Sabotage On Black Tom Island

True account of sabotage by Germans just before America entered World War One.

If you think 9/11, 2001 was the first terrorist attack on American soil, you’d be wrong. Eighty Five years earlier, during the First World War, in the early morning hours of July 30, 1916, a massive explosion set by German saboteurs rocked Black Tom Island off the New Jersey shore.

 

Named after an African American fisherman named Tom, who at one time lived on the island, Black Tom Island was owned by Lehigh Valley Railroad. A mile long causeway complete with railroad tracks connected the island to the New Jersey shore. Between 1905 and 1916, the railroad expanded the island with landfill. A feat they would not be able to complete today due to environmental standards. The island housed warehouses owned by the National Dock and Storage Company.

 

Black Tom Island was a munitions depot for materials manufactured in the northeast.  America was not yet drawn into World War One, so prior to a 1915 blockade of the Central Powers by the Royal Navy, American industries were able to sell to any buyer they chose. However, by 1916, the Allies were their only viable customers. 

 

On the night of the attack, an estimated two million pounds of ammunition was stored in freight cars, with another one hundred thousand pounds of TNT loaded on a barge waiting shipment to Britain and France.

 

Lack of federal regulation, a minimal a security force and the fact that no passes were required for access, made Black Tom an easy target. Only four security guards were present on the night of the attack. At approximately 2:08 a.m. flames were seen in one of the boxcars just before the first and largest explosion, took place. The early morning sky lit up as shrapnel and debris flew in all directions, hitting buildings miles from the blast. Security guards fled the scene, stopping only long enough to set off the fire alarm. Smaller explosions continued for hours after the initial blast.

 

 Windows in many homes as well as the skyscrapers in Manhattan, facing the explosion, were blown in. Buildings facing opposite were blown outward. Explosions continued until morning. The shockwave was felt as far as Philadelphia. Windows broke up to 26 miles from the island. The Statue of Liberty sustained damage to the arm and torch, they were never reopened. It is said that the explosion was the equivalent to between a 5.0 and a 5.5 earthquake. Residents for miles were jolted from their beds, and immigrants on nearby Ellis Island were evacuated to Lower Manhattan.

 

In the morning, nothing on Black Tom Island was recognizable. The railcars, the warehouses, the barges and ships that were moored, were all but gone. Property damage was estimated to be approximately $20 million. (Approximately $400 million today)  The Statue of Liberty sustained one hundred thousand dollars in damage to the skirt and torch. (A little over two million dollars today) The torch has been off limits since.

 

Hundreds of injuries were reported. Estimates vary but between four and seven people may have been killed as a result of the Black Tom explosion. It is a known fact that a policeman, a guard on Black Tom and the barge captain were killed.

 

Following the war, a special commission was formed to assess the damages from various acts of terrorism in the United States. The Mixed Claims Commission, which consisted of a German, an American and a neutral, represented, reviewed claims from industries, companies and governments that lost property due to sabotage during the war.

 

The Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, who owned Black Tom Island, sought damages through the commission against Germany under the Treaty of Berlin. The commission declared in 1939, after seventeen years of deliberation, that Imperial Germany had been responsible. Damages were ordered and the two sides finally settled on $50 million to all claimants. It was not paid until 1953 due to the intervention of World War Two. The final payment was made in 1979.

 

Was the Black Tom Island explosion an accident or was it planned? According to historians, since the British had blockaded the Germans in Europe, the Lehigh Valley munitions depot was targeted as retaliation.

 

Today Black Tom Island is part of the mainland due to landfill projects and has been incorporated into Liberty State Park. There is a circle of flags surrounding a plaque that marks the center of the explosion.

 

Author's Note

There is more to this story but I just want a basic opinion of the subject matter. Would it make a good fiction novel based on these true events? Or would it be better expanded into a magazine article? Input is most appreciated. Thanks in advance.