ship fire

A Forgotten Tragedy: America’s Worst Maritime Disaster

On April 27, 1865 the Mississippi River paddlewheeler, Sultana, was utterly destroyed when a boiler explosion ripped through the ship. The legal capacity of the ship was 376 persons but on this faithful night the ship was loaded with an estimated 2,400 passengers. The vast majority of passengers on board the Sultana were newly released Union prisoners of war on their way back home from a long and bloody war.

All told an estimated 1,800 people die that night. The tragedy resulted in a greater number of casualties then even the notorious sinking of the Titanic in 1912. So why haven’t more Americans heard of this great maritime disaster? Well the answer is simple. 1865 marked the end of the American civil war. President Lincoln had just been assassinated and the nation was facing countless tragedies on both a personal and national level. The turbulence of the time meant that the greatest disaster in American maritime history when largely unreported and has truly become a forgotten disaster.

For more information on the Sultana check out these links below.

Wikipedia: Sultana (steamboat)

National Geographic: Remembering Sultana

Tags: · History, ship fire

Should Have Used the Grits

Should Have Used the Grits
By The Artful Blogger

Hi kids! This is part two of my ways to put some spice into your fire drills and maybe . . . just maybe, you might have a little fun. I promised special effects, which or course, reminds me of a story:

I live in a great neighborhood. I couldn’t ask for better neighbors if I had ordered them from the Sears catalog. Most of them are either retired or past military, so we’re just like family. I have a guy who lives a couple of doors down. His name is Jack. He’s a great guy, but he has one small problem. It seems that every time he comes in contact with any sort of tool, we’re taking him to the emergency room. I mean, even Tim the Tool Man would be scared of this guy. One weekend, we were all outside doing the lawn-thing, when Jack approached me. I could tell by the look on his face that he had a project in mind. It seemed that Jack had a fire ant problem and wanted to know how to kill them. Living in Florida, this is a common occurrence, so I was quick with my response. I told him to use raw grits. He looked at me funny. Believe it or not, this actually works. Well Jack, being from Michigan, only had instant grits (It’s a northern-thing). I told him that instant wouldn’t work. I was going to refer him to some commercial-type ant killers when my other neighbor, Frank, piped in. He told him to use gasoline. (Frank’s a crusty old retired Vietnam Vet, so you can see the logic.) As Jack scurried away with his new-found information, I gave Frank a look like, “You know better than to do that.” Having finished my yard work, I retied to the house for baseball and my favorite malt beverage. Little did I know what events would transpire next.

Jack took his little half gallon gas can over to the ant mound and poured a liberal amount of petrol onto it. After striking a stick match (mind you, the only smart thing he did was to use a stick match), he tossed it onto the mound. A small one foot flame briefly flared up and quickly died down to a few inches. What Frank neglected to tell Jack was that was all the fire he needed to perform the extermination. Jack thought to himself, “Is that it? Maybe I need more gas.” (OK kids, here’s where it gets good!) Jack tips the little gas can over the open flame from about three feet up. The gas dumps down onto the flame. (Can you guess what happens next? No, jack couldn’t either.) The flame traveled up the pouring gasoline and this ramjet with conviction shot out of the nozzle of his tiny gas can (After all, it’s not the size, but how you use it). The thing was like a flame thrower. So, what does our hero do? He starts violently shaking the can, trying to put out the flame. Instead of extinguishing it, he sprays fuel all over his lawn. Now, half his lawn is on fire . . . and his curbside mailbox . . . and his wife’s flower garden . . . and the left front tire of his wife’s Buick.

I hear a knock at my door. It’s Frank. [Continue Reading →]

Tags: · Artful Blogger, Firefighting, marine-firefighting, ship fire

Easing The Pain Of Fire Drills

Painful Rectal Itch

By The Artful Blogger

OK, I’m back from my little “vacation.” Seven months may have been a bit excessive, but what the hell. Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, we were talking about spicing up your fire drills. Yeah I know you’d sooner get a root canal then do a fire drill, but hey, they don’t have to be that painful. I remember a commercial from back in the day about hemorrhoid pads. I know you all want to hear all about it (you know I’m going to tell you anyway, so bear with me). There was this husband and wife in bed asleep. All of a sudden, he sits up in bed screaming. His wife asked, “What’s wrong, honey?’ His response was, “It’s this painful rectal itch!” Now, my father had roids. I consider him the average working Joe. I believe his response would have been more along the line of anything from: “My damn biscuits are burning!” to “Somebody shoved a hot poker up my @$$!” Not, “Gee honey, I have a painful rectal itch.”

As usual, you’re asking, “OK Artful, what’s the point?” (Are you ready, kids? Well, here it is.) Is the way that you’re conducting your fire drills more like a painful rectal itch to your people, or are they like a hot poker up their @$$es? In this multi-part series, I’m going to give you some ways you can spice things up a bit, while making your training a little more meaningful. Along the way, you just might have a little fun.

The key to success of any project starts with organization. If John Wayne didn’t have a script in his movies, all he’d do is go around punching and shooting people (OK, bad example). For the sake of training, fluidity and safety, you need to have an exact script. All of your hands are actors in this movie, and your training team members are the directors. Your Captain, Master or Mate is going to produce the whole she-bang. Let’s see if we can make a Spielberg production. [Continue Reading →]

Tags: · Firefighting, marine-firefighting, marine_firefighting, Navy, ship fire, Training

Incident Photo of the Week – Und Adriyatik

Turkish Ship M/V Und Adriyatik On Fire

Rueters gives us the details on this catastrophic fire aboard the Ro-Ro Und Adriyatik:

06 Feb 2008 – ZAGREB, Croatia

A burning Turkish cargo ship with 1,000 tonnes of crude oil aboard was drifting towards Croatia’s Adriatic coast on Wednesday, threatening to pollute tourist beaches.
Firefighters, including Dutch experts in fighting ship fires, were trying to extinguish the blaze which broke out aboard the ship close to Croatian territorial waters early on Wednesday, officials said.
All 22 crew members and passengers had been rescued by a passing Greek ship and taken to Venice in Italy.
“The situation is dangerous but it’s under control at the moment,” Croatian Sea and Transport Minister Bozidar Kalmeta said before heading to the region. ” Continue Reading…

The ship during better days:

Und Adriyatik
Photo By francesco de crescenzo