More than a century has passed since a horrific explosion caused bodies to fall from the skies over Mare Island.More than a century has passed since a horrific explosion caused bodies to fall from the skies over Mare Island.
"It was pretty gruesome. (The sailors) were decapitated. Two of the guys were blown ... 200 yards out to a beach, and they were completely skinned," Myrna Hayes said on Saturday.
Hayes presided over a brief memorial service for the 15 men -- all sailors of the USS Boston -- who died in an explosion at the Naval Ammunition Depot on June 13, 1892.
Today marks the 118th anniversary of their deaths.
The Boston, a protected heavy cruiser, was at Mare Island for maintenance, said Hayes, a volunteer for the Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve.
Rather than let the sailors of the Boston go on leave, they were put to work at the ammunition depot "without proper training and probably without proper equipment," said Hayes, who put U.S. flags on the graves of the 15 men who were buried at Mare Island Naval Cemetery.
The sailors had been preparing the shells for the Boston at a magazine in the ammunition depot when the explosion occurred at about 11:30 p.m. The cause of the explosion remains murky, but the aftermath was well recorded.
A dozen men died instantly, one blasted through the magazine roof to land on another. Three more -- including the two who were found charred and skinned on a beach -- died slowly. The Navy immediately went into action to douse the flames lest they set off other explosions.
By the next afternoon, the graves had already been dug for the 15 men, Hayes said.
Saturday's memorial featured Hayes and a few volunteers reading the names, ranks and ages of the dead sailors. A large monument now stands in the cemetery commemorating the crew of the USS Boston. Their headstones, once stark and precise as military headstones tend to be, have been weathered by time. A few have even fallen.
"There are still crew of the Boston alive," said Hayes, referring to the two U.S. Navy vessels that were also subsequently named Boston.
In total, seven ships have borne the name Boston in the U.S. Navy.
"There are still people across the country who were Boston shipmates who are with us in spirit today," Hayes said.
Contact staff writer Lanz Christian Bañes at (707) 553-6833 or lbanes@timesheraldonline.com.