1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome 3 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:19,440 Speaker 1: frying Day's podcast is coming out on July sevent nineteen, 5 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 1: which is the seventy fifth anniversary of the Port Chicago disaster. 6 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:26,600 Speaker 1: This was the worst state side disaster in the United 7 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: States during World War Two, and then, apart for being 8 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: just a horrific tragedy, the disaster itself and it's aftermath, 9 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: we're just threaded through with racism and injustice from beginning 10 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:40,559 Speaker 1: to end. And this is also a listener request We've 11 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:44,239 Speaker 1: gotten from a lot of folks, including Larry, Jeff Nicholas, Michael, William, 12 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: Sarah and Joanne. So for a little bit of background, 13 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: the Port Chicago Naval Magazine was on the Sissoon Bay, 14 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: roughly forty miles that's about sixty four kilometers northeast of 15 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: San Francisco. After Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and 16 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: it became clear that the Navy's existing facility at Mayor 17 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 1: Island wouldn't be enough to meet wartime needs on its own, 18 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: Port Chicago was built not far away. To help fill 19 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: that gap, The first ship was loaded there almost exactly 20 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: a year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December eighth, 21 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: ninety two. Port Chicago instantly became a major supply point 22 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 1: for the U. S. Pacific Fleet, and its main purpose 23 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: was to move munitions. Everything from bullets to bombs was 24 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: sent to Port Chicago by rail. Then the box cars 25 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 1: would be stored behind concrete barricades until it was time 26 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: to load their contents onto a ship that was waiting 27 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: at the pier. At first, loading details were filling one 28 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 1: ship at a time, but in May of nineteen forty four, 29 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: the pier was widened to allow for two ships to 30 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: be loaded simultaneously. In July of nineteen forty four, eight 31 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 1: hundred men were working at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine. 32 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: There were white officers, marine guards, and civilians. The civilians 33 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: were mostly skilled workers like crane operators and locomotive engineers, 34 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: and there were also one thousand, four hundred thirty one 35 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: black enlisted men, most of whom were in their late 36 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: teens or early twenties, and they worked on loading details. 37 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:13,080 Speaker 1: This racial segregation where everybody in one job was black 38 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: and everybody in another job was white. That was pretty 39 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: standard for the U. S. Navy in nineteen forty four. 40 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: The Navy didn't allow black men to enlist at all 41 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,400 Speaker 1: from nineteen nineteen to nineteen forty one. At that point, 42 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: the only black men in the Navy had been in 43 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:28,799 Speaker 1: the Navy from before that, and we're allowed to stay 44 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: until they retired after nineteen forty one. Once the Navy 45 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: began allowing black recruits, all of the black recruits to 46 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 1: the Navy were assigned to the messman's service, so that 47 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: is cooking, serving food, and clearing tables. Secretary of the 48 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: Navy Frank Knox felt that assigning black men to other 49 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 1: parts of the Navy would quote provoke discord and demoralization, 50 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:52,959 Speaker 1: but after a lot of advocacy from civil rights organizations, 51 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,519 Speaker 1: he announced that black men would be allowed into the 52 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: Navy under any enlistment rating that they qualified for. That 53 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: announcedent came on April seventh of nine two, but even then, 54 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: black men didn't really have equal opportunities in the Navy. 55 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: They could not be commissioned officers, and they were primarily 56 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: assigned to do manual labor regardless of what they were 57 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: qualified or trained to doom, and that was exactly how 58 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 1: things worked at Port Chicago. There were a few black 59 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: petty officers who essentially worked as crew foreman, but otherwise 60 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,639 Speaker 1: black enlisted men were doing manual labor while reporting to 61 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:30,639 Speaker 1: white officers. The segregation at Port Chicago also went beyond 62 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: rank and work assignments. The black enlisted men had a 63 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,120 Speaker 1: separate barracks which was closer to the pier than the 64 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: white men's barracks. Everyone used a common mess hall, but 65 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: the black men had to wait until the white men 66 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: were finished before they could use it. The black seamen 67 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: also didn't have a lot of opportunities for recreation because 68 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: of the port didn't have its own recreation facility until 69 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: shortly before the disaster was badly damaged in the disaster. 70 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: The nearest town that was also called Port Chicago was 71 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: very small and it did not particular we welcome the 72 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: black men from the Navy. Working at Port Chicago was 73 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: a high pressure situation. Loading details worked in eight hour 74 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: shifts twenty four hours a day, and the typical work 75 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: cycle moved through three days of loading, a duty day 76 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: that involved some kind of other work or maybe a 77 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: training session or a lecture. Then there were three more 78 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:21,839 Speaker 1: days of loading and then a day off, so in 79 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: each eight day period, each man worked for seven days, 80 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: including six eight hour days of loading. In addition to 81 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: this twenty four hour work cycle, the loading details were 82 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: expected to work as fast as possible. On average, the 83 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: men in Port Chicago were loading eight point two tons 84 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: of munition per hatch per hour. Port Chicago was a 85 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:45,640 Speaker 1: sub command of Mayor Island and Captain Nelson Goss was 86 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,919 Speaker 1: in command there. Gos set a goal of ten tons 87 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,760 Speaker 1: per hatch per hour. That was more than any of 88 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: the other Navy facilities were managing, and that was more 89 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: than professional civilian stevedores could do. So the officers also 90 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:03,360 Speaker 1: created and in increasingly competitive spirit, among all the loading details. 