Hugh C. Irby, 36, criminal investigator, helped to save Manuel E. Gatica, 64, able seaman, from drowning and an impending explosion, Houston, Texas, November 8, 1959. A tank ship moored in the Houston ship channel caught fire while the last two of its 26 storage tanks were being filled with gasoline. The two partially filled tanks exploded, spreading flames over the ship and creating much dense smoke. After fireboats and trucks had extinguished flames at the stem of the vessel, a number of crewmen and the officer in charge made their way onto the rear deck and found Gatica, clad only in pajamas and weak from having inhaled smoke. The crewmen entered the water and swam to the bank. Because Gatica could not swim, the officer said he would aid him; and both jumped into the water. The officer supported Gatica while clinging to a line hanging over the side of the ship and called for assistance. Irby, who was among several hundred persons then on the bank 170 feet away, undressed to his trousers and entered the water carrying a life jacket. He swam to Gatica and the officer, who were in water 36 feet deep 55 feet from the nearest gasoline tank. Flames as much as 40 feet high still burned on the vessel. Irby held to the line with one hand and with some difficulty worked his life jacket onto Gatica. He was drenched by heavy spray from a fireboat, and the increasing smoke caused him to cough. Between them, Irby and the officer towed Gatica through a heavy pall of smoke. Badly tired and experiencing a tightness in his chest from smoke he had inhaled, Irby paused briefly at a piling for fresh air. He and the officer towed Gatica a total of 125 feet to wadable water. A fireman aided them in taking Gatica ashore, where Irby was seized with chills and leg cramps. Seven crewmen died in the flames, and a fireman also lost his life. Gatica was hospitalized several weeks for smoke poisoning. Irby was treated for shock and lung congestion and recovered. 45022-4359
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