- Atlantic Duchess, a new tanker was built by William Gray & Co.
- It was carrying 12,000 tonnes of butanised crude oil for delivery.
- She had arrived into Swansea on January 29, and was berthed at No.2 Jetty in Queen’s Dock.
- On February 2, 1951 at 5am that morning, a catastrophic explosion took place.
- It claimed the lives of seven seamen and injuring nearly as many firemen.
- It was the ship’s maiden voyage.
Robert Dalling, a senior reporter for Wales Online briefs on the catastrophic explosion that happened on Friday, February 2, 1951 at Swansea Docks. The article highlights the time to time details of the accident, the aftermath and lack of safety precautions which might have led to the explosion.
The following passages will throw light on the accident in a detailed manner.
Not a peaceful and calm morning at Swansea Docks
It was the day disaster dawned on Swansea Docks. What started off as a peaceful and calm morning on Friday, February 2, 1951 turned into the worst shipping tragedy to ever hit the area, sending shockwaves through the community.
A series of explosions rattled the quayside, as the Atlantic Duchess, a new tanker built by William Gray & Co, blew up into a sea of flames.
The Liberian-registered ship was an oil tanker, constructed to carry petroleum in bulk, and had sailed to Swansea from Abadan in the Persian Gulf with a Greek crew aboard.
It was carrying 12,000 tonnes of butanised crude oil for delivery to National Oil Refineries Ltd in Llandarcy, carrying 35 men.
She had arrived into Swansea on January 29, and was berthed at No.2 Jetty in Queen’s Dock at around 5am on Friday, February 1, 1951.
The offloading of cargo commenced 45 minutes after their arrival, and finished at around 2.45am on February 2.
But what happened two-and-a-half hours later, nobody could have expected.
At 5am that morning, a catastrophic explosion took place, the impact of which was so intense that it could be felt in Port Talbot, more than 10 miles away.
It was the ship’s maiden voyage.
The horrific incident was responsible for claiming the lives of seven seamen and injuring nearly as many firemen.
Keith Mills’s book on the incident
The incident was recalled by Swansea Fire Brigade historian Keith Mills in his book Flames Across The Tawe.
Mr Mill noted how the ship had a“smooth and incident-free voyage to Swansea“.
But he wrote:“The early morning, pre-dawn peace that hung over the docks that morning was shattered when a huge explosion erupted from the vessel”.
“As the alarm was raised, one of the biggest firefighting operations seen in peacetime Swansea got under way”.
“People living near the quayside were forced to flee for their lives, not really understanding what had happened, and still with memories of the wartime blitz.”
Mr Mills explained how Swansea Fire Brigade was based in the central fire station on Alexandra Road then, and very soon was “buzzing with activity“, sending two pump engines and the foam and salvage tenders to the dockside.
The crew was joined by fire crews from Morriston, Neath, Pontardawe and Pontarddulais.
Powerful water jets were also used by Tugs from the Britannia Towing Company to cool the Duchess’s hull and help keep it as near the jetty as possible.
“Most of the stricken Duchess’s crew were removed from the ship,” Mr Mills wrote.
“The firefighters, in hazardous conditions, worked throughout the day and following night in a desperate bid to calm the flames”.
“By 7.35am, more than a day after it had started, the blaze was finally under control”.
“By 9.25am, firefighters boarded the ship to look for the missing crewmen.”
We reported at the time that five bodies were quickly located in the ship.
But tragically, the disaster had not finished unfolding.
At 10.25am, there was another explosion, injuring six Swansea firefighters.
The impact was such that some of the men were hurled into the waters of the dock.
In an amazing display of bravery, firemen retrieved the two remaining bodies of the crew, one some days later, the other two weeks later.
The bodies were taken to Cardiff and all were buried at a dedicated Greek cemetery. The ship was broken in half during the explosions.The whole of the bridge accommodation was a complete wreck.
The structure was severely damaged by fire and by the force of the explosion. The structure collapsed and little was left inside the accommodation except charred material and metal.
A Home Office report found at the time that the cargo of oil had been discharged from the tanker and therefore the atmosphere in all the tanks would consist of a mixture of air and vapour from the oil, and would most probably have been explosive.
The explosive limits of butane in air is from 1.6 to 8.5% of butane, so that very little gas is required to render the atmosphere explosive.
It is at this stage that the tanks are in a most dangerous state.
With regard to other possible sources of ignition, the report noted how it was possible that the crew may have thought that as they had discharged the cargo, there was “no reason to observe all the necessary safety precautions that had been impressed upon them”.
“They may have been ignorant of the fact that the tanks of the vessel were in a far more dangerous condition than when they are full of oil. It is just possible that someone may have been smoking, or a naked light may have been produced in some other manner,” it read.
These days, there are no more tankers to be seen in the Queens Dock.
There was a sharp decline in oil traffic through Swansea Docks in 1961, when a pipeline connection was opened between Llandarcy Refinery and the Angle Bay oil terminal in Milford Haven.
The industry hit its peak in the area in 1950s at around eight million tons per annum. Whilst there are no visible reminders of what happened that day, the dark day will be a moment that will forever be etched into the history of the docks.
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Source: Wales Online