91 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: In the words of Semen first Class Joseph Randolph Small 92 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,640 Speaker 1: known as Joe Quote, we were always in competition to 93 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: see which division could load the most ammunition in one 94 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: eight hour shift. In April of Captain Meryl T. Kenney 95 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:20,720 Speaker 1: started the practice of posting each shift's total. The expectation 96 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: was that when you came on duty, you would do 97 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:25,840 Speaker 1: everything you could to beat that number. There were also 98 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:29,159 Speaker 1: reports of officers placing bets against one another about whose 99 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 1: details could load the fastest was made. The atmosphere at 100 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: the pier extremely fast paced and even chaotic. Boxes of 101 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: ammunition and small bombs and other smaller items were often 102 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: passed hand to hand. Bucket brigade style. Large bombs were 103 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: rolled down inclines or moved with hand trucks or electric mules. 104 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,479 Speaker 1: Loads of munitions would be lowered through the ship's hatches 105 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: and big cargo nets, and then the men unloaded the 106 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:55,599 Speaker 1: nets and stacked up their contents in the hold. It 107 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: was really common during this process for the bombs to 108 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: collide with each other, or with the wall to the hold, 109 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: or to be dropped for short distances. Men also did 110 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: things like using crowbars to shove bombs into place when 111 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: they were too high for them to reach. The men 112 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: who were carrying out all this high speed work had 113 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: virtually no training in how to do it. They got 114 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: a little instruction on the basics of loading and unloading, 115 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: but they got almost none in how to safely handle 116 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: ammunitions and explosives. The same was true for the officers 117 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: that they reported to, most of whom were reservists who 118 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: had been called up to active duty. They had almost 119 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:33,839 Speaker 1: no experience handling munitions either, along with very little training 120 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: and how to command enlisted men. Although many of the 121 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: items being loaded were safe even if they were handled roughly, 122 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: there was still inherently hazardous work involved, and even a 123 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:48,440 Speaker 1: small accidental detonation could be catastrophic. The Navy itself also 124 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: had no loading manual covering this type of work. The 125 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: only standards that the men at Port Chicago had to 126 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,719 Speaker 1: go on came from an Interstate Commerce Commission guide that 127 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: was really about moving small amounts of munitions in peacetime. 128 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: There was a coast Guard detail who was supposed to 129 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: be on site to ensure that the safety regulations that 130 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 1: did exist or being followed, but the leadership at Port 131 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: Chicago thought that detail was unnecessary, so virtually everyone involved 132 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: with moving munitions at Port Chicago was learning by doing, 133 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:20,680 Speaker 1: with a focus that was on speed rather than safety. 134 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 1: The International Longshoreman's and Warehouseman's Union repeatedly raised concerns about 135 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: this whole thing, and had offered to provide training for 136 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: Port Chicago's loading details, but that offer was apparently ignored. 137 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:35,679 Speaker 1: Captain Goss had also made it clear that he didn't 138 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 1: want to contract with civilian Stevodoors to do this work. 139 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: He thought that they were too expensive and that their 140 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: unions were going to be a pain to deal with. 141 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 1: He also had a poor opinion of civilian Stevodoors in general. 142 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: Many Stevodoors were black or Filipino, and in his words quote, 143 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: most of the men obtainable from these races do not 144 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: compare favorably with those of the white race. He wasn't 145 00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: happy when he learned that the enlisted men at Port 146 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:03,080 Speaker 1: Chicago would all be black. Multiple men working at Port 147 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:07,360 Speaker 1: Chicago in four also reported raising concerns about safety and 148 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,080 Speaker 1: being told that the munitions that they were handling weren't live. 149 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: They were told things like there were no detonators in place, 150 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: so therefore these things couldn't explode no matter how they 151 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: were handled. This did lead to a sense of complacency 152 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: at times, especially because time went on without a serious incident. 153 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: To be clear, this was unquestionably critical work. It made 154 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: a meaningful difference to the US war effort in the Pacific, 155 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: and someone needed to do it. Many of Port Chicago's 156 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: enlisted men expressed a sense of pride and accomplishment for 157 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:40,360 Speaker 1: their ability to keep these materials moving quickly, but it 158 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: was not the work that they had been trained to do. 159 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: They had gone through basic training to be sailors, but 160 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: instead they were working as stevedor's while being paid much 161 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:51,440 Speaker 1: less than they would be if they were civilians. And 162 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 1: many expressed a sense of foreboding that at some point 163 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: all of that rushing around was going to get somebody 164 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: killed or The disaster that occurred on July seventeen ninety 165 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: four was probably worse than any of the men imagined. 166 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:13,920 Speaker 1: We'll get to that after a sponsor break. Two ships 167 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: were at Port Chicago on the evening of July seventeenth, 168 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: ninety four. The S S. E. A. Brian had arrived 169 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: on July and by the seventeenth it's hold was about 170 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,959 Speaker 1: half full. It was loaded with about five thousand tons 171 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,839 Speaker 1: of explosives, including about one thousand, seven eighty tons of 172 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: high explosives. And there was the S. S. Quinalt Victory 173 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: that arrived at about six pm on the seventeenth and 174 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 1: was being prepared for loading. The actual load was scheduled 175 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,520 Speaker 1: to start about midnight. Both ships were also carrying their 176 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:45,280 Speaker 1: fuel for the voyage across the Pacific, and there were 177 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: sixteen box cars at the pier, which contained four hundred 178 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:51,320 Speaker 1: thirty tons of explosives that were waiting to be loaded 179 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: onto the ships. At ten eighteen PM, two explosions ripped 180 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: through the port about six seconds apart, punctuated by a 181 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:02,319 Speaker 1: series of smaller explosi shans. One shift of men had 182 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: just gone to bed at ten PM, and survivors who 183 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: were still awake said the first explosion was so bright 184 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: that it looked like sunrise. Seismographs in Berkeley recorded this 185 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,440 Speaker 1: as an earthquake that measured three point four on the 186 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: Richter scale. Three hundred twenty men were killed instantly. This 187 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:22,840 Speaker 1: included every person who was on duty at the pier 188 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:25,480 Speaker 1: or on the ships that