The explosions, which occurred on July 30, 1916, in the New York Harbor, destroyed some $20,000,000 worth of military goods. Doctors and nurses arrived on the scene and tended to dozens of injured. Employees on the island started frantically trying to fight the fires, and eventually called the Jersey City Fire Department for help. One of those newcomers to America was Count Johann Von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to Washington. The Black Tom Explosion didn't happen in our original universe [Week of July 28th, 1916] ( https://youtu.be/lu9VPY2DHPk ) On July 30th of 1916, German agents detonated a munition depot in New York harbor which resulted in 4 deaths, hundreds of injuries, and damage to the Statue of Liberty. "When the explosion came, it seemed as if it was from abovezumpf!like a Zeppelin bomb," he said, according to Smithsonian Magazine. There wasnt nearly enough water supply to the island to fight the fires. One Mandela Effect thats related to this story is about the Statue of Liberty. "World War I Intrigue: German Spies in New York! It had a reputation as an environmental hazard, and people in New York hated that it was so close to the city. Now at this point in the war mid-1916 America was neutral, meaning that the munitions being stored at Black Tom Island could have been sold to the highest bidder, whether that be Germany, France, Austria, or Great Britain. Undetected, the saboteurs lit multiple fires on the island. This F3 tornado was one of the strongest to ever touch down in New Jersey. The Nazis paid little mind to this finding, and Germany would not settle the debt until 1979. Cookie Settings, http://www.faqs.org/espionage/Bl-Ch/Black-Tom-Explosion.html, https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no1/article02.html, Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States, Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Otherand the Birds Loved It, Balto's DNA Provides a New Look at the Intrepid Sled Dog, The Science of California's 'Super Bloom,' Visible From Space, The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamondand Why the British Won't Give It Back. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), https://www.history.com/news/the-black-tom-explosion, In 1916, German Terrorists Launched an Attack on American Soil. They approached the island and easily snuck past the eight guards on duty, placing explosives and setting small fires all over before hastily leaving. Then guards at the pier were taken in for questioning; on the night of the explosions, they had lit smudge pots to keep mosquitoes away, and their carelessness with the pots was believed to have started the fires. 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. Get the latest History stories in your inbox? In the days after the blasts, confusion reigned. Unedited videos of guest interviews and quizzes Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images. Host Michael Kent asks listeners to tell him something strange, bizarre or surprising that they've recently learned and he gets to the bottom of it! 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 Black Tom explosion destroying 2 million pounds of ammunition was an example of _____ sabotage. But its doubtful that anyone currently living has been up to the torch of the statue. There were five or six other lighters alongside mine at the dock, and a tug was just coming up to drag us away. I dont know what became of the tug or the other lighters. | We must not again be caught napping with no adequate national intelligence organization. It was heard and felt as far away as Philadelphia, and in Baltimore, people spilled from their homes, fearing an earthquake was underway. The Black Tom explosion was an apparent act of sabotage by German agents. For centuries, humans used tallow in skin moisturizers and healing balms, but unfortunately, the topical application of these fats seemed to stop around the same time that animal fats stopped being considered part of a healthy diet. At the time, it was both the largest explosion in modern history and the first foreign terrorist attack on U.S. soil. As a result, Imperial Germany sent spies to the United States to disrupt by any means necessary the production and delivery of war munitions that were intended to kill German soldiers on the battlefields of the Great War. In fact, it was almost too easy for the spies to infiltrate Black Tom Island. It is the early morning hours of July 30, 1916, minutes before the Black Tom Island munitions dump explosion in Jersey City, N.J. will awaken half the east coast, changing history. So everyone just thought it was another accident like the one that had happened in 1875. But federal authorities could not trace the fire to the pots, and reports ultimately concluded that the blasts must have been accidentaleven though several suspicious factory explosions in the United States, mostly around New York, pointed toward German spies and saboteurs. Barges sank, collapsed warehouses buried freight cars, and eventually the entire pier went under. Discusses the circumstances and German plotting that surrounded the sabotage explosion at the Black Tom munitions depot in New York Harbor on July 30, 1916 Print length 339 pages Language English Publisher Algonquin Books Publication date May 1, 1989 ISBN-10 0912697989 ISBN-13 978-0912697987 See all details The Amazon Book Review As Chad Millman points out in his book, The Detonators, there was a certain naivete at the timePresident Woodrow Wilson could not bring himself to believe that Germans might be responsible for such destruction. Get 15% off by using my promo code: INTERNET or click HERE. It was the largest non nuclear explosion to date. Others attempted to fight the fires and eventually called the Jersey City Fire Department. