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Ship of the M o n t h - cont'd. 8. The H U D S O N e n t e r e d service with her hull and cabins p ai nt ed red. The f o r e castle was silver, as also were the taffrail, the cabin ov er ha ng aft, the edges of the bridgew in gs , and the su nv iso r wh ic h ran ar ou nd the top of the p il o t h o u s e over the windows. The stack was silver wi t h a large red letter 'L ' on it, and a rather n a r r o w black smo ke ba nd at the top. The forem ast was silver, while the main was p a i n t e d black. In contrast w i t h her ear li er years, the seasons i m m e d i a t e l y f o l lo wi ng BRUCE HU DS ON ' S c o n v e r s i o n to a st eamer were su cce ssf ul and r e l a t i v e l y un eve ntf ul. As it turned out, however, the ship had not m a n a g e d to shed the man tle of ill fortune w h i c h had do g g e d her in her first few seasons on the lakes. Her short pe ri od of t r a n q u i l i t y came to an abrupt and tragic end on the eve nin g of Monday, Ju l y 26th, 1943. The H U D S O N was lying at the w h a r f of the Phillips Pe t r o l e u m C o mp an y at East Chicago, Indiana, w he re she had loaded a cargo of 1 1 , 000 barrels of what the press ca ll ed h i g h - o c t a n e gasoline, but in rea li ty was "casinghead", the "light ends" found at the top of an oil well. C a s i n g h e a d is a hig hl y v ol ati le m i x t u r e of such s u bs ta nc es as ethane, methane, propane and butane. BRUCE H U D S O N ' S lines had been singled up in p r e p a r a t i o n for her departure, whe n the first of several treme ndo us e xp lo si on s rocked the steamer and sent sheets of flame 150 feet into the air. The East C hi ca go Fire Dep ar tm en t at te nd e d at the scene a lo ng w it h a firetug, but the H U D S O N was e n v e l o p e d in flame. She s u f f e r e d severe damage to her su pe rst ruc tur e, but she rem ai ne d afloat and, eventu ally, the blaze was extinguis hed . The damage to the ship was a blow to Llo yd Tankers, but even worse was the fact that four mem be rs of BRUCE HUD SO N' S crew were bu rn ed so se ve r e l y that they died of their injuries, and other cr ew me mb er s were inj ur ed to a lesser degree. Su cc u m b i n g on July 27th at St. Ca t h e r i n e ' s Hospital, East Chicago, were the H U D S O N ' S master, Capt. Ross L i nw oo d Hindman, 43, of Midland, Ontario, and his son, St an le y Ross Hindman, age 16, as well as a wheelsman, W i l l i a m ("Billy") A l ph ons e Goneau, 23, also of Midland, and oiler Ar th ur Plouffe, 30, of Wa ub a us he ne , Ontario. All four had been near the HU DS O N ' S bow w he n the first e x p l o s i o n oc cu rre d and they leaped for the wh arf (or, in the case of Goneau, into the water), but the four men were, in the words of the reporters, turned into human torches and suffered horri ble burns. Sadly, young St an l e y Hindman, who at te nd ed high school at Midland, had been w o r k i n g abo ard the C a n a d i a n Pa cific Ra il wa y' s pas se ng er steamer ASSINIBOIA, but had been loo ki ng fo rw a r d to taking some holidays, as he ex pe ct ed to be dra ft ed into the A rm y in the autumn. His father pe r s u a d e d him to come over to the H U D S O N to work, not long before the fire, in order to relieve other crew mem be r s who were taking vacation. C a p t a i n H i n d m a n had ur ged his wife to ac c o m p a n y h i m s e lf and S t a n l ey on the il l- fat ed trip but, at the last moment, she had de cl i n e d to go and re ma i n e d at home. The press repor ted that, upo n r e c e i v i n g w or d of the deaths of her h u s b a n d and son, Mrs. H i n d m a n was "pros tr at e w i t h grief and un der medi cal care". The Federal Bu r e a u of I n v e s t i g a t i o n was called in to attempt to de ter min e what had caused the explosion, but the i n v e s t i g a t i o n fai led to id en t i f y the cause, al t h o u g h it was s u g g e s t e d u n o f f i c i a l l y that a spark might have been pr od uc ed by a small e l e ct ri c fan w h i c h had been m o u n t e d in one of the po rt hol es of Capt. Hindman's cabin in the texas. At the time of the e xp los ion s and fire, all of the HU DS ON 'S deck hatc hes were open to allow expl osi ve va po u r s to escape before the holds were sealed for the voyage. It had been the cu st om ab oa rd the H U D S O N to have four hoses play ing wa ter on the deck in the daytime du ri ng hot summer wea th er in order to keep the co ntents of the tanks from ov erheating. Mrs. Go n e a u re co un te d that her late h u sb an d had often c o m m e n t e d about how careful Capt. H in dm an was of even the smallest details ab oa rd the tanker. "Billy often told them (his