were docked there. The blast 189 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:28,680 Speaker 1: itself was also so powerful that only fifty one sets 190 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:32,880 Speaker 1: of remains were ever identified. About four hundred other military 191 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 1: personnel were injured, as well as some civilians. Because the 192 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: ports Sick Bay was destroyed, survivors had to be evacuated 193 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,319 Speaker 1: to other military facilities in the area. Two hundred and 194 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:44,320 Speaker 1: two of the three d and twenty men who were 195 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,240 Speaker 1: killed were black. That's about two thirds of the fatalities 196 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:49,959 Speaker 1: and two hundred thirty three of the people injured, or 197 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:53,559 Speaker 1: about two thirds were black as well. This one disaster 198 00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 1: accounts for fifteen percent of the casualties among Black servicemen 199 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:00,760 Speaker 1: in World War Two. The black men killed were all 200 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:04,680 Speaker 1: munitions loaders. The white men killed included the crews of 201 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:07,600 Speaker 1: both of the ships, the armed guards who were stationed 202 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:10,880 Speaker 1: there and at the pier, several officers, and some civilians, 203 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:14,680 Speaker 1: including three civilian civil service employees of the U. S. Navy. 204 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:17,360 Speaker 1: For listeners who have heard our classic episode on the 205 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:20,920 Speaker 1: Halifax disaster, which also involved a munition ship that exploded 206 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: in a port, the destruction from this explosion is going 207 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: to sound eerily familiar. The Black Sailor's barracks sustained heavy damage, 208 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:31,640 Speaker 1: many of the men who were seriously injured were in 209 00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:35,280 Speaker 1: their bunks at the time, and the Brian was essentially obliterated. 210 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,079 Speaker 1: It was destroyed so completely that almost none of its 211 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:42,079 Speaker 1: wreckage was ever recovered. The Queenal was destroyed as well, 212 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: with its largest piece of wreckage blown five hundred feet 213 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:47,600 Speaker 1: into the bay. This piece of the ship was also 214 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: rotated one degrees in the blast and flipped upside down. 215 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 1: An Air Force pilot reported seeing flaming metal debris the 216 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:59,760 Speaker 1: size of suitcases flying past his plane. The damage extended 217 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: far beyond the pier. Some of the box cars containing 218 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:06,640 Speaker 1: munitions were destroyed and others caught fire. Several men who 219 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:08,719 Speaker 1: arrived on the scene had to fight this fire by 220 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:12,479 Speaker 1: climbing onto the burning cars, which were still filled with explosives, 221 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,280 Speaker 1: and running hoses through the holes that were created by 222 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 1: falling debris. Several men were awarded the Navy and Marine 223 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: Corps Medal, which is the Department of the Navy's highest 224 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:24,880 Speaker 1: non combat medal, for fighting this fire. One was Pharmacist 225 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,880 Speaker 1: Mate third Class John Andrew Haskins, Jr. Who was the 226 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 1: first black member of the Hospital Corps to earn this award. 227 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,440 Speaker 1: Captain Kenney was also awarded the Bronze Star. The town 228 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: of Port Chicago, about a mile inland, was heavily damaged 229 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:42,080 Speaker 1: as well. One people in the town's movie theater managed 230 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:45,160 Speaker 1: to escape before that building's roof caved in after being 231 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: struck by debris. Shrapnel was flung for miles, and a 232 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: chunk of steel weighing about three hundred pounds it's roughly 233 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: a hundred and thirty six kilograms landed in the middle 234 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,640 Speaker 1: of main Street. The disaster caused an estimated twelve million 235 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:01,880 Speaker 1: dollars in property damn and the effects went on and on. 236 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:04,600 Speaker 1: Coast Guard vessels that were out in the bay were 237 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: nearly swamped by a wall of water that was thrown 238 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: up by the blast. Crews had to search the landscape 239 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:14,239 Speaker 1: for unexploded ordinance for miles. The town of Port Chicago's 240 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 1: only grocery store was heavily damaged and most of its 241 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:20,320 Speaker 1: stock had to be discarded. Windows were shattered for at 242 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:24,320 Speaker 1: least fifteen miles or four kilometers from the side of 243 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 1: the blast. This was obviously an incredibly traumatic event for 244 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 1: everyone who worked at the port, as well as those 245 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:33,920 Speaker 1: in the town of Port Chicago and their friends and families, 246 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: but there were immediate disparities in how that trauma was handled. 247 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:41,720 Speaker 1: White officers who asked for it were granted thirty days 248 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:46,080 Speaker 1: of leave. Black seamen who made the same request were refused, 249 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,600 Speaker 1: and they were instead tasked with the cleanup and recovery effort, 250 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:52,520 Speaker 1: which included handling the remains of people that they had 251 00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 1: known and been friends with. A memorial was scheduled for July, 252 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,280 Speaker 1: and the Navy asked for the families of each of 253 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 1: the men who had been killed to be given five 254 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:04,200 Speaker 1: thousand dollars, but after learning that so many of the 255 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,400 Speaker 1: men who were killed were black, Mississippi Congressman John Rankin 256 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:10,640 Speaker 1: insisted that that amount be reduced to two thousand dollars. 257 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:14,200 Speaker 1: Congress eventually agreed on a three thousand dollar settlement. In 258 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: the immediate aftermath of the disaster, officers, including Captain Kinney, 259 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: praised the conduct of the enlisted men who helped with 260 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: the recovery effort and clean up. Rear Admiral Carlton H. 261 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:27,400 Speaker 1: Wright said, quote, I am gratified to learn that, as 262 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 1: was to be expected, Negro personnel attached to the Naval 263 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:35,320 Speaker 1: Magazine Port Chicago, performed bravely and efficiently in the emergency 264 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:38,880 Speaker 1: at the station last Monday night. These men, in the 265 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 1: months that they served at that command, did excellent work 266 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: in an important segment of the district's overseas combat supply system. 