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Thousands of windows shattered in lower Manhattan and Jersey City. From Lower Manhattan to Times Square, windows shattered. The term "Black Tom" originally referred to an island in New York Harbor next to Liberty Island. The blasts also wreaked havoc at the site. On July 29, 1916, German agents set fire to a complex of warehouses and ships in the New York harbor that held munitions, fuel, and explosives bound to aid the Allies in. The Secret Service, by presidential order, was able to investigate some German attacks and intrigues. The CIA wouldnt be established until after World War II. [1][2] This incident, which happened prior to U.S. entry into World War I, also damaged the Statue of Liberty. Two million tons of war materials packed. [14] The explosion created a detonation wave that traveled at 24,000 feet per second (7,300m/s) with enough force to lift firefighters out of their boots and into the air. The total damage came to an estimated $20 million - a massive sum in 1916 equivalent to more than half a billion dollars today. One of the largest profiteers was J.P. Morgan and the same German agent, Eric Muenter broke into the home of Morgan and shot him twice. "It meant more to Germany to not have them found responsible for Black Tom than it did for the U.S. to prove Germany was responsible for Black Tom. (REBROADCAST of Episode 17) - The Internet Says it's True. 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 loss of life, however, was not great: Counts vary, but fewer than ten people perished in the explosions. Around 2:08 a.m. the munitions started to explode. [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. No guards stopped him, and no one noticed his pockets, which bulged with bombs shaped like cigars. First, a lack of documentation made it incredibly difficult to prove Germany was guilty of the crime. Authorities recovered munitions from the blast site without knowing whether they were live. Warehouses collapsed onto freight cars filled with TNT. The Lehigh Valley pier was at the center of the explosion. [26] President Wilson remarked of the incident that it was "a regrettable incident at a private railroad terminal",[27][28] and Edgar E. Clark of the Interstate Commerce Commission was dispatched to investigate. Nearly everyone in Manhattan and Jersey City was jolted awake, and many were thrown from their beds. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. Until April 6, 1917, the United States was neutral in respect to World War I and its munitions companies earlier in the war could sell to any buyer. 7. So was Cornelius Leyden, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Chief of Police. It is not known how many died. An explosion on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor in the middle of the night could be heard from miles away,. Kristoff was arrested by the Jersey City police on suspicion of involvement in the blast, but they released him for lack of evidence. "The Germans probably saw that as an act of war," Jackson said. Smaller explosions continued till dawn, but they caused little damage. This Black Tom Explosion commemorative plaque in Liberty State Park is the only reminder of the incident. An explosion America seems to have forgotten ever happened. A Little Island In The Bay. One barge contained 50 tons of TNT, and was only moored at Black Tom Island to avoid a $25.00 charge. At one point, a huge cavern was hewed out of the earth by the explosions of some 87 dynamite-laden railroad cars. Part of the WCBE Podcast Experience. So if you ever run across someone who claims theyve been up to the Statue of Libertys torch, now you know why they havent. Germany, under the rule of Hitler, failed to pay up and the settlement was renegotiated in the early 1950s. Planning for the sabotage of Black Tom began more than a year before the explosion, when German spymaster Franz von Rintelen started surveilling and mapping out storage sheds on the Black Tom piers. A torpedo hitting the magazine could have kicked the stored aluminum powder into the air. [15] The explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter scale[12] and was felt as far away as Philadelphia. From Manhattan, witnesses saw shells shoot across the harbor and explode a mile from the blast site. 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. And no one anticipated that the munitions depot might become the target of enemy agents. While that incident caused anger, it did not galvanize the American public to action. At the time President Roosevelt said to him: "We don't want any more Black Toms."[50][51]. Because while the statue was built for the torch to be accessed by tourists, its been closed from visitors since 1916. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. After the explosion, Black Tom Island sank into New York Harbor. CLARK TO FIX BLAME FOR BIG EXPLOSION; Wilson Sends Commerce Commissioner Here to Continue Investigation. The lawyers sued Germany in the Mixed Claims Commission at The Hague, and in 1939 won the case. No one stopped them. Many Explosions Since War Began New York Times, July 31, 1916. His book Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013. That night, guards spotted small fires on the pier and . 