Evening star., 1944-07-19
Rebuilding Of Depot
Destroyed With Loss
OF $50 Lives Is Begun
Lack Of Close Survivors
Hampers Inquiry Into
Cause Of Explosions
b. the Associated Press.

PORT CHICAGO, Calf. July
19.-ReconStruction of the Navy's
Port Chicago Ammunition Depot
began today as the death toll in
the Nations worst wartime ex-
plosion approXimates $50.
All available construction workers
were urged to report Immediately to
the devastated area, where the cx-
plosion of two ammunition ships
late Monday night shattered the
munitions base and the town of
1900 as we'll
The blasts. two seconds apart,
shook IA counties and their earth
quake like effects were felt 80 miles
away.
The cause remained undeter-
mined. Navy and Federal Bureau
of Investigation agents were on
hand for an investigation. but the
devastation left little to investigate
Fortunate Toll Was Not Greater.
There are no close survivors to
give evidence of what happened"
said Capt. N. H. Goss. who had iu-
risdiction over the depot. He said
that despite the great toll. the Navy
was fortunate that the lumber was
not much greater.
Official sources gave this Approxi-
nation of the known death toll:
Two hundred to two hundred and
fifty enlisted men.
Nine naval officers
Seventy Maritime Commission
seamen.
Thirty-six members Of Navy
armed guard crews.
Five Coast Guardsmen
Three civilian railroad workers.
Most of the dead were colored
members of the Navy loading crews.
Additional deaths were quite pos
sible, An exact count of the dead
was difficult because the explosions
were so terrific they killed without
leaving trace of identification
Only four bodies had been recovered
last night
Killed in Barracks Mile Away.
Most of the Navy enlisted men
were killed while loading the am
munition ships. Many seamen and
members of the Navy gun crews died
aboard the vessels. Others were
killed or injured when the bar
racks, mile away. was shattered
Capt. GoSs said one of the YES
sells was loaded with several thou
sand tons of explosives The other
was only slightly loaded as work
had Just started.
The port cOmmandant permitted
newspapermen, cameramen, news
reel men and radio representatives
to make tour of the pier and the
damaged barracks areas, after his
press conference
Twisted hulls of the two freight
ers. the new 10,OO0-ton Quinault
Victory. which had been in service
only a week. and the 7,5OO-ton Lib
erty ship E. A. Bryan, protruded
today from the channel offshore
from the torn dock area which gave
the appearance, as a war CORE
spondent put it, of Tarawa Island
after an American naval Shelling
The ships were loading ammuni-
tion when they were blown to bits
Jagged hot steel flew over a wide
area. One piece weighing 200 to
300 pounds was found miles away.
An anchor landed half mile from
its ship. Ammunition, some explod-
ing. scattered wildly.
Hardly a person at the base and
at the nearby town of Port Chicago
escaped injury of some nature. Hun
dreds were treated for fractures and
bad cuts from flying glass, which
was everywhere.
The town, its lights extinguished
and its water supply disrupted, was
a horrible scene of pain and be-
wilderment until the military and
relief agencies came in.
Monetary loss will run into many
millions of dollars. The ships alone
were valued at $4,300,0 900.
One naval officer, asked about the
loss Of life, told reporters who in
Quired about the condition of the
loading dock, you wouldn't want to
90 down there-or write about what
you see down there" He said .hat
OF ESQ Navy men who were on the