SS ''John Harvey'' was a U.S.
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost cons ...
. This ship is known for carrying a secret cargo of
mustard gas and whose
sinking by German aircraft in December 1943 at the port of
Bari
Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...
in south Italy caused an unintentional release of
chemical weapon
A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as ...
s.
The ''John Harvey'' was built by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, eighth-most populous city in the st ...
, and launched on 9 January 1943. Her
Maritime Commission
The United States Maritime Commission was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 1950. The c ...
Hull Number was 878, and she was rated as capable of carrying 504 soldiers. She was operated by
Agwilines Inc.
Bari incident
In August 1943, Roosevelt approved the shipment of chemical munitions containing mustard agent to the Mediterranean theater. On 18 November 1943 the ''John Harvey'', commanded by Captain Elwin F. Knowles, sailed from
Oran
Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...
, Algeria, to Italy, carrying 2,000
M47A1 mustard gas bombs, each of which held 60–70 lb of
sulfur mustard. After stopping for an inspection by an officer of the 7th Chemical Ordnance Company at
Augusta, Sicily on 26 November, the ''John Harvey'' sailed through the
Strait of Otranto to arrive at Bari.
Bari was packed with ships waiting to be unloaded, and the ''John Harvey'' had to wait for several days. Captain Knowles wanted to tell the British port commander about his deadly cargo and request it be unloaded as soon as possible, but secrecy prevented his doing so.
On 2 December 1943
German aircraft attacked Bari, killing over 1,000 people, and sinking 28 ships,
including the ''John Harvey'', which was destroyed in a huge explosion, causing liquid sulfur mustard to spill into the water, mixing with oil from the sunken ships, and a cloud of sulfur mustard vapor to blow over the city. Nearly all crewmen of ''John Harvey'' perished in the sinking; this prevented the rescuers from knowing the real nature of the danger until an M47A1 bomb fragment was retrieved from the wreckage.
A total of 628 military victims were hospitalized with mustard gas symptoms, and by the end of the month, 83 of them had died. The number of civilian casualties, thought to have been even greater, could not be accurately gauged since most had left the city to seek shelter with relatives.
Chemical warfare expert Dr.
Stewart Francis Alexander found out about the mustard gas and gave the medics a correct treatment. While examining tissues collected on autopsied victims, he found out that mustard gas destroys
white blood cell
White blood cells (scientific name leukocytes), also called immune cells or immunocytes, are cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign entities. White blood cells are genera ...
s and other kinds of rapid dividing cells. This discovery was further investigated by
pharmacologists,
Louis S. Goodman and
Alfred Gilman who had started in August 1942 a research on a mustard gas related agent,
mustine, as the first
chemotherapy treatment.
In order to try to cover-up the in-theater possession of
chemical weapon
A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as ...
s by the Allies, the deaths were attributed to "burns due to enemy action".
Reports were purged or classified but, since there were too many witnesses to keep the secret, in February 1944, the U.S. Chiefs of Staff issued a statement admitting to the accident and emphasizing that the U.S. had no intention of using chemical weapons except in the case of retaliation.
U.S. records of the attack were declassified in 1959 and the British government admitted the poison gas release and harm caused to the surviving victims.
Details of the attack were given in a 1967 article in the US Navy journal ''Proceedings'', and in a 1976 book by Glenn B. Infield, ''Disaster at Bari''.
[New English Library Ltd, ]
See also
*
Geneva Protocol
*
Chemical warfare
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:John Harvey
Liberty ships
World War II shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea
Ships built in Wilmington, North Carolina
Ships sunk by aircraft during the air raid on Bari
Maritime incidents in December 1943
1942 ships