The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-08
5DEAD; 80 HURT
IN EXPLOSION ON
TANK STEAMER
Firemen Search Flaming
Ship for Workmen at
Brooklyn Pier.
BODY FLUNG SKYWARD
B0ilermaker Carried to
Roof of Adjoining Ma
chine Shop.
PLATES TORN FROM TANK
200 Men Imperilled-Police
Say Acetylene Torch Ig-
nited Oil Fumes.
BODY FLUNG SKYWARD
PLATES TORN FROM TANK

An explosion. the cause OF which Is
undetermined. killed Eve men and
burned thirty others. six seriously, on
| board the British tank steamship G.. r.
Grove Of Toronto. at James Shewan q
Sons shipyard at the foot Of Twenty
seventh street. Brooklyn. yesterday
| afternoon. Two hundred men at work
on the vessel were imperilled when gas
! which had collected I'm the empty oil
| tank nearest the bow ignited and ex-
| ploded with roar which could DO
| heard for blocks. Huge steel plates
were torn from the star5oard side OF
the tanker and her hold was filed with
wrecknee.
One of the workers, John Mccoy. OF
5sc1 Fourth avenue. Brooklyn, was
imprisoned below the deck. His cloth
Ing. saturated with oil. caught fire and
he appeared human torch st a port.
hole. screaming piteously Tor aid AL
though the farnes which followed the
explosion. were licking Up everything
infiamnable on the forward part OF
the ship the crew of Engine o29, which
wss first to respond, donned gas masks
and plunged into the furnacel;ke holds
OF the ship.
Six Attempt Rescue.
Lieut. James Mcw:llians Lieut..
C1Iara and Fircrnen " liam Boyce,
Frank Fanny. Perrin and Iantry CROPPED
through the smoke. They could hear
Mc"oy's screams but could not find
Kim for what Boyce said afterwari
see med Ike hours. Eventually they
stumbled over his body They tried u
smother his flaming clothing with their
bare hands ard finally succeeded In
i, knott ng a rope under his arms and
hosting him to the deck An arnbu-
lar CO took him TO ST. Mary's Hospital,
: where he died soon after his arrival
Boyce dropped Just os Mccoy was
| found, and re. too had to be taken from
tho hold with q rope under his arrnpits
Streams Of water were turned into the
forward hold. but those penned there
, were chnrred to a crisp.
A cloud OF yellow smoke rolled up
from the ships v.tals with the first roar.
= Il was lighted up by flame. and almost
In its centre those on the DOCK saw
something dark, which turned over and
over as 1t curved shoreward and crashed
, down through the roof Of a machine
shop 20 the cement floor, where II re-
manned motion!ess. Fellow workmen
lueblueu Win u.TDcDty the COuy OF
Gustave Yostard OF 6i9 Third avenue.
. Brooklyn. head boiler maker, who had
, tc~n working beside them q moment
before.
Thomas Fox OF 1911 Boynton avenue,
The Bronx. another workman, died at
the Samaritan Hospital. Two charred
bodies were recovered from belo~ iacks.
They are Mt the Kings County Hospital
norguo awaiting Identification.
The Severely Injured.
Tire mos, severely injured are Peter
Keane, 56l6 Seventh avenue. Brooklyn,
| burned about the face and limbs and
skull possibly fractured, and Fred Perry,
1888 Third street Manhattan. burned
head. 10th taken TO the Norwegian Hos
pitai: Herbert Halstead. 4sI5 Sixth ave-
nue.: Edward Dayton. 442 Forty ninth
: street; Albert Snndersor. 5l6 Fifty
second street. and Lawrence McReon.
442 Forty-fi-st street all of Brooklyn.
and all at the Samaritan Hospital with
, burns on the face, head and body.
More than a score of other workmeu
|, were hurt BY flying bite OF wreckage or
burned b. blazing oil. They we're at
, tended by ambulance surgeons from ST.
Ma- = the Norwegian the Holy Fam
lily. Kings County. Williamsburg Jewish,
Swedish and Methodist Episcopal hos
pitfalls.
! Yostard IL credited BY the poiice with
HAVING held the acetyiene torch. which
they believe caused the explosion when
its flame came In contact with fumes
which had formed In the empty oil tank.
Reuben Wilson. Assistant District At
: torncy of Kings coCnty. who 9lso con-
Quoted an invests cat ton. Is inclined to
the theory that spark OK some sort,
possibly from q torch or pipe used by
one OF the worlSnen. Is responsible. He
declared his belief that. although the
explosion was duo 10 csrelessness. IL
was not sufficient TO De termed criminal
negligence
saw two repairrnen standing on tho
bridge with acetylene torches lust be-
fore tho blast IL In customary for
chemical engineers to rid empty tankers
OF oil fumes after they have discharged
their cargocs. but the Grove had not
been subjected 20 this process and would
not have boon for several days. so John
Curley. general manager OF tie Showan
yards. said
Investigation Under Way.
Mr. Curley said the explosion could
not have been due 10 an ace,ylsne torch.
as his information was that none was
iu use yesterday The company, he said.
was conducting an Investigation. which
NONlu not DE- COtliicACn TART HltnL
That official New York he's not rccov-
cred from the case of nerves engcndercd
by the Wall street bomb explosion was
apparent yesterday. Early reports re-
garding the Brooklyn accident were
vague. and goo were said To have been
trapped In tho burning steamer. Three
fire alarms were turned Ia. and Chief
Kenion responded. The fircboat William
J. Gaynor raced TO the Shewan yard and
ranged alongside the burning tanker.
For time thore was danger 70 other
nrirs at docks there. including the Ship
ping Boards former German liner. Won
s,euben the steamers John Rcoch and
Waukeear and the cutter immigrant all
OF which are undergoing rerairs. Tween
~ minutes after the explosion the fire
had been extinFuished.
Tho Grove Il owned By the Monte
yuma TRANSFORMATION Company % To-
ronto and the Warner Quinlan Asphalt
Company. 70 Wall street. are her agents.
On July 20 last fire swept the lumber
yard at,suneo TO the Shewan plant and
Burned nine houses along Third avenue,
between Twenty-seventh and Twenty
eighth streets. The damage was csti-
4 mated at t25o,oo0.