267 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:48,720 Speaker 1: As real Navy men, they simply carried on in the 268 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:52,360 Speaker 1: crisis attendant on the explosion in accordance with our services 269 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: highest traditions. But the tone changed drastically, very quickly once 270 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 1: the Navy started investigating the incident. A Naval Court of 271 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:05,280 Speaker 1: Inquiry was convened on July twenty one four, with three 272 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: senior naval officers and a judge advocate presiding. Testimony went 273 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 1: on for thirty nine days. They heard from a hundred 274 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 1: and twenty five witnesses, only five of whom were black, 275 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,360 Speaker 1: and much of the Navy's testimony was inherently racist, claiming, 276 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: contrary to what had just been said, that the men 277 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,440 Speaker 1: had not been provided with more training because they were 278 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: not capable of learning. Officially, the Court of Inquiry found 279 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,040 Speaker 1: no one specifically at fault for the disaster, and listed 280 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 1: eight different possible causes for the blast, including munitions being 281 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: handled too roughly, failure of loading gear, and sabotage. But 282 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: it also heavily implied that the munitions loaders who had 283 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: been killed bore most of the blame. To quote the 284 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:50,359 Speaker 1: judge advocate quote. The consensus of opinion of the witnesses 285 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: and practically admitted by the interested parties, is that the 286 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 1: colored enlisted personnel are neither temperamentally or intellectually capable of 287 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:02,880 Speaker 1: handling high explosives. As one witness has stated, sixty of 288 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 1: the lowest intellectual strata of the men sent out of 289 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:08,920 Speaker 1: Great Lakes were sent to Port Chicago. These men it 290 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: is testified, could not understand the orders which were given 291 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: to them, and the only way they could be made 292 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:16,359 Speaker 1: to understand what they should do was by actual demonstration. 293 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,600 Speaker 1: That is an admitted fact, supported by the testimony of 294 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:22,600 Speaker 1: the witnesses that there was rough and careless handling of 295 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: the explosives being loaded aboard ships at Port Chicago. Just 296 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 1: a few weeks after the disaster at Port Chicago, many 297 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: of the surviving men were ordered back to work, and 298 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: we're going to get to what happened after that after 299 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 1: we paused for another quick sponsor break. In the days 300 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 1: after the explosion of the Port Chicago Naval Magazine, the 301 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:54,640 Speaker 1: surviving enlisted men were traumatized and on edge. Everyone was, obviously, 302 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 1: but these men were increasingly also anxious about the idea 303 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:01,560 Speaker 1: of returning to the same job under the same conditions 304 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:04,399 Speaker 1: as before so many of them. Some kind of major 305 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:07,840 Speaker 1: incident had seemed inevitable, and now almost a third of 306 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: them were injured or dead, and the survivors had gotten 307 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:13,679 Speaker 1: no explanation of what caused the accident or how to 308 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,159 Speaker 1: prevent the same thing from happening again. A lot of 309 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:18,720 Speaker 1: the men looked up to Joe Small, who at twenty three, 310 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:21,720 Speaker 1: was older than many of them. He also struck people 311 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: as intelligent and willing to stick up for them. So 312 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:27,719 Speaker 1: as it started to seem increasingly likely that they were 313 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:31,240 Speaker 1: going to be put back to workloading munitions, several of 314 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:33,720 Speaker 1: the men asked Small what he was going to do. 315 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:37,000 Speaker 1: Small said that he wouldn't go to workloading munitions again, 316 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 1: and he and several of the men drafted a petition 317 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: asking to be transferred to some other duty, but they 318 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:45,000 Speaker 1: never gave it to anyone. And then on August nine, 319 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:48,960 Speaker 1: twenty eight, men who had been moved to Mayor Island 320 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:52,359 Speaker 1: Navy Yard were ordered to go back to workloading munitions. 321 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 1: The details on this are a little unclear. Officers maintained 322 00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:59,120 Speaker 1: that they gave a direct order, while the enlisted men 323 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: maintained that they were marched toward the loading pier and 324 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,439 Speaker 1: stopped when they realized where they were going. Regardless of 325 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 1: that detail of whether a formal order was officially given, 326 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,520 Speaker 1: more than two hundred fifty men refused to return to 327 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: loading the ships. Many of them said they were willing 328 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,400 Speaker 1: to follow any other order that they were given. Others 329 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:19,280 Speaker 1: said that they would start loading again if they got 330 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 1: some training. Some wanted new officers, penning the blame for 331 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:26,000 Speaker 1: the disaster on that constant pressure to load as fast 332 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:29,200 Speaker 1: as they could. Several wanted to be transferred somewhere that 333 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:30,880 Speaker 1: they could do the kind of work that they had 334 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 1: been trained to do after joining the navy, so that 335 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 1: they could be sailors rather than Stevedor's. They made it 336 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:40,080 Speaker 1: clear that they were willing to risk their lives in combat. 337 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:42,600 Speaker 1: They were just not willing to return to work under 338 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:45,280 Speaker 1: the exact same conditions that had just caused the deaths 339 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: of hundreds of men. In Small's words, quote I wasn't 340 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,360 Speaker 1: trying to shirk work. I don't think these other men 341 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:53,480 Speaker 1: were trying to shirk work. But to go back to 342 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:56,920 Speaker 1: work under the same conditions with no improvements, no changes, 343 00:18:57,320 --> 00:18:59,720 Speaker 1: the same group of officers that we had, was just 344 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:03,680 Speaker 1: we thought there was a better alternative. On August eleven, 345 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 1: Admiral C. H. Right spoke to the men who were 346 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:09,320 Speaker 1: refusing to work. He let twenty five or so of 347 00:19:09,359 --> 00:19:12,680 Speaker 1: them explain what their grievances were, and in his account, 348 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 1: they did so quote freely and respectfully. But his response 349 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:18,879 Speaker 1: to them was to say, quote, they tell me that 350 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:21,159 Speaker 1: some of you men want to go to see. I 351 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,520 Speaker 1: believe that's an expletive lie. I don't believe any of 352 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 1: you have enough guts to go to see. I handled 353 00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:30,280 Speaker 1: ammunition for approximately thirty years and I'm still here. I 354 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:33,680 Speaker 1: have a healthy respect for ammunition. Anybody who doesn't as crazy. 355 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: But I want to remind you men that mutinous conduct 356 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: in time of war carries the death sentence, and the 357 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: hazards of facing a firing squad are far greater than 358 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:47,080 Speaker 1: the hazards of handling ammunition. The men saw this as 359 00:19:47,119 --> 00:19:49,919 Speaker 1: a death threat, and two hundred eight of them agreed 360 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:53,159 Speaker 1: to go back to work instead. They were imprisoned in 361 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,840 Speaker 1: a barge in the bay, and once they were released, 362 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:59,359 Speaker 1: they faced summary courts martial. They were discharged for bad 363 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:04,360 Speaker 1: conduct and forfeited three months of pay. On August, Captain 364 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 1: Goss gave a written report to Admiral Wright and which 365 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:11,159 Speaker 1: he said that there were quote agitators, ring leaders among 366 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:13,680 Speaker 1: these men, and that that had been the case since 367 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,840 Speaker 1: the Black seamen were first assigned to Port Chicago. Goss 368 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:19,880 Speaker 1: also considered himself to be an expert on to use 369 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 1: his term negroes, and he described the black sailors at 370 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:27,679 Speaker 1: Port Chicago as unusually argumentative and sensitive about discrimination. He 371 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:32,040 Speaker 1: maintained that quote extreme care and patients has been exercised 372 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,600 Speaker 1: both at Mayor Island and Port Chicago to avoid discrimination. 