Black Tom explosion | Military Wiki | Fandom the New York City region in the early hours of the morning of July 30, 1916. Two million tons of war materials packed. For the U.S., responding was difficult. And not so much as a fence guarded the two million pounds of munitions. Just after 2:00 am, slow burning pencil bombs planted by the German agents ignited an explosion so colossal it registered 5.5 on. Your Privacy Rights Black Tom -- 100 Years Ago Today, the Night New York Harbor Exploded Sabotage at Black Tom: Imperial Germanys Secret War in America, 1914-1917, Algonquin Books, 1989. Saboteurs got credit for fires and bombs at other American factories, and one estimate claimed that about 43 factories were damaged or destroyed and about 48 ships suffered from the German bombs. Your email address will not be published. But writing off the explosion as an accident also downplayed its role in American history, and few remember the explosive event today. There are a ton of people alive today who claim to remember visiting the statue of liberty and climbing the stairs all the way up to the torch, where they looked out over the New York Harbor. Producer Credits https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-says-it-s-true/id1530853589, The Worst Way to Die: The Erfurt Latrine Disaster, BalloonFest 86 The Cleveland Balloon Disaster, Origin of the Blaster: Han Solos Weapon in Star Wars Rewind, The Invention of WiFi and Hedy Lamarr Rewind, James H. Snook: Known for More Than a Hook, New Years Eve: The TRUE History of the NYE Ball Drop (REBROADCAST of Episode 18) - The Internet Says it's True, New Years Eve: The TRUE History of the NYE Ball Drop, The German Christmas Pickle: Tradition or Marketing? [48] The then Police Commissioner of New York, Arthur Woods, argued, "The lessons to America are clear as day. But the explosion caused major economic harm. And when it erupted, the blast destroyed warehouses, train cars, and piers. Due to the blockade of Germany by the Royal Navy, however, only the Allied Governments were able to purchase American munitions. If you visit whats left of Black Tom Island today, theres a historical marker that tells this story. Black Tom Island: Germany secretly attacks U.S. during WWI The Untold Story Of Espionage In New Jersey Yes, the Bureau and other agencies doggedly pursued the case after the war until the saboteurs were identified and, ultimately, reparations were paid for German attacks against our neutral country. But the stock of US supplies and financial support were offered to the Allies, and Great Britain welcomed the help. The island was temporarily closed. Shrapnel hit the nearby Statue of Liberty, closing off the arm to future visitors, as noted on a commemorative plaque that remains on the site to this day. That money continued to be paid until 1979, 63 years after the attack. Despite the enormity of the explosions, only four persons were reported killed. [26] Von Rintelen used these resources to make generous cash bribes, one of which was notably given to Michael Kristoff in exchange for access to the pier. On July 30, 1916, an explosion at Black Tom Island rocked New York Harbor. In the days after the blasts, confusion reigned. Every episode ends by playing a gameshow-style quiz game with a celebrity guest. However, the damage was estimated at more than $20 million, (nearly half a billion dollars today), and investigations eventually determined that the Black Tom explosions resulted from an enemy attackwhat some historians regard as the first major terrorist attack on the United States by a foreign power. The fire risked setting off munitions that survived the first blast. So was Cornelius Leyden, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Chief of Police. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. ON THE MAP; Explosion by the Hudson, Foreign Espionage, Local Fear Black Tom had been a center for the production of armaments that were being shipped to Europe to aid mainly Britain and France, both of which were fighting Germany, during World War I though the United States was technically neutral at the time. One paper reported that after seeing the blast, watchmen "got down on their knees and prayed.". Police officers stood outside stores with broken windows following the explosion to prevent looting. There simply wasnt any sort of federal body with the ability or the authority to deal with foreign saboteurs.It wasnt until several decades later that Germany was declared officially responsible and was sued. He returned to the United States with anthrax and glanders with the intention of infecting and killing livestock. The island received its name from a local legend of an African American resident named . [48] The sabotage techniques used by Germany, and the United States' declaration of war on Germany, led to the creation of the Espionage Act, which passed by Congress in late 1917. Danger in the Harbor: World War I and the Black Tom Explosion of 1916 [13] The damage to the Statue of Liberty was estimated to be $100,000 (equivalent to about $2,490,000 in 2021), and included damage to the skirt and torch.