The Black Tom Explosion
A lone sentry casually strolls across the wooden dock to where a smoldering smudge pot sits, when in the distance a moving shadow catches his eye. He walks to where he last saw it and looks around for anything out of the ordinary. Peaking over crates, under rail cars, and around steel boxes nothing of interest catches his eye. Then he hears quickened footsteps and a loud whoosh, as he turns around he sees a blinding orange ball of flame shoot out of the nearest warehouse!
An early picture of the Statue of Liberty in 1912, Black Tom Island can be seen in the background. Courtesy of New York Public Library.
Munitions Manufacturing
During the first couple years of World War One the United States was officially neutral and adopted a policy akin to isolationism, but would continue to sell munitions to both sides. However most of these were being sold to the entente powers of Russia, Britain and France because the British Navy had blockaded German supply lines. By 1916 trade between Britain and the United States shot up over 300 percent from what it previously was in 1914; in the same time period trade with Germany dropped to just 10 percent of what it was. Germany foresaw this outcome and at the onset of the war in 1914 had sent a new ambassador named Count Johann von Bernstorff along with a new council to the United States. These men were not sent to negotiate or make treaties, no they were intelligence agents who spied on the United States and sabotaged anything that might be sent to aid those allied against their home country.
Count Johann von Bernstorff. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
New York was targeted heavily by these saboteurs. Much of America’s munitions were produced in the greater New York area with 75 percent of all the ammunition and armaments sent to European allies originating here. One place in particular that the Germans wanted to knock out was Black Tom Island, a man made promontory that sat just off the coast of New York near Lower Manhattan and Jersey City. It housed multiple warehouses, docks, and a rail yard with a railroad that ran to the mainland and was the main assembly and distribution center for munitions being sent to Europe. In his book Sabotage at Black Tom, Jules Witcover says that the small island also “probably housed the most extensive arsenal anywhere outside the war zone itself.” By 1916 however much of these munitions were not being sent overseas quickly enough due to a shortage of cargo ships, thanks in part to Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare. Gunpowder, bullets, and artillery shells were crammed inside of warehouses or sat in railcars awaiting shipment. The island, both literally and figuratively, was a powder keg just waiting to blow.
A map showing the position of the islands. Note that Bedloe’s Island is named Liberty Island here. Courtesy of Andrew Williams.
Explosion
On the night of July 29, 1916 German saboteurs snuck past the soldiers on watch at Bedloe’s Island and proceeded to Black Tom. They approached the island and easily snuck past the eight guards on duty, placing explosives and setting small fires all over before hastily leaving. At 2:08 A.M. on Sunday July 30, 1916 the timed bombs detonated and the ensuing explosion ripped through the Black Tom railyard. Fires began to spread to the munitions laden railcars and warehouses. Some of the men on the island called for the fire department but most ran away as they knew what would happen if the flames ignited the numerous stacks of gunpowder, dynamite, and ammunition. The initial blast shattered all the windows on Black Tom and surrounding islands and woke up anyone nearby. Captain Alfred T. Clifton, commander of Company G of the United States Army Signal Corps, and was in charge of the soldiers on Bedloe’s Island. When he was awoken by the blast he immediately ordered that the two officers in charge have the bugler sound the general alarm. His first priority was to get all the women and children to safety, luckily most of them were already awake from the explosion and making their way to the parade grounds. He ordered that they make for the base of the Statue of Liberty where they could be easily looked after and have some protection from an explosion. This quick thinking likely saved lives.
Several barges sit in front of a demolished warehouse. Courtesy of the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
A half hour later, just as the women and children had reached the statue's base, a second much larger explosion ripped through Black Tom Island. Two million tons of war supplies packed in rail cars had ignited and exploded obliterating everything in its path! People were thrown from their beds, thousands of windows in lower Manhattan and Jersey City were shattered, pieces of wood, brick, and steel went flying, pieces of shrapnel even pockmarked the Statue of Liberty. The concussion of the blast forced the torch of the Statue of Liberty to bend out of place and touch the crown, causing permanent structural damage. To this day people are still not allowed to walk on the torch for this very reason. The explosion registered a 5.5 on the Richter scale, what is considered a moderate earthquake, and it was felt over 90 miles away. Watchmen atop the Woolworth building in Lower Manhattan observed the tremendous blast and according to a newspaper, “thinking their time had come, got down on their knees and prayed.”
Two men stand amongst the wreckage on Black Tom Island. Courtesy of Liberty State Park.
Fires raged on throughout the morning and continued to consume railcars and barges. For two hours debris rained down as smaller and more isolated explosions popped off all across the island. Ever so often an artillery shell could be seen skipping across the water and then detonating after travelling roughly a mile out. Firefighters attempted to put out the blazes but the constant rain of shrapnel and bullets prevented them from reaching the scene. Doctors and nurses rushed to the area and began to treat the wounded. Remarkably precious few were seriously injured, and it is estimated that between 4-7 people perished, one of which being a baby that was thrown from its crib during the initial blast.
