SS ''John Harvey'' was a U.S.
World War II Liberty ship
Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. M ...
. This ship is best known for carrying a secret cargo of
mustard gas
Mustard gas or sulfur mustard is a chemical compound belonging to a family of cytotoxic and blister agents known as mustard agents. The name ''mustard gas'' is technically incorrect: the substance, when dispersed, is often not actually a gas, b ...
and whose
sinking by German aircraft in December 1943 at the port of
Bari
Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy ...
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 a ...
s.
The ''John Harvey'' was built by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is th ...
, and launched on 9 January 1943. Her
Maritime Commission
The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) 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, 195 ...
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 ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...
, Algeria, to Italy, carrying 2,000
M47A1 mustard gas bombs, each of which held 60–70 lb of
sulfur mustard
Mustard gas or sulfur mustard is a chemical compound belonging to a family of cytotoxic and blister agents known as mustard agents. The name ''mustard gas'' is technically incorrect: the substance, when dispersed, is often not actually a gas, ...
. 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
The Strait of Otranto ( sq, Ngushtica e Otrantos; it, Canale d'Otranto; hr, Otrantska Vrata) connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania. Its width at Punta Palascìa, east of Salento is less than . The str ...
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 a 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
Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart Francis Alexander (August 30, 1914 – December 6, 1991) was an American medical doctor from New Jersey and an expert on chemical warfare who was dispatched to attend the patients following the Air raid on Bari.
Born an ...
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, also called leukocytes or leucocytes, are the cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders. All white blood cells are produced and derived from mult ...
s and other kinds of rapid dividing cells. This discovery was further investigated by
pharmacologist
Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...
s,
Louis S. Goodman and
Alfred Gilman who used a mustard gas related agent,
mustine
Chlormethine ( INN, BAN), also known as mechlorethamine ( USAN, USP), mustine, HN2, and (in post-Soviet states) embikhin (эмбихин), is a nitrogen mustard sold under the brand name Mustargen among others. It is the prototype of alkylating ...
, 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 a ...
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
The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in ...
*
Chemical warfare
Chemical warfare (CW) involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from nuclear warfare, biological warfare and radiological warfare, which together make up CBRN, the military acronym ...
References
External links
A History Of Chemical WarfareDecember 17, 1943 The Spokesman-Review account of Bari disaster
{{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