Between 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning on February 4, 1854, fire broke out on board the steamship Charles Belcher, at the steamship levee in the upper part of New Orleans, Louisiana. The ship had arrived overnight from Nashville, Tennessee. The fire was discovered aft on the lower deck, shortly after her arrival at the levee. It spread quickly to envelope the entire ship. The fire then spread to the Mohegan and Natchez, and from there to the Liah Tuna, the Crescent, and the Saxon, all of which were totally destroyed with their cargo by 5 o'clock a.m. Fire also reached the Sultana and a heavily laden barge, which she had in tow - the latter of which was destroyed along with the barge of C.E. Watkins, which arrived the day before in tow by the steamer David Gibson, carrying a large supply of western produce. The Sultana, having just arrived from Louisville, still had steam, and although she caught fire several times, was able to retreat out of reach of the flames, where she anchored and rendered assistance with saving life and property. All the destroyed ships, except the Natchez, sank. The Grand Turk which was next to the Saxon while she was burning, caught fire but received relatively little damage. After the fire, the levee was covered with half-burned cotton and provisions, but the wharf escaped damage. Thirty-seven people died in the fires. The Natchez, having only arrived the day before, only had 500 of her 3,000 bails of cotton unloaded. The Mohican had a large valuable cargo which was to have left for the Tennessee River later that morning. The Crescent and Liah Tuna had unloaded most of their cargo. The Saxon was loading for St. Louis and was about half loaded at the time of the fire. The total loss was estimated at more than half a million dollars.
During the night February 4, 1932, the M.S. Bidwell, an oil tanker belonging to the Sun Oil Company in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, exploded and burned at the Sinclair Dock. The first explosion came at 12:40 a.m., and all of the crew except a small deck watch were asleep at the time. The three members of the deck watch were hurled into the water by the force of the first blast, which came from the engine-room. A series of explosions followed, and a curtain of flame cut the ship off from the dock and made rescue from that side impossible. Between 50 and 60 persons were aboard the vessel at the time. Many who were able to reach the deck of the ship, only to find their escape cut off by flames, leaped into the icy waters of the Delaware River. The first blast is believed to have killed several of the crew sleeping near the engine-room. Others rushed to the companionways and sought to escape to the deck. Some were trapped below. Seventeen of the people on-board were killed, including the Captain, Joseph Rivers of Hollis, New York. His wife Viola, aboard at the time, was injured and rescued from the frigid waters of the Delaware River by Edward J. Cartain of Chester, an employee at Sinclair Refining, who swam to her rescue. He was subsequently awarded the Carnegie medal for heroism. Also killed was the Second Mate, Harry Ockelman, the natural father of future Hollywood actress Veronica Lake. The death of the men in this explosion, started the Sun Oil Company on a road to find an inert gas system to prevent such a tragedy happening again. Many lives were saved on Sun Oil Company ships in subsequent years through the introduction of this inert gas system. The Bidwell was repaired and placed back in service. One dark night off Cape Hatteras during World War II, a Nazi submarine sent a torpedo into her port side ripping her deck into shambles and one crewman was lost. Again, the ship was repaired and she continued her work. Finally after logging two-million miles during 33 years of Sun Oil Company service, she was sold to the Greek Government and went to Maracaibo, Venezuela as a station ship.
1976
Guatemala City Earthquake - Guatemala City, Guatemala
At 3:04 a.m. on the morning of February 4, 1976, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake leveled much of Guatemala City, Guatemala, killing 23,000 people and leaving one-million others homeless. In a matter of minutes, about one third of the city was destroyed. All over the city, sleeping residents were crushed and killed when their weak adobe homes collapsed on top of them. Rescue efforts began immediately, but many people could not be saved, as it was extremely difficult to get help to the city. The roads and bridges leading to Guatemala City had been extensively damaged. It is estimated that more than 70,000 people suffered serious injuries. Strong aftershocks followed for an entire week, terrorizing the survivors, who were staying in improvised shelters.
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