This photograph is taken looking up at the top deck of the ship. Large clouds of smoke are beginning to obscure the top deck. Local longshoremen began loading the sacks of fertilizer onto the ship on April 11th, the day of the ship's arrival. By April 16th, the day of the first explosion, around 2,300 tons had already been set into cargo holds 2 and 4. Heavy rains slowed the loading of the ship. At about 8:00 AM that morning, eight workmen entered the ship to load the remainder of the bags.
Shortly after the longshoremen entered the ship's holds, they smelled smoke [6]. Soon after, several of the men noticed smoke vapors near the surface of the hold on the inshore side of the ship. After they removed a few fertilizer bags, a small fire became visible ten to fifteen feet below, near the hull. Workers tried to put out the fire with several jugs of water and a fire extinguisher, but the flames continued to spread.