Debris from the explosion spills out into the harbor as a fire tug pumps water onto the remains. Courtesy of Yale Law Library.
By the time the sun peeked over the horizon much of the island was nothing but charred, smoldering ruins. Nearly all of the 13 warehouses were completely leveled and those that survived were blown apart with steel girders poking out like the building's rib cage. Six piers were destroyed and many of the barges attached had also caught fire or drifted into the harbor. A huge crater was found where 87 railcars full of dynamite had exploded and left a massive hole in the earth that extended below sea level, water seeped in and formed a giant pond full of debris. Nearby Ellis Island was not spared from damage either. Although the bick buildings held up well, the windows were all blown out and the roof of the main building fell in. Many of the immigrants detained there had to be taken to the mainland for fear of the building completely collapsing. In all there was an estimated $20 million worth of property damage due to the explosion, which would equal over $475 million today.
A fire tug pumps water into a still smoldering warehouse while surrounded by wrecked barges. Public Domain.
Investigation
At first law enforcement arrested railroad officials, warehouse owners, and barge operators on charges of negligence and manslaughter. However they were soon released as no evidence of safety violation could be found. Some of the dock guards were also arrested as they had lit smudge pots to keep mosquitos away and authorities believed that negligence with the pots had caused the fire. Again, they could not find any evidence of this and the workers had to be let go.
Three policemen stand in front of an exploded railcar. Courtesy of the Associated Press.
A big issue with the investigation was a lack of a hierarchical structure, federal, state and local agencies all tried to take charge in the case, slowing the investigation down. The Secret Service was ordered by the president to investigate but proved to be rather incompetent and did not find musch evidence. The Bureau of Investigation, the precursor to the FBI, also conducted an investigation but were severely limited as they only had 260 employees and few field offices. Railroad investigators saw limited success. In the end it turned out to be the bomb squad from the New York Police Department that proved to be the best investigators, finding many clues and piecing together a timeline of events. Despite their hard work the lack of resources and manpower was too much and the culprits were not found at the time.
Two mostly intact barges sit in front of a badly damaged warehouse. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
There was one thing that all the agencies could initially agree on, that it was not the work of foreign saboteurs. Though many factory disruptions and explosions had been caused by these foreign agents in the past, authorities were rather naive and did not shoulder blame Germany until much later when the evidence was practically smacking them in the face. Part of this was because German Americans had always integrated well into American society and many saw them as a part of the backbone of the country. Officials had a difficult time believing that German nationals could cause such a tragedy. It took many years of lawyers digging through records and additional federal investigations to determine that the explosion was a plot by the foreign power.
Artillery shells being recovered from the waters around Black Tom. Courtesy of the National Archives.
American lawyers sued Germany in the Mixed Claims Commission at The Hague and won their case in 1939. The court awarded $50 million to the plaintiffs in the Black Tom case, the largest sum of any claim from the First World War. However Germany did not pay the reparations, likely due to its poor post war economy and later Hitler’s plans for World War Two. In the 1950s the settlement was renegotiated and Germany made the last payment to the claimants of the case in 1979.
The Black Tom Explosion would remain the most devastating act of foreign terror on American soil until the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
Recovered artillery shells. Courtesy of the National Archives.
Changes
The disaster changed how homeland security was conducted and restructured the chain of command, along with ironing out who had jurisdiction over what. Congress acted quickly to address the stumbling blocks that law enforcement agencies faced. They passed the Espionage Act which defined exactly what espionage was and made it illegal to perform certain activities that might harm the national defense. These activities included collecting information on targets such as shipyards and military bases, mailing suspicious materials, and people actively trying to dissuade others from joining the armed services. Congress also passed several wartime acts that expanded the jurisdiction of federal agencies and provided more funding for them. Not long after the Espionage Act was passed it was expanded under the Sedition Act which directly prohibited people from speaking out against the war. While some of these provisions were later struck down because they were in direct contrast with the First Amendment, they did help federal agencies at the time severely hamper foreign espionage and sabotage. Almost bringing the acts of terror to a halt entirely.
A political cartoon about the Sedition Act showing Uncle Sam rounding treasonists. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Personal Thoughts
I can only imagine what it was like to see those explosions, especially when all the TNT exploded. I’m sure it looked and sounded like a war zone, especially with artillery shells shooting out and exploding from time to time. It’s quite remarkable that so few people died, it really is lucky that they had all of the munitions on an island and not on the mainland because I have no doubt that the casualties would have been much higher.
Sources
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/black-tom-1916-bombing
https://www.history.com/news/the-black-tom-explosion
https://www.nps.gov/articles/black-tom-wwi.htm
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/sabotage-in-new-york-harbor-123968672/
https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/1295-black-tom-island-germany-secretly-attacks-u-s-during-wwi.html
https://hazards.colorado.edu/article/100-years-of-terror-the-black-tom-explosion-and-the-birth-of-u-s-intelligence-services-1
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/magnitude.html
https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1045/espionage-act-of-1917
https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1239/sedition-act-of-1918
