759]

finally someone made a video on this

[@beenthinking8931]

I've been thinking, the Texas City Disaster exploded 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate (seems like most disasters happen with it) and it was about 1/4 maybe of a nuclear bomb, and it was by accident. I could be wrong, it's likely but considering this was 2 years after WW2, this is some scary stuff.

[@W1gglePuppy]

So can you do a video on the planters being set up in palace?! =D Destroying business on the triangle, my sister's toy shop is buggered! Oh also love the content! Was happily surprised to see the park dino vid! Also serious idea for video, you jump between different units of measurement in different vids. Could you do one that attempts to correlate them?

[@meg4458]

I am in Texas CIty and work for the port. I pass by the two anchors everyday at work. They have left them where they laid ( for the most part) after the disaster.

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Oh good the ammonium nitrate one. Not when I decided to go to a Buffalo Wild Wings in Texas city and the rubber duck thing happened.

[@macmedic892]

I thought we weren't discussing that anymore.

[@righteousviking]

I've never seen this disaster titled like that. Here in SE Texas we just call it the Texas City Disaster.

[@dmhendricks]

Seems ambiguous. When I first read Texas City Disaster, I assumed that it was referring to the Texas City BP refinery explosion. I was confused because the photos obviously do not match that incident. 😐

[@righteousviking]

When it comes to disasters in Texas City...there can only be one!

[@rdooski]

Wow. I've lived right next to Texas City for 36 years and never heard about this older explosion.

[@juk-hw5lv]

Wait, wait, AN mixed with PETROLEUM to keep moisture out? It's like burning the house to kill the spider

[@TotallyNotRedneckYall]

Another Texan disaster: the New London School explosion of 1937. School officials had the building connected to an untreated waste-gas line to save money on heating. Untreated natural gas is odorless, no way to tell if your pipes spring a leak... ...which they did, and the resulting explosion killed nearly three hundred people, most of whom were children. Completely preventable tragedy caused by greed and incompetence.

[@haroldburrows4770]

My uncle was there and had left the harbor area about 30 min before explosion. He said he was laying on hotel bed having a nip when the door and windows blew across the room. He said it was so loud he didnt hear it but felt it, he said it was hard to describe

[@Mysdee-B]

Great video as always. Small note, word ’epicenter’ means litrally ’above the center’. Epi- prefix in latin means upon. Earthquakes happen deep under earth surface. Epicenter is the point on surface directly above the center of the event. Thus, ’epicenter’ should not be used to indicate the point of the event.

[@francistheodorecatte]

For the morbidly curious, the Well There's Your Problem podcast, a podcast about engineering disasters where the host, Justin Roczniak, tries to talk about engineering disasters while his cohosts continually interrupt him, did an episode about the Texas City Disaster. It includes why one of the volunteer firemen survived, and why they couldn't just push the SS HighFlyer out to sea. This is not a commercial. Ok, thank you.

[@kikoeta]

While I'm still early, I do think it's "rahsin" not "rhoisin". Anyways, great stuff as always. Thanks for making history more interesting than what we learn in textbooks.

[@tookitogo]

Yep. How the fork does he manage to mispronounce even simple words?!? (Saying it’s pronounced as “raw-zin” works in both American and British English, by the way.)

[@cl4ster17]

Ammonium nitrate never disappoints.

[@Backyardmech1]

They still have the prop from High Flyer and maybe the anchor setup as memorials, I believe where they landed. The locations of those docks are now owned by Valero and Gulf Coast Ammonia.

[@zdgoat8888]

Please cover more this was so interesting