373 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:38,680 Speaker 1: And he recommended that the fifty men who were refusing 374 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:42,359 Speaker 1: to work be charged with mutiny. And that's exactly what happened. 375 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: Some of the fifty men were still refusing to work. 376 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,560 Speaker 1: Others were perceived as ring leaders of the work stoppage, 377 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:50,680 Speaker 1: and a few maintained that they were neither. They were 378 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 1: just being punished because they were disliked. These men, nicknamed 379 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,679 Speaker 1: the Port Chicago fifty, faced trial before a panel of 380 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 1: officers starting on September four, nineteen forty four. The trial 381 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 1: was held at Treasure Island Naval Base. Admiral Hugo. S. 382 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,280 Speaker 1: Osterhouse presided over the seven man trial board. All of 383 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 1: the trial board was white. This was the largest mass 384 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:16,119 Speaker 1: mutiny trial in U. S Naval history. The defense's primary 385 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,760 Speaker 1: strategy was to argue that what these men had done 386 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: did not qualify as mutiny and to try to have 387 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:26,080 Speaker 1: that charge dismissed. Lieutenant Gerald E. Veltman, who led the defense, 388 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:29,880 Speaker 1: used a definition from Winthrop's Military Law and Precedence, which 389 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:34,240 Speaker 1: defined mutiny as quote unlawful opposition or resistance to or 390 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: defiance of superior military authority with a deliberate attempt to usurp, subvert, 391 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,360 Speaker 1: or override the same. He argued that the men had 392 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:45,959 Speaker 1: simply refused to follow an order, that they had not 393 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:51,040 Speaker 1: tried to usurp, subvert, or override anything. He also reiterated 394 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:52,920 Speaker 1: that many of the men said that they had never 395 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:57,320 Speaker 1: actually been given an actual order. The prosecution countered with 396 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:01,399 Speaker 1: a different definition from the same source tread quote collective 397 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: in subordination or simultaneous disobedience of a lawful order by 398 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:09,600 Speaker 1: two or more persons is an endeavor to make a 399 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,640 Speaker 1: revolt or mutiny. So if two people refused to work, 400 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 1: that's mutiny. The trial board ultimately decided that this second 401 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,639 Speaker 1: definition was the one that stood, and they did not 402 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:22,280 Speaker 1: dismiss the mutiny charge. Future Supreme Court Justice, They're good. 403 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:24,960 Speaker 1: Marshall was the chief Council for the n Double A 404 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:27,760 Speaker 1: CP at the time, and he arrived in San Francisco 405 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:31,280 Speaker 1: on October tenth. He observed the trial for twelve days 406 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,760 Speaker 1: and interviewed all of the fifty defendants. Then Double A 407 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 1: CP also held a press conference at which they're good. 408 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 1: Marshall said, quote, this is not fifty men on trial 409 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:43,640 Speaker 1: for mutiny. This is the Navy on trial for its 410 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:47,800 Speaker 1: whole vicious policy toward negroes. Negroes in the Navy don't 411 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: mind loading ammunition. They just want to know why they 412 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:55,200 Speaker 1: are the only ones doing the loading. Marshall also noted, quote, 413 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:57,159 Speaker 1: they have told me they were willing to go to 414 00:22:57,280 --> 00:22:59,719 Speaker 1: jail to get a change of duty because of their 415 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:03,120 Speaker 1: tour rific fear of explosives, But they had no idea 416 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: that verbal expression of their fear constituted mutiny. Afterward, the 417 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,240 Speaker 1: a c P also published a pamphlet publicizing this whole 418 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:13,880 Speaker 1: case and the fact that the men had not been 419 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,960 Speaker 1: refusing to work period. They had just been refusing to 420 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 1: work without some changes that might protect their lives. By 421 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: the end of the proceedings, the defense had noted that 422 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,600 Speaker 1: the men on trial had been respectful and had obeyed 423 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:28,320 Speaker 1: every other order they had been given, something that was 424 00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:32,200 Speaker 1: acknowledged by officers on the stand. They had also gotten 425 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:35,439 Speaker 1: expert testimony from a Navy psychiatrist who had argued that 426 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:39,040 Speaker 1: the explosion was so traumatic that the men could reasonably 427 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,440 Speaker 1: be expected to refuse their orders out of sheer self preservation. 428 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 1: This psychiatrist Lieutenant P. H. Pembroke also pointed out that 429 00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:50,440 Speaker 1: no sort of psychiatric assistance had been offered to any 430 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:52,919 Speaker 1: of the enlisted men in the days that followed this 431 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:56,680 Speaker 1: horrific disaster. Chaplain J. M. Flowers had also taken the 432 00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:58,760 Speaker 1: stand and said that he had spoken to some of 433 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,159 Speaker 1: the men about trying to put aside their fears to 434 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 1: help their fellows, using the analogy of being in the 435 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,800 Speaker 1: same foxhole as someone else. He reported that one of 436 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: the sailors had answered quote, in the foxholes, a man 437 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 1: has a chance to fight back. Throughout all of this, 438 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:15,560 Speaker 1: the defense did not try to build a case that 439 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: the men had been the targets of discrimination based on 440 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 1: their race, but it is clear that the men themselves 441 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:23,960 Speaker 1: believed that they had been the nu A CP, which 442 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,680 Speaker 1: had existed for thirty five years at this point, thought 443 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,600 Speaker 1: the same. And it is possible that at least some 444 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:31,840 Speaker 1: of the men on trial thought that their work stoppage 445 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: might lead to civil rights gains within the Navy beyond 446 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: just the safety issues. But if they did, that wasn't 447 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: something that they talked about at the trial. From the 448 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,520 Speaker 1: prosecution's standpoint, the men who were on trial had repeatedly 449 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: refused to follow orders, and they had encouraged others to 450 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:50,040 Speaker 1: do the same, and that constituted mutiny. The Poor Chicago 451 00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: fifty were all found guilty of mutiny on October nine, 452 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,000 Speaker 1: after about eighty minutes of deliberation that