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. The deadly Battle of the Somme had just begun in France and would last for 5 more months, producing more than one million casualties. Just outside of Jersey City, the island was a manmade rectangle of land, mostly built up from refuse and rocks in the New York Harbor. "And it wasn't really until it got into the late 1930s, and there was such animus again towards Germany because of Hitler, that all of the sudden the U.S. just became more interested in the case.". Barges sank, collapsed warehouses buried freight cars, and eventually the entire pier went under. A series of blasts were heard and felt some 90 miles in every direction, even as far as Philadelphia. 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. 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. "The new German government felt like if they were to admit to and pay damages for the destruction at Black Tom, it was tantamount to saying that they drew the U.S. into war from this," Millman said. The explosion on Black Tom Island, in New York Harbor at Jersey City, jolted millions from their beds and broke windows all over the region about a million dollars worth of shattered glass.. This incident, which happened prior to U.S. entry into . The island was artificial, created by land fill around a rock of the same name, which had been a local hazard to navigation. The Black Tom Explosion. The violent blast, one of the largest explosions on U.S. soil, occurred on Black Tom Island, a peninsula jutting out into Upper New York Bay situated across from the Statue of Liberty. The Nazi party in control of the government refused to pay. Remember, this was an island with a history of being filled with rubbish and explosives with little protection from accidents and without the proper safety measures. While its not thought that he was incredibly successful, he was discovered by the FBI and fled to Mexico. It was Black Tom, once a small island, that was the single most important assembly and shipping center in America for munitions and gunpowder being sent to the Allies, Witcover notes, and probably housed the most extensive arsenal anywhere outside the war zone itself.. Even the other agents from the German military didnt know about his secret orders. Following the explosion, the Jersey Journal warned of as many as 50 deaths. However, that decision came in 1939 the year Hitler invaded Poland and set off World War II. At 2:08 am, the first and largest of the explosions took place. Immigrants on nearby Ellis Island had to be evacuated. 3 By David Pfeiffer Enlarge A shipment of horses at a New York City rail yard, 1918. Gilbert King According to historians, the Germans sabotaged the Lehigh Valley munitions depot in order to stop deliveries being made to the British who had blockaded the Germans in Europe. None of the baggage handlers who were above the magazine survived the sinking. By blowing up a munitions depot on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor, Germany slowed the shipment of supplies to Britain and France from the ostensibly neutral United States. Fires burned on Black Tom Island into the morning after German saboteurs attacked the munitions depot. [14], Fragments from the explosion traveled long distances: some lodged in the Statue of Liberty, and other fragments lodged in the clock tower of The Jersey Journal building in Journal Square more than 1 mile (1.6km) away, stopping the clock at 2:12am. Nearby at the Statue of Liberty, a legacy of the disaster remains: Due to the damage the statue sustained on July 30, 1916, its torch has been closed to the public for the last century. Used as a munitions warehouse for the Allies, Black Tom Island in the New York Harbor rarely gained any attention during WWII. Edgar Clark, a Commissioner with the Interstate Commerce Commission immediately began working on a report to President Woodrow Wilson, and found that there was no violation of federal laws governing the packing and transportation of explosives. At 2:08 am, the first and largest of the explosions took place, the second and smaller explosion occurring around 2:40 am. Fires raged along the pier after the early-morning explosion. Along with two German saboteurs, Lothar Witzke and Kurt Jahnke, Kristoff is believed to have set the incendiary devices that caused the mayhem on Black Tom. On the night of July 30, 1916, Black Tom Island held 2 million pounds of explosives. You are walking on a site which saw one of the worse [sic] acts of terrorism in American history. Statue of Liberty Damaged by Giant Ammunition Explosions Washington Post, July 31, 1916. Privacy Statement It tossed Jersey City residents from their beds. (Grants Pass, Or.) Includes text, notes, and inset of northern portion . There still is a cloak of secrecy about what happened on July 30, 1916. [52], A stained-glass window at Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic church memorialized the victims of the attack.[53]. 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. Today, the Black Tom site is part of New Jerseys Liberty State Park. Three men were eventually recruited to carry out the operation: Michael Kristoff, a 23-year-old Austrian immigrant who served briefly in the U.S. Army; Kurt Jahnke, a naturalized American citizen and former U.S. Marine, who was recruited as an operative by the German Consul General in San Francisco; and Polish-born Lothar Witzke, a young German naval lieutenant who survived his ships sinking by the British Navy off the South American coast in late 1915.