Your dad was a lucky man, (or boy) considering only a 40% survival rate at New London. I don't like them odds.


You're right about Texas, they do things big down there, intentionally or not. 6000 dead in the 1900 Storm at Galveston (how's this for mind-boggling, 3,700,000 dead when the Huang He(Yellow) River flooded in China circa 1937...sorry, off on a tangent again), the highest figure I've found for New London is 311, and the Grandcamp explosion which is another interesting story.

"Texas City just blew up!" , a quote that tells it all. Workers loading the ship apparently started the fire with a lit cigarette. It smoldered for a little more than an hour, long enough to attract a sizeable crowd. A favorite pasttime of the locals was to gather and watch the occasional refinery fires. This one was unusual in that the smoke plume was " a pretty peach color", with people leaving work and children cutting class to get a better view. At 9:12am the fire had worked it's way to the 2300 tons of Ammonium Nitrate on board. For comparison's sake, Tim McViegh used 3 tons in Oklahoma City. Hundreds were killed instantly, including the entire Texas City Volunteer Fire Department. The explosion was heard 150 miles away, people knocked off their feet 10 miles away, and a mushroom cloud rose 2000 feet in the air. Flying red hot shrapnel rained down for miles, destroying hundreds of homes and igniting secondary explosions in various ships and refinerys. The freighter High Flier exploded the next day with an additional 100 tons of Ammonium Nitrate, and the Monsanto refinery was totally destroyed. All told, 576 people died that day with more than 3000 injured.

Used to fish a lot from the Texas City Dike, and right at the foot of the dike is the resting place of one of the Grandcamps 3000 pound anchors, 2 miles from Pier O where she was docked. Current resolution does not clearly show the anchor, but it is visible. Go south and you'll see the docks and adjoining refineries. Could not pinpoint Pier O, but believe it was located in the canal.