included a lunch 453 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: break that was less than two minutes of deliberation per charge. Initially, 454 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 1: all fifty of them were sentenced to fifteen years in prison, 455 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,920 Speaker 1: including hard labor, but ultimately some of the sentences were 456 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:11,359 Speaker 1: reduced because of the men's youth and their lack of 457 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:14,600 Speaker 1: previous conduct issues. More than half of them were under 458 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:17,480 Speaker 1: twenty one years old. In the end, ten of them, 459 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:19,840 Speaker 1: including the ones who were described as ring leaders, were 460 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:23,399 Speaker 1: sentenced to fifteen years, and that included semen small. Thirty 461 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:25,960 Speaker 1: five were sentenced to between ten and twelve years, and 462 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,760 Speaker 1: the remaining were sentenced to eight years. They were all 463 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 1: incarcerated at Terminal Island Disciplinary Barracks in San Pedro, California. Meanwhile, 464 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,240 Speaker 1: Navy leadership maintained that race was not a factor in 465 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 1: decisions at Port Chicago or in the mutiny proceedings, but 466 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,600 Speaker 1: in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. They had noted 467 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,679 Speaker 1: that the all black loading details could quote create an 468 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:52,440 Speaker 1: appearance of discrimination. Admiral Wright had recommended that white details 469 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:55,240 Speaker 1: relieve the black loading crews from time to time, and 470 00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:57,920 Speaker 1: in the end, two white units were assigned to Port 471 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,760 Speaker 1: Chicago when it was up and running again. Third Good 472 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: Marshall filed an appeal brief in April of nineteen forty five, 473 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:06,040 Speaker 1: and by this point the Double A CP had been 474 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:09,080 Speaker 1: covering the disaster and the trial and its magazine, The Crisis, 475 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,240 Speaker 1: and Eleanor Roosevelt had sent a copy of the Double 476 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,000 Speaker 1: A CPS pamphlet on the incident to Secretary of the 477 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,399 Speaker 1: Navy James V. Forrest All, encouraging him to take quote 478 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: special care in the case. Although Marshall's request for an 479 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:25,080 Speaker 1: appeal was denied, the Navy did re examine one aspect 480 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:29,040 Speaker 1: of the case. The prosecution's case had included hearsay evidence, 481 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,159 Speaker 1: which had been admitted. The trial board considered what the 482 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 1: case would have looked like without that evidence on June twelfth. 483 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:39,960 Speaker 1: In the end, the Navy upheld the convictions and sentences. 484 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:43,280 Speaker 1: The Port Chicago fifty were the only people who faced 485 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: charges After this disaster, there was never really any examination 486 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,520 Speaker 1: of whether the officer's actions or the Navy's policies had 487 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,600 Speaker 1: played a role That hearsay evidence is basically that some 488 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,200 Speaker 1: of the officers said that they had heard the enlisted 489 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: men encouraging each other not to go back to work, 490 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:02,320 Speaker 1: but none of them a pinpoint any particular person that 491 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:05,119 Speaker 1: they heard this from, but that was still considered admissible 492 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:10,680 Speaker 1: in nive. The Navy started desegregating its ranks, including announcing 493 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:13,720 Speaker 1: that training facilities would be integrated. In June of that year, 494 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,240 Speaker 1: Black crews were assigned to a few small combat ships 495 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: as well. Then that December, Secretary forest All announced that 496 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 1: quote in the Administration of Naval Personnel, no differentiation shall 497 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:28,199 Speaker 1: be made because of color. This was motivated not just 498 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,240 Speaker 1: by the Port Chicago case, but also by other racial 499 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:35,320 Speaker 1: conflicts within the Navy, including a riot involving black seabees 500 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 1: and white Marines on Guam in December of nineteen four. 501 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:42,159 Speaker 1: The Port Chicago fifty remained incarcerated until the end of 502 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:46,040 Speaker 1: World War two. First, their sentences were reduced by a year, 503 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:48,879 Speaker 1: and then in January of nineteen forty six, all but 504 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,359 Speaker 1: three were released In return to the Navy. Two of 505 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:54,400 Speaker 1: the men who were not released were in the hospital 506 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,159 Speaker 1: at the time, and one was not released because of 507 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:01,200 Speaker 1: his conduct while incarcerated. From there, they were sent overseas 508 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:05,439 Speaker 1: to work for a year as rehabilitation. The CBS who 509 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:07,480 Speaker 1: had been part of the riot on Guam went through 510 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 1: a similar process. After that, they were discharged under honorable conditions. 511 00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:16,199 Speaker 1: That's not the same thing as an honorable discharge, and 512 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,280 Speaker 1: some of the men maintained that it kept them from 513 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:21,520 Speaker 1: being able to collect veterans benefits afterwards, which is something 514 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:26,160 Speaker 1: that the Navy has denied. The mutiny convictions still stood, though, 515 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: and that made it hard for a lot of the 516 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,040 Speaker 1: men to find work once they returned to civilian life. 517 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,119 Speaker 1: A lot of them also talked about carrying a sense 518 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 1: of shame and anger about it for the rest of 519 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:43,120 Speaker 1: their life. On February six, the Navy banned segregation and 520 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: formally made black sailors quote eligible for all types of assignments, 521 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 1: in all ratings, in all facilities, and in all ships. 522 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:55,560 Speaker 1: More than two years later, on July President Harry S. 523 00:28:55,600 --> 00:29:01,360 Speaker 1: Truman signed Executive Order one, which desegregated the US Armed Forces. 524 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:04,880 Speaker 1: The Navy was already compliant with the order when Truman 525 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:07,720 Speaker 1: signed it. That doesn't mean that there was no discrimination 526 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,520 Speaker 1: or racism in the Navy, just that the Navy had 527 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:14,120 Speaker 1: already complied with the technical points of the order. Eventually, 528 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 1: the military facility at Port Chicago was repaired and it 529 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 1: became an even bigger port for munitions loading, but the 530 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: town of Port Chicago was determined to be too close 531 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:26,080 Speaker 1: to the port for safety. This led the Navy to 532 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:29,160 Speaker 1: file a series of lawsuits petitioning to have it torn down. 533 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 1: The Navy was finally successful in nineteen sixty eight, and 534 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:34,600 Speaker 1: it purchased all the property through Eminent domain and then 535 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 1: raised the buildings. The base was later renamed Conquered Naval 536 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:41,960 Speaker 1: Weapons Station and now it's Military Ocean Terminal Conquered. Although 537 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,680 Speaker 1: the Port Chicago disaster was a major news story when 538 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: it happened and led to