On April 24, 1943 a fire started in the engine room of the Panamanian freighter SS El Estero. Fire can always represent a danger to a ship, but this fire offered particular concern. The El Estro was carrying more than thirteen hundred tons of high explosives, and was in New York Harbor.
The history of cotton clothing has followed an interesting path, including a period of a few decades in the United States when cotton represented ingenuity, resilience, and patriotism itself.