This cargo ship was carrying fertilizer... its explosion ravaged a port

The Grandcamp did not always bear that name. Built in the United States during the Second World War, this cargo ship was then transferred to France. In April 1947, he was in Texas City to ship ammonium nitrate for fertilizer.

This agricultural destination can give a misleading impression of banality. On April 16, the ship caught fire and then exploded. The port and nearby neighborhoods are suffering a major disaster. The city keeps in its archives the history of the cargo, the building and the reconstruction.

The municipal narrative also identifies gaps in the knowledge and consideration of risk. The rules for handling this material were not yet sufficiently established. The usefulness of a product did not make its storage on a large scale insignificant.

The tolls count hundreds of dead and thousands injured, with different estimates depending on the documents. The disturbing detail remains that of the cargo: it was not a ship presented as a weapons depot, but a cargo carrying a product intended for the fields.