protests and advocacy on behalf 539 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 1: of the men on trial and black sailors in general, 540 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:55,320 Speaker 1: for decades afterward, information about it was classified. The secrecy 541 00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 1: contributed to a conspiracy theory that the explosion was caused 542 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:02,440 Speaker 1: by a nuclear device. This theory grew after a document 543 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,880 Speaker 1: called History of the ten thousand Ton gadget was found 544 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:08,600 Speaker 1: in a box of photography supplies at a rummage sale 545 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:12,400 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty. That box was reportedly donated by a 546 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:15,280 Speaker 1: man who had worked at Los Alamos, and the document 547 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:18,720 Speaker 1: describes a mathematical model for a nuclear detonation and ends 548 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:22,160 Speaker 1: with step eleven quote ball of fire, mushroom out at 549 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:26,160 Speaker 1: eighteen thousand feet in typical Port Chicago fashion. So the 550 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,880 Speaker 1: logical explanation for this is that after the disaster, scientists 551 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:32,520 Speaker 1: from Los Alamos came to Port Chicago to study the 552 00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:35,680 Speaker 1: effects of an explosion that was similar in power to 553 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:39,479 Speaker 1: what they were trying to develop. That definitely happened. Captain 554 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:42,960 Speaker 1: William Parsons, ordinance director at Los Alamos, arrived on July 555 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:46,480 Speaker 1: twenty then submitted a memo summarizing his findings on July. 556 00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:51,760 Speaker 1: His memorandum cites several eyewitnesses as reporting that a column 557 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:55,080 Speaker 1: of fire rose up and then mushroomed out from the explosion. 558 00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:59,200 Speaker 1: But the conspiracy theory maintains that quote typical Port Chicago 559 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: fashion is not a reference to a mushroom cloud created 560 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:06,080 Speaker 1: by the accidental detonation of conventional weapons that was as 561 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 1: powerful as a nuclear blast. Instead, it is supposedly a 562 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 1: reference to a mushroom cloud created by an actual nuclear 563 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,800 Speaker 1: detonation in Port Chicago and then covered up. Yes, some 564 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:19,000 Speaker 1: people go so far as to say that it was 565 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:25,760 Speaker 1: an actual intentional nuclear debt nation basically bombing apport on 566 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,480 Speaker 1: purpose to see what the effects would be. But there's 567 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:32,080 Speaker 1: never been any evidence of any other like indication of 568 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:36,960 Speaker 1: nuclear activity, any of the types of post nuclear explosion 569 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,479 Speaker 1: issues you would have. No, the person who has been 570 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 1: the biggest uh advocate of this whole conspiracy theory wrote 571 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 1: a whole book about it, piecing all kinds of stuff together. 572 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,160 Speaker 1: But like, it's one of those things that's so far 573 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:56,000 Speaker 1: fetched that there's not a lot of historians that are 574 00:31:56,040 --> 00:32:01,160 Speaker 1: like rebutting it because it's so far, so far off 575 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:05,840 Speaker 1: the realm of what's reasonable or imaginable. Um. But like 576 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 1: a lot of nuclear scientists have said no, this, Like 577 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:12,040 Speaker 1: part of the argument has to be whether there was 578 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:16,200 Speaker 1: enough nuclear material available to make a bomb of this 579 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 1: type in ninety four, and a lot of nuclear scientists 580 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:23,240 Speaker 1: are like, no, there wasn't. UM. People have also noted, 581 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:27,400 Speaker 1: like we when we did our our podcasts about the 582 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:31,680 Speaker 1: Thousand Cranes and the bombings of Heroshman and Nagasaki, Like 583 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:34,760 Speaker 1: we talked about how the nuclear after effects went on 584 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,280 Speaker 1: for years and years and these uh spikes and all 585 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:39,920 Speaker 1: kinds of cancers and like that, And there's no radiation 586 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 1: sickness associated with Port Chicago to the no UM, especially 587 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:46,880 Speaker 1: not among all of the people in the town who 588 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: were a mile away and would have had that would Yeah, 589 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:58,560 Speaker 1: it's I can totally see how these pieces of these 590 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: like little pieces of data, like the fact that it 591 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:05,480 Speaker 1: says Port Chicago and that document and um, the huge 592 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:07,680 Speaker 1: magnitude of the explosion, Like I can see how people 593 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:11,880 Speaker 1: would piece these things together and draw that conclusion. But 594 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,720 Speaker 1: at the same time, especially the idea that the United 595 00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:18,240 Speaker 1: States would have intentionally bombed one of its own ports 596 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:23,280 Speaker 1: during wartime as an experiment, like, yeah, that's a little 597 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:25,520 Speaker 1: bit of a long walk, Yeah, a mission critical port 598 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:29,120 Speaker 1: during wartime, like it was how munitions were getting like 599 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,800 Speaker 1: the vast majority of munitions were getting to the Pacific. 600 00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:35,240 Speaker 1: In the nineteen nineties, the Navy reviewed the Port Chicago case, 601 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 1: and on January the Board for Correction of Naval Records 602 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,640 Speaker 1: acknowledged that racism was present in the Navy and at 603 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,920 Speaker 1: Port Chicago in Nino, but maintained that it did not 604 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:49,720 Speaker 1: play a part in the events that transpired. The Secretary 605 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:53,080 Speaker 1: of Defense at the time was William J. Perry, who said, quote, 606 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: sailors are required to obey the orders of their superiors, 607 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:58,960 Speaker 1: even if those orders subject them to life threatening danger. 608 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:02,760 Speaker 1: In nineteen any nine, President Bill Clinton pardoned Freddie Meeks, 609 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:05,880 Speaker 1: who had been part of the Port Chicago fifty Meeks 610 00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:08,239 Speaker 1: was one of a very few survivors still living at 611 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:10,360 Speaker 1: the time, and he was the only one to apply 612 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: for a presidential pardon. In the words of Joe Small 613 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:18,080 Speaker 1: back in when the Navy stood by their convictions, quote 614 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 1: we don't want a pardon because that means you're guilty, 615 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:24,400 Speaker 1: but we forgive you. We want the decisions set aside 616 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:28,279 Speaker 1: and reimbursement of all lost pay. In two thousand nine, 617 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,839 Speaker 1: the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial was dedicated. It's 618 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,000 Speaker 1: part of the National Park System, but it's also on 619 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:38,120 Speaker 1: an active military base, so if you want to visit there, 620 00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:40,800 Speaker 1: you have to have advanced reservations and a government issue 621 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:43,719 Speaker 1: I d H and go through a security check to enter. 