A Molasses Tank Burst, Claiming 21 Lives, Injuring 150
Bizarre Buffet
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The Great Molasses Flood, also known as the Boston Molasses Disaster,[1][2][3] was a disaster that occurred on January 15, 1919, in the North Endneighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.
A large storage tank filled with 2.3 million US gal (8,700 m3)[4] of molasses, weighing approximately 13,000 short tons (12,000 t), burst, and the resultant wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150.[5] The event entered local folklore and residents claimed for decades afterwards that the area still smelled of molasses on hot summer days.[5][6]
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” The Great Molasses Flood ” – Episode Credits
Hosted By Mark Tauriello , Jen Wilson , & Marc Bluestein .
Original Episode Art By Mark Tauriello
Original Episode / Story Concept By Mark Tauriello
Episode Production By Marc Bluestein
” The Great Molasses Flood ” – Show Notes
The Boston Molasis Flood
INTRO: Whats your favorite sweet/ candy?
+What if I told you that one of the fundamental ingredients in your favorite candy, was responsible for a flood that killed 21 people and injured over 150?!?!!?!?!?!?
When did this happen????
-Jan 15, 1919. In Boston MA, a huge storage tank full of Molasses ,owned by the PURITY DISTILLERY COMPANY had burst.
-The molasses flooded the neighborhood surrounding the tank, crushing buildings, cars, horse carriages, and smothering many people to death.
-21 killed and over 150 injured.
BUT before we get into the sweet details of this bizarre and catastrophic event…. Allow me to give you a walk through as to how this happened and WHAT the hell molasses actually is…
About Molasses…
Molasses is a viscous substance resulting from refining sugar cane into actual sugar.
Sugarcane molasses is primarily used to sweeten and add flavor to food. It’s also the primary ingredient for alcohols such as distilled rum.
Once this liquid form is boiled, it crystalizes making sugar.
From boiling the sugar syrup, it becomes this dark sugary viscous substance called molasses.
-Even George Washington published a recipe on how to make molasses beer.
-The most common treat this stuff is used for is Ginger Bread Cookies!
-There are a lot of chemistry components to molasses in terms of its usages and molecular make up,. however….its incredible long…boring…and not entertaining . This isn’t the science network….we are BIZARRE BUFFET…
About the Tank and how it happened:
The tank was owned by the Purity Distilling Company..
The Purity Distilling Company…was a chemical firm based in Boston, Massachusetts specializing in the production of ethanol.
Tank: It was 50 feet high and 90 feet across and 283 all around… Holds 2 million gallons of molasses. They used the molasses to make alcohol and explosives.
There are several different factors that could have been the root of this disaster. Construction of the actual tank is a major factor. Allegedly the tank began to leak Molasses starting on the very first day it was filled.
-After the disaster, parts of the tank were tested and it was proven that due to the poor construction, it sort of lead to this perfect storm of a chemistry process that caused this to even happen in the first place.
-Contributing factors such as carbon dioxide production could have raised the internal pressure due to fermentation inside the tank.
-Warmer weather from the day before this explosion also assisted in building the pressure as the air temp rose from 2 degrees to 41 degrees. It should also be noted that they filled the tank with more molasses that had come from a region of the world that was very warm, hence, adding warm molasses into the tank with cold molsasses that was there prior.
-It should also be noted that the tank had been filled to full capacity only 8 times in its existence.
-The tank was also neglected for basic safety tests…which would consist of filling it with water to check for leaks.
-The tank was also notorious for groaning noises, which was never examined. It was frequently heard by residents who lived near the tank.
-When filled with Molasses, the tank would often leak so bad that town folk would go to the tank with jars and collect molasses which was dripping out of the tank.
How did they fix this leaking problem ??????
-The Purity Distilling Company decided to simply paint the tank brown, the color of the molasses, to hide the fact that it was leaking.
-In 2014 an investigation applied modern engineering analysis and concluded that the Steele was half as thick as it should have been in order to hold the molasses. The tanks rivets were also weak.
