I was a young boy in Bombay and in primary school at the time, and living only three Kilometres from the site. I remember the trauma very well; it also caused a power black out and transport and road blocks etc for several days after the incident. The cotton bales which were stored along with the 'TNT" made a dangerous mix of cargo; and so when the cotton caught fire; the explosions came on quickly and went out of control; lots of fire fighters and dock side workers and officials died and hundreds of others were severely injured or maimed.
The fear of repeated explosions etc sent many people moving to the suburbs temporarily. There was a voluntary exodus and also some evacuations in the vicinity of the Docs. We ourselves took sheltor in Bandra, for a few days.
My father had a job as Technician Supervisor with the Bombay Port Trust, very close to the scene of the accident and somehow came home unscathed, on that eventful day.
The Expolsions were quite 'Big' for the time; and made an impression world wide; so much so, that the incident has been covered by 'Reader's Digest' more than once.
Nasci Caldeira
From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Goanet]When 'Fort Stikine' blew up in Bombay Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 01:53:42 +0530 (IST)
This week marked the 61st anniversary of the 1944 dockyard blasts, which was caused by a massive fire and explosion on board the British freighter Fort Stikine. The vessel was moored at the Bombay docks, was carring 1300 tonnes of TNT at the time of the blast, and caused a destruction of a total of 27 ships and killed an estimated one thousand people, according to the Indian Express!
This was during World War II.
Was wondering if any Goans in Mumbai of that time recall the incident, or their parents talking about it... It must have been quite a tragedy; Naresh Fernandes and Jerry Pinto's co-edited book on Mumbai/Bombay have an essay on this theme. FN
