Page 79 - All About History - Issue 08-14

History's narrowest escapes

off and at 9pm the El Estero slowly sank into the
water, belching smoke, but not exploding, as the
seawater poured in and cooled the ship down.
Disaster had been averted in the nick of time,
and amazingly not a single life was lost. It was the
biggest single threat New York faced during the
whole of the war. Had the El Estero exploded it
could have cost thousands of lives in the area and
uring WWII the citizens of the United States to the craft, hauling the El Estero away from the left much of Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten
were spared the aerial onslaught suffered dockside and the main shipping channel as fast as Island and the New Jersey ports of Jersey City and
by European civilians but the city of New their creaking and straining engines would allow Bayonne in ruins. The destruction would also have
York only narrowly avoided devastation them to. severely dented the US war effort. The next day,
Dduring the height of the conflict. This As the ship’s seacocks were inaccessible, she New York mayor Fiorello la Guardia went on local
devastation wouldn’t have occurred due to a would have to be sunk by pumping water into radio saying: “We felt that at any minute we might
scheme engineered by the Nazis or the Japanese, her cargo holds. Sailing alongside the vessel, the be gone and thank God we got through it safely.”
but would have been brought about by one of their firefighting boats pumped thousands of gallons of
own boats, the SS El Estero. Without the actions water onto the ship in a desperate battle against
of a few brave souls, the ship’s name would have the clock. Lieutenant Commander John Stanley
gone down in infamy. was in charge of the operation and asked for
The drama unfolded on 24 April 1943, as vessels twenty Coast Guard volunteers to remain aboard
bound for the European theatre were loaded with in an attempt to assuage the fires. Those who
ordnance in Bayonne. They included the El Estero, stayed knew their odds of survival weren’t good.
an antiquated 99-metre (325-foot) Panamanian Inside, the fire was still raging and the heat on

freighter, which was loading huge 1,800-kilogram deck was so intense it was singeing the shoes
(4,000-pund) blockbuster bombs at Craven Point of those firefighters still aboard. However, the
pier. It was carrying 1,365 tons of deadly cargo. fireboats and the Coast Guard volunteers appeared
It was the day before Easter Sunday and those to be doing enough to stop the bombs detonating.
loading the ship were no doubt looking forward to Eventually, the ship reached the target area near
a well-earned rest when suddenly, at the nearby the Robbins Reef lighthouse. As water washed
Coast Guard barracks a shout went up: “Ammo over the deck, the remaining hands were ordered
ship on fire!” A blaze had broken out on the El
Estero after a boiler flashback had ignited oil
floating on bilge water. The ship’s engine room Times Square,
was quickly engulfed and the crew, armed only New York, 1943
with hand–held fire extinguishers, were soon
forced back by the searing heat. Within half an
hour of the alarm, Jersey City Fire Department
and sixty volunteers from the Coast Guard were
battling the blaze along with two fireboats,
pouring thousands of gallons of water onto the
ship to try to snuff out the flames. Despite these
efforts the fire was soon out of control.
In 1917, a French ammunition ship, the SS Mont
Blanc, carrying 5,000 tons of TNT, exploded in
Halifax, Canada, following a fire. The blast killed
1,600 people and destroyed 3,000 buildings. If
the El Estero exploded that disaster would pale
in comparison; there were other ships moored
alongside it, carrying their own bombs, rail
cars sitting on the dockside packed with more
munitions, as well as two neighbouring fuel
dumps. New York and its million inhabitants were
in danger of going up in a ball of fire.
On land, the civilian authorities prepared for
the worst. Hospitals and police precincts were
warned that a massive explosion was imminent
and industrial plants were closed. Back at the
ship, retired fire chief Arthur Pfister managed
to organise the removal of some of the red-hot
ammunition boxes onto the pier via a greased
plank, but the Coast Guard realised the only way
to save the city would be to tow the ship to a safe The last resting place of the SS El Estero,
distance and scuttle it. A site in Upper New York the ship that almost destroyed New York
Bay was quickly identified and two tugboats tied
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