-2 days before the disaster warmer molasses was added to the tank, reducing the viscosity of the liquid. When the tank collapsed, the fluid cooled very rapidly as it spread.
- A study conducted by Harvard concludes that as the molasses cooled and thickened quickly through the streets, it made it incredibly difficult to free victims, causing many to suffocate in this thickened liquid.
So a combination of poor construction, temperature, and chemistry became the perfect storm for the tank to fail, causing havoc in downtown Boston.
THE FLOOD:
This all took place at 529 commercial street. The molasses tank stood 50 feet tall and 90 feet in dimeter. And contained 2.3 million gallons of molasses.
-This happened at 12:30 in the afternoon.
-Witnesses reported that they felt the ground shake and heard a roar as the tank collapsed.
-Some also thought what they heard was the sound of a machine gun, but it was the rivets shooting out of the tank.
-BEcause of the built up pressure inside the tank, and the density of the molasses (being more then 40% thicker than water)…It caused .the speed at which it traveled to go as fast as 35 MPH
-Imagine: The 35mph wall of molasses moving about was also 25 feet high..
-The force of this was strong enough to disrupt the plate girders of an adjacent elevated railway, tipping a street car off the train tracks.
-Near by buildings were also swept off their foundations and crushed.
-Several blocks were also flooded with molasses with an average depth of 3 feet .
Here is a quote from the Boston Post:
“
Molasses, waist deep, covered the street and swirled and bubbled about the wreckage …. Here and there struggled a form—whether it was animal or human being was impossible to tell. Only an upheaval, a thrashing about in the sticky mass, showed where any life was …. Horses died like so many flies on sticky fly-paper. The more they struggled, the deeper in the mess they were ensnared. Human beings—men and women—suffered likewise
Aside from that, people were picked up by a rush of air and thrown several feet. Debris flew in the air all over the place.
Allegedly a truck was also picked up an hurled into Boston Harbor.
-Once the title wave was over after being exposed to cold temp, it kept many people trapped making it so hard to rescue.
-One man who watched his 10 yr old son from the window of their home in front of the tank when this happened, seeing his boy engulfed in the molasses wave. He immediately ran out amongst the chaos, searching for his son for hours only retuning home with out him.
Aftermath/ Clean Up:
This had become a waist deep sticky mess for quite sometime. And outside of the initial disaster area, the surrounding area was also very stick due to footsteps spreading the morasses around the city of Boston.
-it should also be noted that dead bodies weren’t identified for several months due to this liquid.
-Salt water and sand had to be used by clean up crews.
-Boston Harbor was also brown for months with molasses.
-Clean up took weeks, several hundred people contributed to the effort. But as all these people took efforts to clean this, they spread this substance all over the city of Boston where it was reported that “Everything a Bostonian touched was sticky”
-Aside from that, many families that lost their homes had their children displaced to orphanages so the children wouldn’t be homeless.
TODAY:
-After the tragedy, the tank was not rebuilt.
-Currently the spot where the tank used to be is now the site of Langone Park. The only remains is a simple green plaque at the entrance that com memories the disaster. The Plaque Reads the following:
“
On January 15, 1919, a molasses tank at 529 Commercial Street exploded under pressure, killing 21 people. A 40-foot wave of molasses buckled the elevated railroad tracks, crushed buildings and inundated the neighborhood. Structural defects in the tank combined with unseasonably warm temperatures contributed to the disaster.”
In 2019 for there 100th anniversary of the tragedy, a ceremony was held in rememberence on site. Where this massive tank once stood is now a baseball field where many Bostonians play.
-At this ceremony, a ground penetrating radar was used to identify the EXACT location that the tank stood in 1919.
-So, apparently, a concrete slab base from the tank remains in place, and its 20 inches below the surface of the baseball diamond.
-Attendees of the ceremony stood in a circular formation, marking where the tank once stood , and recited the 21 names of those who died in this tragedy .
-Til this day on some days you can still smell the scent of the Molases.
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