Dangerous Work

Dangerous Work. . July 17, 1944 was a typical day at Port Chicago Naval Magazine. Men of the Merchant Marine and the U.S. Navy Armed Guard prepared the empty, brand new SS Quinault Victory for loading on one side of the pier and prepared the nearly full SS E.A. Bryan , across the pier, for the next day's voyage. Meanwhile hundreds of US Navy stevedores worked around the clock to fill the Bryan's five cargo holds with 175 kinds of ammunition - everything from bullets to 2,000 pound artillery shells. , These enlisted men received little training and no classes in handling of explosives. , While professional longshoremen at Mare Island loaded 8.7 tons per cargo hold per hour, the enlisted men here averaged 8.3 tons, But the admiral of the 12th Naval District insisted on 10 tons per hour: his officers raced their crews against each other, and bet on them, in an effort to boost their rate. , At 10:00 p.m. the loading of the Bryan was nearly done. More than 4,600 tons of shells and bombs filled the Bryan's five holds and her last 400 tons of explosives sat on the dock. Then something went terribly wrong.