black tom explosion never happened

It didnt kill anyone, but the saboteurs plot was to send a message for America to stay out of war profiteering. After shrapnel from the blast hit the Statue of Liberty, its torch, which was once used as a viewpoint from which visitors could enjoy spectacular views of the city, became unsafe for visitors and guests are still barred from entering the torch to this day. In New York alone, there had been 70 pier fires and 139 fires on board ships. A Little Island In The Bay. The event that sparked the ban occurred 102 years ago Monday, on July 30, 1916. Used as a munitions warehouse for the Allies, Black Tom Island in the New York Harbor rarely gained any attention during WWII. Nearby Ellis Island had to be evacuated after the explosion, which also damaged the Statue of Liberty. The lawyers sued Germany in the Mixed Claims Commission at The Hague, and in 1939 won the case. October 18, 2006 | by Gotham Gazette Staff. The Black Tom Explosion by Lauren Dillon August 1, 2022 0 In 1916 one of the "largest non-nuclear artificial explosions" occurred in the United States. One Mandela Effect thats related to this story is about the Statue of Liberty. James Doherty, a police officer from Jersey City, was killed in the explosion. 17 was packed with 50 tons of TNT, and 69 railroad freight cars were storing more than a thousand tons of ammunition, all awaiting shipment to Britain and France. After escaping from internment, Witzke traveled to San Francisco, where he met with the German Consul General there and was paired to work with Jahnke. At 2:08 a.m., an explosion ripped through the night. It was the center of, and was destroyed by, the terrorist bombing of 1916. The first of the Black Tom explosions was felt at 2:08 a.m. followed half an hour later by a second blast. Nearby Ellis Island had to be evacuated after the explosion, which also damaged the Statue of Liberty. An explosion on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor in the middle of the night could be heard from miles away, shattering glass windows in Manhattan and killing seven people. The next day, a sign warning of fire danger remained in the wreckage left by the explosion. Scientists would later assess the magnitude of the blast at 5.5 on todays Richter scale. [3] Landfill projects later made Black Tom Island part of the mainland, and it was incorporated into Liberty State Park. Per the Council on Foreign Relations, he called the Black Tom explosion "a regrettable incident at a private railroad terminal.". But writing off the explosion as an accident also downplayed its role in American history, and few remember the explosive event today. There is a Youtube channel called "The Great War" that covers WW1 week by week and not once do they mention the Black Tom Explosion. It was the largest non nuclear explosion to date. The history of Mare Island started in 1853 when the United States government purchased the slender, 3.5 miles long peninsula-like island off Vallejo for around $83,000. Just after 2:00 a.m., an explosion lit the skiesthe equivalent of an earthquake measuring up to 5.5 on the Richter scale, according to a recent study. On the night of July 30th, 1916, Black Tom island disappeared. Shortly after 2:00 am, an earsplitting explosion rattled the Brooklyn Bridge, swayed skyscrapers, and shattered glass windows throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. [12], After midnight, a series of small fires were discovered on the pier. ; a Powder Factory Completely Destroyed Four Men Instantly killed", "The Point of Rocks Line: More about the Little Railroad", "An Attack That Turned Out to Be German Terrorism Has a Modest Legacy 100 Years Later", "Looking Back Black Tom railroad yard NFPA Journal", "On the Map; Explosion by the Hudson, Foreign Espionage, Local Fear: 1916", "Rogue River courier. Stained-glass windows from inside Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic Church in Jersey City, NJ. He had worked with a chemist to perfect a particular type of tiny bomb with a time-delayed incendiary device and he told Admiral von Tripitz back in Berlin Ill buy what I can and blow up what I cant.. The Statue of Liberty was permanently damaged -- afterward, visitors were forbidden from climbing into the Torch. Peter Raceta, the captain of a flatbottom barge in the harbor, was in the cabin watching the fire on Black Tom with two other men. According to an article at Firefighter Nation, the blast wave traveled at 24,000 feet per second and tore firefighters from their boots, throwing them in the air. English: The Black Tom explosion of July 30, 1916 in Jersey City, New Jersey was an act of sabotage on American ammunition supplies by German agents to prevent the materials from being used by the Allies in World War I. American Passage: This History of Ellis Island by Vincent J. Cannato, HarperCollins, 2009. 7. [5] On January 26, 1875, an accidental explosion killed four. [13] The damage to the Statue of Liberty was estimated to be $100,000 (equivalent to about $2,490,000 in 2021), and included damage to the skirt and torch.[19]. A series of blasts were heard and felt some 90 miles in every direction, even as far as Philadelphia. Following the explosion, the Jersey Journal warned of as many as 50 deaths. Damaged canal boats in the wreckage after the explosion. He said the isolation of the island, along with the decreased influx of immigrants to nearby Ellis Island at the time other countries were deterring their citizens from leaving and escaping the draft lowered the casualty count. Because while the statue was built for the torch to be accessed by tourists, its been closed from visitors since 1916. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. LAW CAN'T HALT MUNITIONS Representative Hamill Introduces Bill Giving Cities Power to Bar Explosives. It even bent electricity poles. Fires raged along the pier after the early-morning explosion. The Black Tom explosion was an act of sabotage by German agents to destroy U.S.-made munitions that were to be supplied to the Allies in World War I. It was named allegedly after a freed slave named Tom who used to fish on the island. This was one of the major reasons that Germany was sending saboteurs to disrupt the supply chain from America. Senate Document 105-2", "The Kaiser Sows Destruction Central Intelligence Agency", "Frequently Asked Questions Statue Of Liberty National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)". Smaller explosions continued till dawn, but they caused little damage. Review this podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-says-it-s-true/id1530853589 Well, as reported in many of the newspapers in the aftermath, they thought it was negligence. Von Bernstorff not only helped obtain forged passports for Germans who wanted to elude the Allied blockade, he also funded gun-running efforts, the sinking of American ships bringing supplies to Britain, and choking off supplies of phenol, used in the manufacture of explosives, in a conspiracy known as the Great Phenol Plot. Saboteurs got credit for fires and bombs at other American factories, and one estimate claimed that about 43 factories were damaged or destroyed and about 48 ships suffered from the German bombs. It was heard and felt as far away as Philadelphia, and in Baltimore, people spilled from their homes, fearing an earthquake was underway. And no one anticipated that the munitions depot might become the target of enemy agents. The devastating explosion on Black Tom was carried out by three men, one of whom worked at the depot. One paper reported that after seeing the blast, watchmen "got down on their knees and prayed.". Advertising Notice He returned to the United States with anthrax and glanders with the intention of infecting and killing livestock. There still is a cloak of secrecy about what happened on July 30, 1916. Aluminum powder explosion, advanced by Patrick O'Sullivan. That night, two German spies rowed across New York Harbor, their boat heavy with dynamite. The immigrants waiting for processing on Ellis Island had to be evacuated. Your email address will not be published. And as of 1916, the United States still wanted to remain isolated from the war. It blew the windows out of every high-rise building in Lower Manhattan. JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) Two German spies crossed New York Harbor at midnight, making the journey in a rowboat loaded with dynamite. One of the largest profiteers was J.P. Morgan and the same German agent, Eric Muenter broke into the home of Morgan and shot him twice. The island was the location of 2 million pounds of small arms and artillery ammunition. Black Tom Island Explodes Explosions rocked the New York City region in the early hours of the morning of July 30, 1916. A circle of U.S. flags complements the plaque, which stands east of the visitors' center. Forgotten history, bizarre tales & facts that seem too strange to be true! One of the largest examples of sabotage during World War I happened half a mile from the Statue of Liberty and hardly anyone knows the story. So if you ever run across someone who claims theyve been up to the Statue of Libertys torch, now you know why they havent. The blast was the equivalent of a 5.5 magnitude earthquake. In the late 1800s, Jersey City dumped refuse on a rock in New York Harbor. The Black Tom event was the largest and the deadliest.We know all of this now, but without any sort of unified investigative body in 1916, this info took years to uncover. The U.S. government had a plan for Mare Island and intended to convert it into one of first major Pacific shipyards for the American Navy. Get the latest History stories in your inbox? For the U.S., responding was difficult. American authorities charged into the breach, ready to find out exactly what had happened. 19? His book Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013. They had been the victim of whats thought to be one of the first foreign terrorist attacks in the United States. It starts, You are standing on a site which saw one of the worst acts of sabotage in American history!. Very. The Statue of Liberty was pelted with shrapnel. [36][37] Irish socialist and labour union leader James Larkin asserted that he had not participated in sabotage, but admitted to having encouraged work stoppages and strike actions in munitions factories, in an affidavit to McCloy in 1934. [49] In an interview with Jules Witcover, McCloy noted that as assistant secretary of the navy under Wilson, Roosevelt "knew all about Black Tom." Their destination: Jersey City's Black Tom Island, at the time the largest ammunition depot in America. It had 417 cases of detonating fuses. On the 30th July 1916, an explosion took place in New York that was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter