Fort Stikine was a British Fort ship which was built in Canada in 1942. Owned by the American War Shipping Administration, she was leased under charter to the Ministry of War Transport under the Lend-Lease scheme and operated under the management of the Port Line. Fort Stikine only had a short career, and was destroyed in an explosion at Bombay, India, in April 1944 that caused the loss of a further thirteen ships.
The Clemson-class destroyer USS Borie was one of the six warships that escorted Convoy ZG 8.
The Flower-class corvette HMS Borage was one of the seventeen escorts of Convoy HX 214.
Flak ship HMS Pozarica was one of the 30 escorts of Convoy MKS 6.
Grom-class destroyer ORP Błyskawica was one of the nine warships that escorted Convoy SL 129.
The Bombay explosion occurred on 14 April 1944, in the Victoria Dock of Bombay, British India when the British freighter SS Fort Stikine caught fire and was destroyed in two giant blasts, scattering debris, sinking surrounding ships and setting fire to the area, killing around 800 to 1,300 people. Some 80,000 people were made homeless and 71 firemen lost their lives in the aftermath. The ship was carrying a mixed cargo of cotton bales, timber, oil, gold, and ammunition including around 1,400 tons of explosives with an additional 240 tons of torpedoes and weapons.
A piece of propeller that landed in St. Xaviers High School, about 5 km (3 mi) from the docks.
SS Jalapadma on land after the explosion
The memorial erected outside Mumbai Fire Brigade Headquarters
