Bombay Explosion (1944) - The Vessel, The Voyage and Cargo

The Vessel, The Voyage and Cargo

The SS Fort Stikine was a 7,142 gross register ton freighter built in 1942 in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, under a lend-lease agreement, and was named after Fort Stikine, a former outpost of the Hudson's Bay Company located at what is now Wrangell, Alaska.

Sailing from Birkenhead on 24 February via Gibraltar, Port Said and Karachi, she arrived at Bombay on 12 April 1944. Her cargo included 1,395 tons of explosives including 238 tons of sensitive "A" explosives, torpedoes, mines, shells, munitions, Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft, raw cotton bales, barrels of oil, timber, scrap iron and £1–2 million of gold bullion in bars in 31 crates. The 87,000 bales of cotton and lubricating oil were loaded at Karachi and ship's captain Alexander James Naismith recorded his protest about such a "mixture" of cargo. The transportation of cotton through sea route was inevitable for the merchants, as transporting cotton in rail from Punjab and Sindh to Bombay was banned at that time. Naismith, who lost his life in the explosion, also described the cargo as "just about everything that will either burn or blow up". The vessel had berthed and was still awaiting unloading on 14 April, after 48 hours of berthing.