|
That summer day was not so busy for the world's largest shipping
company. Saturdays never were. It had not rained for days, was
very dry, virtually cloudless, and the wind was blowing from the
southwest. That breeze blowing over the Hudson River was to be
the vehicle that would help to carry the fire on its destructive
path from pier to pier and ship to ship. The only "people"
traffic that day would be those who had come to visit the liners
of the North German Lloyd which were open to the public for touring.
The crews of the ships were at a minimum, as most were away on
shore leave before the departure of the ships the following week.
Those crewmembers that were present consisted mainly of stewards,
who had prepared the ships to be coaled. As a result of this,
portholes and ventilators were sealed to keep the coal dust away,
and furniture was covered. Following this procedure, about 500
stevedores who were present would begin filling the coalbunkers
of the massive ships, a process that was very time consuming.
This consisted of the ships being arranged in their docks so that
the coalbunker loading doors would be opened on the sides of the
ships' hulls, and then numerous coal barges would be brought up
along side. The bituminous coal was then deposited by buckets
down into the chutes that led to the ship's coalbunkers. This
whole situation with all of these coal-loading doors being open
made the ships very vulnerable. The only ship that was to sail
soon was the Saale. She was fully loaded and was to sail the next
morning.
|