scale and was felt as far away as Philadelphia. At least five people were killed, including a baby in Jersey City who was thrown from. Flying bullets and shrapnel rendered firefighters powerless. [43] The final payment was made in 1979. Von Rintelen entered the U.S. with huge sums of money and direct orders from Berlin. View of the Statue of Liberty from the site of the explosion: The explosion caused $100,000 worth of damage to the statue, and from then onward the torch has been closed to tourists. But the legacy of this explosion is deeper than just relegating tourists to Lady Libertys crown. CLARK TO FIX BLAME FOR BIG EXPLOSION; Wilson Sends Commerce Commissioner Here to Continue Investigation. There were five or six other lighters alongside mine at the dock, and a tug was just coming up to drag us away. I dont know what became of the tug or the other lighters. The island was temporarily closed. They then fled the scene. Today, the Black Tom site is part of New Jerseys Liberty State Park. Fires burned on Black Tom Island into the morning after German saboteurs attacked the munitions depot. Total damage was calculated at $45 million ($1.127 trillion in 2021), with damage to Lady Liberty costing $100,000 ($2.5 million in 2021) alone. Discusses the circumstances and German plotting that surrounded the sabotage explosion at the Black Tom munitions depot in New York Harbor on July 30, 1916 Print length 339 pages Language English Publisher Algonquin Books Publication date May 1, 1989 ISBN-10 0912697989 ISBN-13 978-0912697987 See all details The Amazon Book Review The Mixed Claims Commission decided, at last, that there must have been "foul play" behind the Black Tom explosion. That made munitions depots like Black Tom Island a major target for German saboteurs. [44], The Statue of Liberty's torch was closed to the public following the explosion, due to structural damages. The force of the explosion threw people in Jersey City from their beds. While its not thought that he was incredibly successful, he was discovered by the FBI and fled to Mexico. Others attempted to fight the fires. But its doubtful that anyone currently living has been up to the torch of the statue. At 2:08 am, the first and largest of the explosions took place. To this day, access to that torch is banned. Black Tom was a distribution point for thousands of tons of munitions, explosives, and black powder shipped across the Atlantic to Allied forces fighting in Europe. But it was too late. The Black Tom explosion wasnt the only provocation. Black Tom Cassidy (created October 1976), a Marvel Comics supervillain, an enemy of the X-Men. According to Chad Millman, who wrote The Detonators: The Secret Plot to Destroy America and an Epic Hunt for Justice," there were two main reasons that the investigation took so long. Library of CongressThe damage from the Black Tom explosion stretched across the railroad yard and pier. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Producer Credits By blowing up a munitions depot on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor, Germany slowed the shipment of supplies to Britain and France from the ostensibly neutral United States. But it took until after World War II for Germany to initiate the payout prolonging the saga until 1979. The Secret Service, by presidential order, was able to investigate some German attacks and intrigues. But it took years for investigators to piece together the evidence against the Germans in the bombing. At 2:08 a.m on July 16, 1916, a munitions depot on Black Tom Island, in the Hudson River just off Jersey City, exploded. The Black Tom explosion of July 30th, 1916, was so large it could be felt in Philadelphia, ninety miles away. All Rights Reserved. Even the other agents from the German military didnt know about his secret orders. Liberty State ParkFollowing the explosion, the Jersey Journal warned of as many as 50 deaths. Smoke billowing from the Black Tom explosion, a German sabotage . Required fields are marked *. The CIA wouldnt be established until after World War II. [15] The explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter scale[12] and was felt as far away as Philadelphia. The New York Times reported that the explosion was initially attributed to negligence by those working on the island. The deadly Battle of the Somme had just begun in France and would last for 5 more months, producing more than one million casualties. Just outside of Jersey City, the island was a manmade rectangle of land, mostly built up from refuse and rocks in the New York Harbor. He served for years as an intelligence agent for the Nazi regime and was executed by the Soviets after his capture in 1945. Windows were broken as far as 25 miles (40 km) away, including thousands in Lower Manhattan. [42] The issue was finally settled in 1953 for $95 million (interest included) with the Federal Republic of Germany. 7. But they hadnt yet discovered the sinister truth. Divers recovered shells lost in the harbor after the explosion. The incident also influenced public safety legislation. The blast was believed by some to be the work of the same German operatives responsible for the numerous explosions and fires that had bedeviled ships and factories involved in the munitions trade for more than a year. Black Tom Island is now part of Liberty State Park.
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