[19]. The Black Tom explosion was an act of sabotage by agents of the German Empire, to destroy U.S.-made munitions that were to be supplied to the Allies in World War I. The bottom stained-glass windows have text in Polish to commemorate the explosion in 1916. But they hadnt yet discovered the sinister truth. A 1mi (1.6km)-long pier on the island housed a depot and warehouses for the National Dock and Storage Company. The New York Times reported that the explosion was initially attributed to negligence by those working on the island. Entire structures vanished into the water after a massive explosion ripped through the air at 2:08 a.m. on July 30, 1916. The explosion, at the Black Tom railroad yard, had the equivalent strength of a magnitude 5.0 to 5.5 earthquake on the Richter scale, and its effects reached as far as Philadelphia and Maryland. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the Black Tom explosion as part of his rationale for the internment of Japanese Americans following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Listen to TONS of bonus content including: However, investigators were unable to determine whether the disaster was the result of safety violations by any of these officials. 17 was packed with 50 tons of TNT, and 69 railroad freight cars were storing more than a thousand tons of ammunition, all awaiting shipment to Britain and France. And what of the Black Tom saboteurs? At 2:08 a.m on July 16, 1916, a munitions depot on Black Tom Island, in the Hudson River just off Jersey City, exploded. After wiring the facilities with explosives, the trio set small fires in boxcars brimming with TNT and gunpowder and loaded other time-delayed bombs and incendiary devices onto a barge tied to a pier. ", Sabotage at Black Tom - Imperial Germany's Secret War in America, 1914-1917, "Explosion at Liberty! Just after 2:00 a.m., an explosion lit the skiesthe equivalent of an earthquake measuring up to 5.5 on the Richter scale, according to a recent study. ", "Men of Secrets: Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill", "Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. This Black Tom Explosion commemorative plaque in Liberty State Park is the only reminder of the incident. The National Park Service's Statue of Liberty website cites the Black Tom explosion as the reason the torch is closed off, though it is unclear why, a century later, guests are still not allowed inside. Nearby Ellis island was evacuated. "World War I Intrigue: German Spies in New York! Giveaways and swag Congress immediately passed the Espionage Act, which outlawed a variety of crimes associated with German agents; passed several other wartime laws; then the following year passed the Sabotage Act. All was dark and quiet on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor, not far from the Statue of Liberty, when small fires began to burn on the night of July 30, 1916. Black Tom was a distribution point for thousands of tons of munitions, explosives, and black powder shipped across the Atlantic to Allied forces fighting in Europe. Privacy Policy. 7. Used as a munitions warehouse for the Allies, Black Tom Island in the New York Harbor rarely gained any attention during WWII. Firefighters battled the flames well into the next day after the massive explosion. The explosion on Black Tom Island could be heard from miles away. If designed and placed properly, a pencil bomb could be timed to detonate days later, while ships and their cargo were at sea. As described by Witcover: The Black Tom promontory was a charred ruin; 13 huge warehouses were leveled and six piers destroyed, and fires continued to eat their way through the remains and consume hundreds of railroads cars and barges tied to the docks. "The shock was so great that I was thrown off my chair into the hall and the broken glass fell in showers upon me as I lay on the floor," Fitzpatrick said, according to the Natural Hazards Center. Barges sank, collapsed warehouses buried freight cars, and eventually the entire pier went under. One of the barges was loaded with 50 tons of TNT. Sabotage in New York Harbor | History| Smithsonian Magazine It took seventeen years for the MCC to find Germany responsible for the destruction of Black Tom Island, ordering the German government to pay the United States $50 million in damages. The force of the explosion extended for miles from ground zero. Category:Black Tom explosion - Wikimedia Commons On the night of July 29, 1916 German saboteurs snuck past the soldiers on watch at Bedloe's Island and proceeded to Black Tom. ?1918", "The Officer Down Memorial Page Remembers", The terror attack on N.J. that America forgot, New York at War Four Centuries of Combat, Fear, and Intrigue in Gotham. It didnt kill anyone, but the saboteurs plot was to send a message for America to stay out of war profiteering. The explosion on Black Tom Island, a 25-acre promontory jutting from