#197 Danger In The Harbor: The Black Tom Explosion of 1916

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2016

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On July 30, 1916, at just after 2 in the morning, a massive explosion ripped apart the island of Black Tom on the shoreline near Jersey City, sending a shockwave through the region and thousands of pounds of wartime shrapnel into the neighboring Ellis Island and Bedloe's Island (home to the Statue of Liberty). Thousands of windows were shattered in the region, and millions woke up wondering what horrible thing had just happened. The terrifying disaster was no accident; this was the sabotage of German agents, bent on eliminating tons of munitions that were being sent to the Allied powers during World War I. Although America had not yet entered the war, the United States was considered an enemy combatant thanks to weapons manufactures in the New York region and around the country. But the surprising epicenter of German spy activity was in a simple townhouse in the neighborhood of Chelsea. ALSO: New Yorkers still feel the ramifications of the Black Tom Explosion today at one of America's top tourist attractions. www.boweryboyshistory.com Arriving in May 2016: The first-ever Bowery Boys book - Adventures in Old New York! Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Barry Boys episode 197 danger in the harbor the black Tom explosion.
0:06.2	Hey, it's the Barry Boys.
0:07.8	Hey.
0:08.8	Support for the Barry Boys is provided by our listeners.
0:12.4	Join us for as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com slash Barry Boys.
0:22.5	Hi there, welcome to the Barry Boys. This is Greg Young.
0:24.9	And this is Tom Myers.
0:26.8	There once was a very special place in one of America's most famous landmarks where visitors got to observe the New York harbor from a very unique perspective.
0:38.8	But for almost 100 years, that vantage spot, that place at this landmark has been permanently closed.
0:47.0	This is the story of how that came to be.
0:50.4	This is a story about millions of pounds of warm munitions and explosives that were detonated late one Saturday night in 1916.
0:59.7	It shook the entire region and it alarmed an entire nation, a nation that was trying to remain neutral as war spread throughout Europe.
1:10.0	Today we refer to this event as the black Tom explosion, which is named for a very small island that was right up the coast of New Jersey in the New York harbor.
1:20.1	An island which is no longer there because of this event.
1:23.6	This is generally considered to be the largest German act of sabotage on US soil during World War I.
1:32.4	It's an event that is so dramatic and yet it's something that I feel that is relatively unknown or not remembered today.
1:41.4	But this year is the 100th anniversary of this event.
1:44.8	So we kind of wanted to get a jump on it actually because the story is quite intriguing, very death-defying and very surprising.
1:52.6	So join us as we investigate the danger in New York harbor and the black Tom explosion of 1916.
3:14.8	So Tom, you and I are about to discuss the black Tom explosion, which happened in the early morning hours of July 30th, 1916.
3:39.3	Right, and it happened on black Tom Island, which is a small island just off Liberty Island and Ellis Island just to the west of those in New York harbor.
3:50.2	I should add that this show is sort of skirting the parameters of our show because it is a story also about New Jersey, but this island and the effects of this particular event shook New York to its core.
	...

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