SS Grandcamp Anchor #1 - Texas City, TX
Posted by: 
Raven
N 29° 23.561 W 094° 53.564
15R E 316331 N 3252981
One of two large anchors belonging to the French merchant ship "SS Grandcamp" which blew up on April 16, 1947. This anchor is situated inside Anchor Park in Texas City, Texas.
Waymark Code: WMWT1Z
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/09/2017
Views: 2
This anchor is one of the two large anchors belonging to the French-registered merchant vessel "Grandcamp" which blew up on April 16, 1947.
The Grandcamp was a 1940's re-activated 441-foot-long (134 m) Liberty ship. Originally christened the SS Benjamin R. Curtis in Los Angeles in 1942, the ship served in the Pacific theatre and was mothballed in Philadelphia after World War II. In a Cold War gesture, the ship was assigned to the French Line to assist in the rebuilding of Europe.
On April 16, 1947, the SS Grandcamp was moored at the Texas City terminal docks, loaded with approximately 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate. Another ship, the SS High Flyer, was about 600 feet (200 m) away from the Grandcamp and contained an additional 961 tons of ammonium nitrate and 1,800 tons of sulfur. The ammonium nitrate in the two ships and in an adjacent warehouse were fertilizer on its way to farmers in Europe.
A mid-morning fire and detonation ensued on the Grandcamp, killing at least 567 people in the surrounding Texas City area. Burning wreckage ignited everything within miles, including dozens of oil storage tanks and chemical tanks.
One of the Grandcamp's main anchors, weighing 5 tons, was hurled 1/2 mile by the resulting explosion towards the entrance of the Texas City Dike; it now rests on a Texas shaped memorial at Anchor Park, i.e. this specific waymark location.
Another 2-ton anchor was hurled 1.62 miles and was ultimately recovered inside a 10-foot crater: it now rests at Memorial park, about 3 miles NW of here, see associated "Roadside Attraction"
waymark.