Jersey City that was built from New Yorkers' garbage, registered an estimated 5.5 on the Richter scale 30 times more . Damaged canal boats in the wreckage after the explosion. On the night of July 30, 1916, Black Tom Island held 2 million pounds of explosives. [47], The Black Tom explosion resulted in the establishment of domestic intelligence agencies for the United States. Jahnke and Witzke fled to Mexico shortly before the United States entered the war and were among the German agents who stirred anti-American sentiment and organized sabotage operations from across the border. Total damage was calculated at $45 million ($1.127 trillion in 2021), with damage to Lady Liberty costing $100,000 ($2.5 million in 2021) alone. In the meantime, landfill projects eventually incorporated Black Tom Island into Liberty State Park. James Doherty, a police officer from Jersey City, was killed in the explosion. Immigrants on nearby Ellis Island had to be evacuated. German spies nearly blew up Statue of Liberty in 1916, closing torch to [16] The outer wall of Jersey City's City Hall was cracked and the Brooklyn Bridge was shaken. Even so, the German agents who blew up Black Tom were not identified at the time. The Dark Invader and the Black Tom Explosion - weirdnj.com He had worked with a chemist to perfect a particular type of tiny bomb with a time-delayed incendiary device and he told Admiral von Tripitz back in Berlin Ill buy what I can and blow up what I cant.. In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, two watchmen who had lit smudge pots to keep away mosquitoes were questioned by police but the police soon determined that the smudge pots had not caused the fire and that the blast had likely been an accident. In the aftermath of the explosion, Americans tried to identify the saboteurs behind the devastating attack. Because while the statue was built for the torch to be accessed by tourists, its been closed from visitors since 1916. [45][46] Access was not opened even after the 19841986 restoration which included repairs to the arm and installation of a new gold-plated copper torch. An official website of the United States government. Explosions rocked Two hours later, at 2:08 in the morning, a huge explosion rocked the island. N.Y. Black Tom Explosion | Encyclopedia.com This Week In History News, Mar. Black Tom explosion. The area was targeted by WW1 saboteurs because it was the location of a major munitions depot, containing tons . BONUS Episodes Black Tom 1916 Bombing It was still dark in Manhattan on a Sunday morning, July 30, 1916, when the sky suddenly exploded with an unnatural brilliance. Articles: First Explosion Terrific New York Times, July 31, 1916. The Black Tom explosion on July 30, 1916, in Jersey City, New Jersey, was an act of sabotage on American ammunition supplies by German agents to prevent the materiel from being used by the Allies in World War I. On July 30, 1916, an explosion at Black Tom Island rocked New York Harbor. Well it was option B on July 30th, 1916. The damage from the Black Tom explosion stretched across the railroad yard and pier. Black Tom Explosion Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security, by Adrienne Wilmoth Lerner. Seven people perished in the explosion, and over $20 million in damages resulted. American Passage: This History of Ellis Island by Vincent J. Cannato, HarperCollins, 2009. For days, artillery shells and other munitions continued to explode, showering New York Harbor, to include Ellis Island, with embers and shell fragments. In the summer of 1916, about 70 freight cars sat on Black Tom Island, holding munition shells and TNT that would eventually be unloaded onto barges. None of the baggage handlers who were above the magazine survived the sinking. [35], Additional investigations by the Directorate of Naval Intelligence also found links to some members of the Irish republican Clan na Gael organization and far-left organizations. There were four confirmed fatalities in the explosion:[20][1] the barge captain,[21] Jersey City Police Department officer James F. Doherty,[22][21] Lehigh Valley Railroad chief of police Joseph Leyden,[23][24] and ten-week-old infant Arthur Tosson. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Well, as reported in many of the newspapers in the aftermath, they thought it was negligence. German Master Spy Franz Von Rintelen and his "pencil bomb" were responsible for acts of sabotage in the United States during World War I. [32] Von Rintelen used many resources at his disposal, including a large amount of money. And the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which sustained much of the financial damage, knew who to blame: Germany. [27] The former Black Tom Island is at the end of Morris Pesin Drive in the southeastern corner of the park, where a plaque marks the spot of the explosion. The Lehigh Valley pier was at the center of the explosion. And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: By 1916, World War I had already been raging for