15 January 1919
Full Moon, 99% lit
A wave of molasses through Boston
A steel tank burst in the North End and released about nine million litres of molasses as a wave some eight metres high, moving faster than a person can run.
Twenty-one people died and a hundred and fifty were hurt. The company blamed anarchists; a three-year hearing found the tank had simply been built too thin and never tested, and the case is one of the reasons engineering sign-off became a legal requirement in the United States.
- Date
- 15 January 1919
- Moon computed for
- 12:00 local time, UTC−5The time of day is not recorded here, so noon stands in.
- Phase
- Full Moon
- Illuminated
- 99%
Source: Massachusetts Superior Court, Dorr v. United States Industrial Alcohol (1925)