On July 17, 1944, a typical day at Port Chicago Naval Magazine turned dangerous as men of the Merchant Marine and the U.S. Navy Armed Guard prepared the empty, brand new SS Quinault Victory for loading on one side of the pier and prepared the nearly full SS E.A. Bryan across the pier for the next day's voyage. Hundreds of U.S. Navy stevedores worked around the clock to fill the Bryan's five cargo holds with 175 kinds of ammunition, from bullets to 2,000-pound artillery shells, despite receiving little training and no classes in handling explosives. Although professional longshoremen at Mare Island loaded 8.7 tons per cargo hold per hour and the enlisted men here averaged 8.3 tons, the admiral of the 12th Naval District insisted on 10 tons per hour, and his officers raced crews against each other and bet on them to raise the pace. By 10:00 p.m., more than 4,600 tons of shells and bombs filled the Bryan's five holds, another 400 tons of explosives sat on the dock, and then something went terribly wrong.