two years. Black Tom Island Explodes Explosions rocked the New York City region in the early hours of the morning of July 30, 1916. JULY 30, 2016, marked the 100th anniversary of the Black Tom explosion in Jersey City, New Jersey. Without a formal intelligence service on the national level, the United States only had rudimentary communications security and no federal laws forbidding espionage or sabotage except during wartime,[3] making the connections to the saboteurs and accomplices almost impossible to track. The lawyers sued Germany in the Mixed Claims Commission at The Hague, and in 1939 won the case. And that was partly true. Map of Black Tom Island, Jersey City, New Jersey : showing area damaged Review this podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-says-it-s-true/id1530853589 One barge contained 50 tons of TNT, and was only moored at Black Tom Island to avoid a $25.00 charge. Citing Black Tom Terminal by name, the message told Hilken that "Kristoff, Wo1fgang and that Hoboken bunch" were to be paid, and was signed "Hinch." Hinch, or Graentnor, was a shadowy figure who was never found. And during the great war, there were at least 10 instances of attempted terrorist attacks in America by Germany. Germany, under the rule of Hitler, failed to pay up and the settlement was renegotiated in the early 1950s. Some guards fled, fearing an explosion. Peter Raceta, the captain of a flatbottom barge in the harbor, was in the cabin watching the fire on Black Tom with two other men. Nearby Bedloe's Island saw some of the worst damage, with plaster torn from the walls and windows shattered. [43] The final payment was made in 1979. "I think partly because of the isolation of the explosion. [42] The issue was finally settled in 1953 for $95 million (interest included) with the Federal Republic of Germany. After midnight small fires started on some of the piers and then began to grow. In spite of the magnitude of the attack, Wilson had not wanted to get dragged into World War I. Statue of Liberty Damaged by Giant Ammunition Explosions Washington Post, July 31, 1916. He was a German Naval Intelligence officer and a master spy. It even bent electricity poles. 49, No. At 2:08 a.m., an explosion ripped through the night. It was so large, that it measured 5.5 on the Richter Scale. The policy was clearly rooted in McCloys experience with German sabotage, views that were shared by President Roosevelt who had been the Assistant Secretary of the Navy during World War I, and who attempted to justify this indefensible action, by declaring We dont want another Black Tom.. Review this podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-says-it-s-true/id1530853589Bonus episodes and content available athttp://Patreon.com/MichaelKentFor special discounts, visithttp://theinternetsaysitstrue.com/deals. In one terrifying, ear-splitting moment, the Great War then raging overseas had come to America. Von Bernstorff not only helped obtain forged passports for Germans who wanted to elude the Allied blockade, he also funded gun-running efforts, the sinking of American ships bringing supplies to Britain, and choking off supplies of phenol, used in the manufacture of explosives, in a conspiracy known as the Great Phenol Plot. World War One was raging in Europe. Its thought that, had the Richter scale existed, the Black Tom Island explosions would have registered somewhere around a 5.5.It wasnt until the next morning that most of the city saw the devastation. The first of the Black Tom explosions was felt at 2:08 a.m. followed half an hour later by a second blast. The event that sparked the ban occurred 102 years ago Monday, on July 30, 1916. [12], After midnight, a series of small fires were discovered on the pier. In the late 1800s, Jersey City dumped refuse on a rock in New York Harbor. The explosions, which occurred on July 30, 1916, in New York Harbor, killed four people and destroyed some $20,000,000 ($500 million in 2023 dollars) worth of military goods. Police arrested three railroad-company officials on charges of manslaughter, on the assumption that the fires began in two freight cars. It was still dark in Manhattan on a Sunday morning, July 30, 1916, when the sky suddenly exploded with an unnatural brilliance. ", At the Woolworth building, the tallest skyscraper in the world at the time, watchmen feared that the world was ending. In addition to scholarly publications with top presses, she has written for Atlas Obscura and Ranker. The terror attack on New Jersey that America forgot | AP News Fires raged along the pier after the early-morning explosion. Watchmen in the Woolworth building in Lower Manhattan saw the blast, and thinking their time had come, got down on their knees and prayed, one newspaper reported. Explosion. Were the saboteurs ever identified? At one point, a huge cavern was hewed out of the earth by the explosions of some 87 dynamite-laden railroad cars. Disadvantages Of Living Near Wind Turbines, Articles B
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