622 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,319 Speaker 1: The security is a lot tighter than at most other 623 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,759 Speaker 1: monuments of a similar sort because it is on an 624 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:54,000 Speaker 1: active base. There are a lot of moments of holding back, 625 00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:59,200 Speaker 1: growling and expletives in that episode. Yeah. Um, people have 626 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:01,240 Speaker 1: been asking us the talk about this for a really 627 00:35:01,239 --> 00:35:04,759 Speaker 1: long time, and because it is so similar to the 628 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,920 Speaker 1: Halifax disaster in terms of the nature of the explosion 629 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:10,040 Speaker 1: and the damage that it caused, Like Halifax was a 630 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:12,239 Speaker 1: lot more destructive in terms of how much property was 631 00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:15,880 Speaker 1: destroyed and how many people were killed. Because the Halifax 632 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:18,600 Speaker 1: is that disaster happened like right there in Halifax, and 633 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:21,799 Speaker 1: there were a lot of populated buildings immediately around the 634 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:23,640 Speaker 1: area and like a lot more people, a lot more 635 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:29,200 Speaker 1: civilians there that the docks. But Port Chicago was not 636 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,359 Speaker 1: nearly as well populated, and then the shape of the 637 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:36,839 Speaker 1: landscape stopped the spread of the explosion from going as far. 638 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:41,080 Speaker 1: So like the death toll is not as staggering as 639 00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:43,640 Speaker 1: in Halifax, but if you look at the pictures, it's 640 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:48,240 Speaker 1: really similar in terms of things just being flattened. And 641 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 1: one of the things that was frustrated and researching it 642 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:57,719 Speaker 1: is how how like there were these clear, discriminatory, segregated 643 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:02,080 Speaker 1: tears through the whole entire thing that played out in 644 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:05,719 Speaker 1: the same way as like so many other segregated situations 645 00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:09,800 Speaker 1: that we have talked about on the show, but unlike 646 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:13,000 Speaker 1: some of them that have been later investigated, Like we've 647 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:15,640 Speaker 1: talked about a lot of knowledge, We've talked about a 648 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,000 Speaker 1: lot of incidents that like, when they happened, it was 649 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:21,480 Speaker 1: clear that like racism was a factor, and then fifty 650 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:24,719 Speaker 1: years later, uh, somebody will go back through the whole 651 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:27,400 Speaker 1: records and have like a truth and Reconciliation commission or 652 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:30,520 Speaker 1: something like that and say, Okay, this is the documentation 653 00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:33,880 Speaker 1: of how this played out and how discrimination played a 654 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:36,960 Speaker 1: part in it. And with this particular thing, it's been 655 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,160 Speaker 1: more like, yeah, they're discrimination existed, but it didn't really 656 00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:44,960 Speaker 1: affect this, but that wasn't part of this. Yes, it 657 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:49,759 Speaker 1: kind of comes across that way. Frustrating. Yeah, hopefully in 658 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:51,560 Speaker 1: a more upbeat zone. Do you have some listener my 659 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:53,239 Speaker 1: own I view? It's from Katrina. It is a little 660 00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:55,719 Speaker 1: more uh. It is also about a disaster, but it 661 00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,080 Speaker 1: is more upbeat and it says my name is Katrina. 662 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:01,600 Speaker 1: I am a longtime listener from Perth, Australia. Just dropping 663 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,000 Speaker 1: you a line after I listened to the general slocum disaster. 664 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,560 Speaker 1: My little tidbit of trivia is much more lighthearder than 665 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:10,120 Speaker 1: the episode though, and it's all to do with cork. 666 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,719 Speaker 1: Inferior cork is the reason why most wine bottles in 667 00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:17,040 Speaker 1: Australia have metal caps. Apparently there was a war between 668 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:21,040 Speaker 1: some European wine labels and Australian labels around the nineteen seventies. 669 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:24,520 Speaker 1: This was as the Australian wine industry started making some 670 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 1: waves and getting noticed. To try to block this these 671 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:31,919 Speaker 1: new upcomers, some of the older European brands convinced cork 672 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:35,120 Speaker 1: suppliers to send inferior corks to the Australian market, so 673 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:38,040 Speaker 1: the wineries in Australia were forced to invent a new 674 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:41,000 Speaker 1: closure into the screw cap. I think this is also 675 00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:43,160 Speaker 1: why we have wine in a bag, although I'm not 676 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:45,960 Speaker 1: entirely sure on that one. Unfortunately, I can't remember the 677 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:48,400 Speaker 1: documentary in which I saw this, so my details may 678 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:50,640 Speaker 1: be wrong, but and I cannot send you something with 679 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,560 Speaker 1: more information. But either way, it's a cute story. Keep 680 00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:56,040 Speaker 1: up the good work, ladies. I'm always impressed with a 681 00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:59,680 Speaker 1: sensitivity and enthusiasm to approach each topic, especially the ones 682 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:01,640 Speaker 1: The reveal histories that have been hidden for so long 683 00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:05,080 Speaker 1: due to racism, sexism, and homophobia. And then she goes 684 00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:11,280 Speaker 1: on with some podcast suggestions. Uh, your friend in history, Katrina, 685 00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:14,440 Speaker 1: thank you so much for this email, Katrina. I did 686 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:19,000 Speaker 1: not go through and like verify the trajectory of screw 687 00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:23,240 Speaker 1: caps and cork, but the idea of needing a different 688 00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:26,520 Speaker 1: type of closure for the bottle because of poor quality 689 00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:29,760 Speaker 1: cork is definitely a thing. Like in more recent years 690 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:33,360 Speaker 1: there have been worldwide cork shortages. Uh, and that is 691 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:35,719 Speaker 1: why a lot more a lot of wine bottles and 692 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:37,960 Speaker 1: things now instead of having a cork closure will have 693 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:39,919 Speaker 1: a like a more rubber stopper or a screw cap 694 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:43,640 Speaker 1: or something like that. So thank you Katrina for sending 695 00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:48,360 Speaker 1: a more lighthearted aspect of poor quality cork. If you 696 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:49,880 Speaker 1: would like to write to us about this or any 697 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:52,240 Speaker 1: other podcast or a history podcast at how stuff Works 698 00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:54,239 Speaker 1: dot com. And then we're all over social media at 699 00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:57,600 Speaker 1: miss in History. That is where you will find our Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, 700 00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:00,440 Speaker 1: and Twitter. You can come to our webs which is 701 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:03,320 Speaker 1: missed in History dot com and find show notes about 702 00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:05,440 Speaker 1: the episodes Holly and I have worked on together and 703 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:08,040 Speaker 1: a searchable archive of every episode ever, and you can 704 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:11,000 Speaker 1: subscribe to our show on Apple podcast, i heart Radio 705 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:18,880 Speaker 1: app and wherever else do you get your podcasts. Stuff 706 00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:20,759 Speaker 1: you Missed in History Class is a production of my 707 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:23,920 Speaker 1: heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts. For my 708 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:27,040 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 709 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:29,120 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.