In the afternoon  of June 24, 1924, the Egremont Castle, a 9,000-ton capacity oil ship of the Union Castle line was being loaded when the ship’s winch seized while lowering a 100-gallon drum of gasoline causing its load suddenly jerk upwards. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, reported that then:

 “The vessel’s hold instantly became a mass of flames from successive explosions of 250,000 gallons of inflammable oils.  Eleven men engaged in filling the hold were trapped in the flaming furnace.”

“The quick successive explosions of the oils were heard throughout the Red Hook and Erie Basin section in which most of the men employed along the South Brooklyn docks live.”

“The neighborhood was thrown into a panic of screaming women and children, anxious for their husbands and fathers, who gravitated to the dock at the foot of Pioneer st. where the ship lay.”

Over 500 police reserves were sent to the area to keep the crowds contained, while at least two NYC fireboats and companies of firefighters worked to contain the blaze and keep it from spreading to the large stores of oil drums on the pier and the closeby S. S. Eelbeck with a similar cargo.

The ship, chartered by the Standard Oil Company, for a  voyage to Yokohama, Japan was instead towed away from the pier and sunk by the New York City Fire Department. 

Where the ship was towed to and sunk differed among the NYC papers.   The Brooklyn  Eagle said the Erie Basin Flats, The New York Times said the Gowanus Flats.  These are both likely referring to the anchorage more commonly referred to today  as the  Red Hook Flats).  The day after the explosion, the Brooklyn Daily Standard reported that ship was submerged on the Jersey Flats, near Bedloe's Island (renamed Liberty Island  by an act of the United States Congress in 1956).   Possibly the vessel was first towed to the Red Hook Flats and then sunk in the Jersey Flats.  or possibly, non maritime reporters are all refering to the same location.  Photographs of the pump out of the Egremont Castle by the Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation, in the collection of the Mystic Seaport, list the area as the Red Hook Flats.  Flats are relatively shallow areas. 

After the ship was sunk, a  police launch was stationed to stand watch.  Divers were set to down into the waterfilled hold to look for the bodies of the five men. 

The boat was not an oil tanker like the Mary A Whalen, where fuel was pumped directly into its holds, but a more general purpose cargo vessel that carried fuel in barrels or drums.  It was being loaded at Pier 37, Atlantic Basin, owned by the Barber line. 

Six men were left dead and five were badly burned. 

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle  listed the men who did not come out of hold as:

Charles Keiler, 51, 249 60^th  st., Inspector for the Standard Oil Company

Dennis Sheehan, 81, 80 Amity st.,

James Hurley, address in Henry st.

Thomas Thorpe and Harry Helherson, addresses unknown

Benjamin Olsen, 31 31 Huntington st., died at 1:30 this morning in the Holy Family Hospital from burns and fractures received in the explosion.

The Injured:
Two victims, John W. Blonquist, 50, 742 49^th  st and Cornellus Murphy, 47, 12 2d st are reported as recovering from painful burns in the Holy Family Hospital, while three others, John Young, 44 78 Pioneer st.; Jeremiah O’Brien, 32, 77 Wolcott st., and Louis Larson, 41,  109 Bush st., are recovering from their injuries in the Cumberland Street Hospital.  Joseph Whitehead, 34, 639 60^th st., who was working near the hold escaped with slight burns and went home.  [The Holy Family Hospital was at 151 Dean Street in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, The Cumberland Hospital was in Fort Green, Brooklyn.]

Later newspaper stories reported that the cause of the fire was a stray spark from a welder's acetylene torch. This was disputed for some time.  An out of court settlement was made with some of the families of the fallen men about a year later.  After a lengthy legal battle the United States District Court, New York, ruled  in 1930 that there was sufficient evidence to believe that the spark from a torch set off the explosions.   Detailed descriptions of their findings can be found in LANCASHIRE SHIPPING CO. v. MORSE DRY DOCK REPAIR CO.

Aside from covering the blast itself, The New York Evening Post, had a different take on the story.  They reported that

“Somewhere ashore are twenty-five or more Lascar and Chinese members of her crew of 150, who disappeared when the blast sent loaders hurtling from the hatches, shot flames mast high, and rocked the Brooklyn waterfront.  These sailors are believed to be hiding in lodging houses hopeful of remaining in the United States in violation of the immigration statutes.“    Lascars was a term commonly used by the British to refer to sailors from the Indian subcontinent.

[As of this writing we don’t know if there is any truth to this account or the speculation printed in the Post.]

Descriptions of the rescues and greater details can be found in the newspaper clippings below.