Emergencies and Natural Disasters

When a Perfectly Legal Boat Vanished: The Wonder Sea's 39 Lost

When a Perfectly Legal Boat Vanished: The Wonder Sea's 39 Lost The thought of a legal, inspected tour boat disappearing in plain daylight stokes a cold, irrational dread

How Two Battles Won, A Leak Finally Drowned the Ganges

How Two Battles Won, A Leak Finally Drowned the Ganges A single merchant ship that once repelled a French squadron vanished beneath the South Atlantic at thirty-eight de

The $1 Deal, The Deadly Blast: Sartell Mill's Unanswered Explosion

The $1 Deal, The Deadly Blast: Sartell Mill's Unanswered Explosion A single one-dollar deed launched 107 years of industry on the Mississippi, and on May 28, 2012 an exp

Frozen Inferno: How Arkema's Cold Chain Failed During Harvey

Frozen Inferno: How Arkema's Cold Chain Failed During Harvey The thought of chemicals that can spontaneously ignite if they warm up sitting chest-deep in floodwater is b

Frozen Men, a Bloody Cleaver, and the Vanished Lake Erie Ferry

Frozen Men, a Bloody Cleaver, and the Vanished Lake Erie Ferry A century-old mystery with nine frozen men in a lifeboat, an empty seat, and a meat cleaver: what sudden c

Titanium on a fishing cable - a material that belongs on submarines, not trawlers

Titanium on a fishing cable - a material that belongs on submarines, not trawlers A trawler disappeared from radar in less than ninety seconds and investigators recovere

When a Dinner-Plate Killed 165 Men: The Piper Alpha Blind Flange Mystery

When a Dinner-Plate Killed 165 Men: The Piper Alpha Blind Flange Mystery A single hand-tight metal disc smaller than a dinner plate, left invisible above a gas module, l

Seconds to Collapse: How Granville's Bridge Crushed Survivors Alive

Seconds to Collapse: How Granville's Bridge Crushed Survivors Alive The morning a 570-tonne bridge collapsed on top of two crushed carriages, rescue crews lowered a port

When 3,783 Cars Became a Floating Inferno: The Fremantle Mystery

When 3,783 Cars Became a Floating Inferno: The Fremantle Mystery The North Sea night filled with smoke before flames were even visible, as 3,783 brand-new cars and rough

The Night an Antiwar Bomb Killed an Innocent Scientist

The Night an Antiwar Bomb Killed an Innocent Scientist The campus trembled at 3:42 a.m. on August 24, 1970, when roughly 2,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil de

When a 900,000-Gallon Tank Became a Flying Tomb: Channelview 1990

When a 900,000-Gallon Tank Became a Flying Tomb: Channelview 1990 A single instrument gave false "safe" readings for twenty days while a 900,000-gallon tank full of vola

The Trawler That Vanished: 11 Men, One Empty Lifeboat, No Answers

The Trawler That Vanished: 11 Men, One Empty Lifeboat, No Answers Fear of unresolved violence: a neutral Irish trawler was struck by a single cannon shell in dark Atlant

When the Sea Gave Back Only Bodies: The Vanishing of HMS Viknor

When the Sea Gave Back Only Bodies: The Vanishing of HMS Viknor The cold North Atlantic returned only wreckage and corpses after a ship vanished without a distress call,

The Door That Kept Floating: 791 Lives Lost at Sea

The Door That Kept Floating: 791 Lives Lost at Sea Fear of being abandoned at sea-seven hundred and ninety-one refugees trapped on a 74-year-old cattle ship off Istanbul

Frozen Engines, Fateful Choices: The Potomac Miracle and the Man Who Gave It Up

Frozen Engines, Fateful Choices: The Potomac Miracle and the Man Who Gave It Up A tail stuck out of the Potomac at 4:04 p.m. on January 13, 1982, with seventy-nine peopl

Propeller Hammered into Rock: The Night the Regulus Vanished

Propeller Hammered into Rock: The Night the Regulus Vanished A ship's propeller was hammered into solid cliff rock as if by an enormous force, yet the men who did it van

When the Switch Lied: The Pasadena Plant That Killed 23

When the Switch Lied: The Pasadena Plant That Killed 23 The control room switch read "closed" while the valve was open, and no alarm existed to warn the 1,500 people on

The Last Voyage of Waubuno: 24 Souls, No Answers, One Anchor

The Last Voyage of Waubuno: 24 Souls, No Answers, One Anchor An iron anchor was pulled from Georgian Bay eighty years after the paddle steamer Waubuno vanished with twen

Bloodied Bandages, Stopped Clocks: The Vanishing of MV Joyita

Bloodied Bandages, Stopped Clocks: The Vanishing of MV Joyita A drifting ship found with lights on, clocks stopped at 10:25, a doctor's bag intact and four blood-stained

The Last Letter: The Disappearance of USS Albany

The Last Letter: The Disappearance of USS Albany Fear that the sea swallowed certainty: a decorated sloop, a careful commander, and a signed letter dated September 28, 1