SS El Estero with a full load of ammunition resting on the bottom of New York Harbor after being filled with water to put out a fire that threatened a major explosion. She is still flying the red signal flag B indicating dangerous cargo. |
|
| Career (Panama) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS El Estero |
| Operator: | Morgan Steamship Co.[1] |
| Completed: | 1920 |
| Out of service: | April 24, 1943 |
| Fate: | Sunk in target practice |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 4219 grt[1] |
| Length: | 102 m (335 ft) |
| Beam: | 14.4 m (47 ft) |
| Propulsion: | triple expansion engine |
| Speed: | 12 kt |
The SS El Estero was an antiquated freighter of Panamanian registry that was kept in service carrying war supplies from the United States to Europe during World War II, including participation in Convoy PQ 13 in March 1942. On April 24, 1943, she had completed taking on 1,365 tons of ammunition and bombs when a fire broke out in her engine compartment.[2] Two other loaded ammunition ships were tied up near her at Caven Point pier [3] in Bayonne, New Jersey, across the New York Harbor from Manhattan and Brooklyn. Including loaded railroad cars that were on the pier, over 5000 tons of explosives, comparable to a tactical nuclear weapon, could have been detonated in a potential explosion and flattened everything in a 5-mile radius.[4]
The fire began shortly before 5:30 pm, when a boiler flashback ignited oil on top of the water in the ship's bilge, and quickly spread. Five fire trucks from the Jersey City Fire Department and two 30-foot fireboats from the U.S. Coast Guard arrived by 5:35 pm, followed by about 60 volunteers from the Coast Guard. By 6:30 pm, New York City's much larger fireboats John J. Harvey and Fire Fighter arrived and ran hoses to Coast Guardsmen on the burning ship. The location of the fire prevented access to seacocks and valves needed to scuttle the ship, so she was towed to a more isolated location near Robbins Reef Light in Upper New York Bay. There the fireboats continued to pour water into her until she settled to the bottom, shortly after 9 pm. By 11:30 pm, all fires were extinguished and the Fire Fighter and John J. Harvey returned to their docks. There were no fatalities resulting from the fire.[5]
A few months later the U.S. Navy raised the still-loaded El Estero and towed her out to sea where she was used for target practice. In August 1943, after the near disaster,[4] the Navy began construction of a new ammunition depot in New Jersey, now Naval Weapons Station Earle. The facility includes a 2.9-mile pier in Sandy Hook Bay designed to move the hazardous activity away from densely populated areas. Over half a century later, both the Fire Fighter and John J. Harvey, the latter then a museum ship, helped fight fires at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.