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| | For Halloween, the Day of the Dead: A Ghostly Site. Hundreds Killed When Two Vessels Explode.
By Jorge Alexandria - October 30, 2013
Workplaces are usually only haunted by bad bosses and difficult co-workers. In some places, however, spirits of long deceased employees linger. Port Chicago, a naval base on the outer shores of San Francisco Bay, California, qualifies as such hollowed and haunted ground. On July 17, 1944 at 10:20 P.M an explosion, the largest non-nuke explosion to this day, killed 320 souls in a matter of 10 seconds and gravely wounded 400 more. Seismic shock waves were felt as far away as Boulder City, Nevada. The incident is also classified as the largest industrial accident ever in California.
During World War II, Port Chicago was a segregated naval munitions base. Black seamen, enlisted and civilian alike, were required to load live ammunition onto ships bound for the South Pacific under the ever watchful eyes of their White officers in accordance with the Navy's segregation policies. The men were in charge of all the ammo for the Pacific theater. Loading ammunition onto the holds of the ships was hard work and was accomplished by sliding it down ladders. It was incredibly dangerous and a physically challenging task. Just to watch it being done was scary and I would imagine that whom-ever witnessed such an operation had a heart attack or two.
At that time the navy had no correct way, or wrong way to load a ship. Plus, this was a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, operation with crews loading munitions continually. Then there was the strict deadline (with officers betting to see whose crew could load the most munitions the fastest during their shift since the ships had a set departure time) and lax safety procedures led to one errant shell being dropped on deck from a cargo net ...and the colossal blast of some 5,000 tons of explosives.
The blast destroyed the pier, tw
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A pillar of fire and smoke stretched over three miles into the sky... |
o Liberty ships, 16 locomotive and their railcars, and wrecked nearly every building in Port Chicago. The ships alone, the S.S. Quina lt Victory and the S.S. E.A. Bryant, with a weight of 25,000,000 pounds apiece, were lifted clear out of the water and were gone! Disappeared! A pillar of fire and smoke stretched over three miles into the sky and smoldering metal and unexploded shells showered back to earth as far as two miles away. Afterwards longshoremen were detailed to collect what was left of the dead. There were bodies under sheets and one couldn't tell the Whites from the Blacks. In fact, two-thirds of the dead (202) were black sailors. The explosion at Port Chicago accounted for 15 percent of all Black-American casualties of World War II.
In the ensuing weeks, White officers were given leave time and commended for heroic efforts, whereas 328 of the surviving Black enlistees were sent to load ammunition on another ship. When they refused, fifty men were singled out as ringleaders and charged and court martialed, tried by seven White Navy officers, and convicted, after only 80 minutes of deliberation, of mutiny. During wartime, mutiny carries a death sentence. Fortunately, they were not shot dead (the method of judicial execution at the time) but were instead dishonorably discharged and sentenced to terms of 8 to 15 years in jail and unjustly denied workers’ compensation and/or veterans’ benefits.
Port Chicago remained a phantom town; what remained and was rebuilt after the explosion soon became a hotbed for ghost sightings.
Ghosts are spirits of those who died violently or in a way they don’t understand. They literally don’t know they are dead or there is something unresolved they need to let someone know. Here, the dead seemed to cry out for justice manifesting themselves the only way they could; moving objects around when no one else was there, opening doors and then closing them in a heavy manner, sounds of footsteps when no one else was around, and voices that spoke when one was alone. In one instance, a young ghost was heard to say, “I’m so cold, so very cold.” All this didn’t bode well for an active navy base as the area was well on its way to cult status and becoming our “Area 51”, so the Navy semi-shut the base down, purchased the town and leveled the land in 1968 erecting a tidy half acre memorial (www.nps.gov/poch) – accessible only through advance reservation.
Paranormal activity appears to have slowed, but not cease, because President Clinton granted clemency to all fifty mutineers and restored their workers’ compensation benefits which had been unjustly denied. By this time, there were few remaining survivors. Consequently the most often used work comp benefit - by family members - was the death benefit. Yet for reasons not clear, Congress reduced this benefit from $5,000 to $3,000.
The Port Chicago incident remains scary for both the living and the dead. However, if there is a silver lining in this story, it is that it was one of the factors that led President Harry S. Truman to end segregation in the military in 1948; a baby step towards civil rights in this country, but a big one. It is spooky to think a catastrophe of this magnitude is what it took. Also, certification is now required for the handling of munitions, and all munitions are now re-designed for safety.
Today, all that seems to remain haunted at Port Chicago is the narrow concrete slab two-laner that runs along the water east and west of the site that stops abruptly at the terminal’s perimeter fences. There you can still hear the ghosts speak, breathe, and on numerous occasions, touch you. Frequently, visitors report that they hear the sounds of hysterical laughter. Perhaps that laughter is a form of crying and that those are tears of joy as some form of justice has been achieved: mission accomplished and workers’ compensation rights restored.
Final nail in the coffin for our readers: a grave admonishment; lest you want to be spooked, woe to those who unjustly deny workers’ comp benefits to those legitimately injured. My advice: no tricks, just treats.
Have a safe and Happy All Hollows Eve.
Jorge Alexandría is a U.S. Army veteran who received his B.A. in Political Science from Cal State Los Angeles, and graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a Master’s in Public Administration.
He holds both a California Workers Compensation Claims Professional (WCCP) designation and the State of California’s Self-Insured Administrator’s License. He has more than 20 years of experience in claims handling, supervision, and risk management.
He currently practices federal workers’ compensation of maritime interest.
He can be reached at Riskletter@mail.com. The views and knowledge expressed in this article are Jorge Alexandría’s alone.
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